Page 75 of Hunter

Hunter picks me up four hours later.

“Hello, handsome,” I tell him, kissing him on the boardwalk in front of Freya’s shop.

“Hola, bonita,” he says, kissing me back.

We hold hands as we walk to his car, which he always parks in the parking lot by Skagway harbor.

“How was your day?” I ask him.

“Okay,” he says. “Though I had sixteen-year-old triplets on my second tour, and one of them pinched my ass.”

“Wow!” I say. “Ballsy move for a teenager!”

“I’ll say,” he says with a chuckle. “I think her sisters put her up to it. Anyway…how wasyourday?”

“Interesting.”

“More interesting than usual?”

“Maybe.”

“You gonna tell me or not?”

“I told you I signed my contract for the upcoming school year?”

“No,” he says softly, stopping us in our walk. “You didn’t.”

“I signed it and sent it back,” I tell him, working hard to keep the wobble out of my voice. “I start on September fourth, but I need to be back by the first for professional development.”

“So that’s that,” he murmurs.

“Hunter.” I squeeze his hand. “You knew I was going home. That was never up for debate.”

“I know.” His face is bleak. “I knew.”

I tug on his hand to get us walking again. “But there’s been another development.”

“What’s that?”

“Freya offered me a job for next summer.”

“Huh.”

“Shop manager with one employee working for me. I’d start Memorial Day weekend and stay through Labor Day. Pay bump, of course, since she plans to travel and leave the business under my care while she’s away.”

“What’d you say?”

“I asked if I could think about it.”

“Is that something you can see yourself doing?” he asks. “Coming back next summer?”

“It is! I’d consider it, for sure. I mean, you’re here. McKenna’s here. I make great money. Why wouldn’t I consider it?”

“So…we’d say goodbye at the end of August, and you’d come back at the end of May?”

“From what I hear,” I say, “the tourism season in Skagway isn’t too busy from October to April. That leaves a lot of time for someone from Skagway to visit their girlfriend in Seattle.”

“Itdoes,” he agrees, his tone slightly less morose. “But he sure would hate all those lonely nights away from her.”

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