Page 82 of Hunter

I gulp nervously. I’ve only mentioned Hunter in passing up to now. I was planning to tell my parents about him—about the show and how we fell in love and how we were outed and how I’ve been living with him this summer and how he means everything to me—when I saw them in person.

“Tu primo nos dijo sobre tu amigo. Hunter.”

Your cousin told us about your friend. Hunter.

I gulp again.

“I wish you had told me yourself, Isabella.”

“I didn’t want you to worry, Mama.”

“Why don’t you tell me now,” she suggests.

So, I do. I start at the beginning, only leaving out the parts about how hot and steamy things got between us. I tell my mother that Hunter is McKenna’s brother-in-law, and that I met him last summer. I tell her that his eyes are the color of the sky, and he makes me feel like the only woman in the world. I tell her that we already liked each other, but that we fell in love duringThe Astonishing Race, and I can’t imagine my life without him anymore. I tell her—even before I tell him—that I love him.

“Why didn’t you mention him before?”

“Because it’s complicated.”

“You love him. He loves you. What’s complicated?” Without letting me answer her question, she asks, “Is he coming home with you in September? We can’t wait to meet him.”

“And you will. Eventually. But he liveshere,” I say. “I don’t know when he’ll come to Seattle, but he promises he’ll visit.”

“Visit? He plans tovisit? I thought you said it was serious.”

This is why I wanted to wait to talk to them in person…because he lives in Skagway, and I live in Seattle, and besides thefact that I’ve accepted a seasonal job next summer, neither of us has plans to relocate in any real or permanent way. I know our lack of future plans will worry my parents, and I wanted to be there in person to reassure them.

“Itisserious.”

“How can it be when you live so far from each other?”

That tone. It makes me wince. I imagine a drop of acid landing on the hood of a car and eating through the paint.

“We don’t know yet. He loves his family, and I love mine. He lives in Skagway, and I live in Seattle. We just…we need to figure things out. I don’t have all the answers right now, Mama. Give us time.”

“You can’t set sail in a leaky ship.”

I roll my eyes.

“Either you will move there, or he will move here, and from what you’re telling me—that you’re going back to Skagway next summer—the choice has already been made.”

“No, Mama. I told you. We haven’t figured it out everything ye—”

“Your father and I haveone child,” she says. “Only one.You.”

“I know that,” I say. My heart beats faster, and my eyes start to burn. “But I love him, Mama. I love him so much.”

“More than us?”

“Not more or less,” I say, trying to keep my voice level as I swipe at tears. “I love you both. I love you all.”

A small group of tourists enters the shop, looking for last-minute gifts before heading back to their ship.

“Mama, I have to go. There are customers here,” I tell her. “I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Yes,” she says, her voice despondent. “We’ll talk again.”

She hangs up, and I wipe my tears away, grateful, for now, to offer my attention elsewhere.

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