Page 65 of Hunter
Have any words in the entire world ever sounded so sweet?
As the elevator doors open and I walk down the carpeted hallway to Hunter’s room, I wonder if he meant them. I wonder if it’s possible—in some universe, this one or another—that Hunter Stewart and I could somehow end up spending the rest of our lives together. How could it happen? How would it work? How could a woman with a family and job she loves in Seattle end up with a man from Skagway who has a family and job he loves equally as hard? Is there an answer? A solution? And if there is, why am I suddenly so desperate to find it?
I slip my keycard into the door and push it open.
And there he is, wearing sweatpants and nothing else, this beautiful, tender, savage man that I can’t seem to give up on, no matter how challenging or unlikely our happy ending.
He doesn’t approach me. He stands in front of me with his hands on his hips, his gaze intense. I think he has something to say.
“Tell me,” I say.
He looks down at his bare feet, his jaw clenching then relaxing. When he looks up again, I know what he’s going to say before the words leave his lips, but I don’t stop him. Though they scare me, I want to hear them. I want them in my ears, in my head, in my heart…forever.
“I’m falling in love with you,” he says, the words gravelly and fraught. “I’m sorry—I know you don’t want that…but I thought you should know.”
I close the distance between us, reaching up to cradle his cheeks with my palms.
“Mi corazón. Mi vida,” I whisper. “Make love to me.”
Chapter 11
Hunter
The next day, I’m a bundle of nerves as I drive one of the production vans to a musher’s camp on the outskirts of Nome. I know the way. It’s my second time visiting the Garrison’s ranch today.
This morning, at the crack of dawn, Isabella, Beto, and I hitched a ride out there. We wanted to meet the dogs in advance, and maybe get a few tips on how to harness them.
Upon arrival, we found the Garrisons already hard at work, feeding breakfast to their twenty-two boisterous huskies. Cody Garrison, a veteran who lost several of his fingers while serving in the military, bought this place outside of Nome when he was honorably discharged from the Marines. He met his wife a few years ago when she answered a personal ad, agreeing to be his teammate for a co-ed sled dog race.
I liked the Garrisons the minute I met them. I liked the way Cody and his wife, Juliet, a veterinarian originally from Montana, treated the dogs more like kids than pets, doting on each pup like a treasure. And I liked the way they took time to introduce six of the dogs to Isabella and Beto, giving them a quick crash course on hitching sled dogs to mushing harnesses. We could only stay for an hour, but I’m hopeful that Isabella and Beto meeting the dogs in advance will help them at the roadblock.
Now, with the morning detour challenges and lunch finished, all three teams are headed to the Garrison’s for the big challenge of the day: Mush to Glory!
All three teams will be expected to drive their teams to a predetermined location about two miles from the Garrison’sranch and back again. Teams Brady and Newlyweds, who have no penalty, can jump into their golf carts and yell “Mush” the moment they arrive at the Garrison’s ranch. But without any extra time allotment, Team Primos will have to harness their six dogs, attach them to their golf cart, andthenrace them two miles and back to the pit stop.
If they can harness the dogs quickly, they shouldn’t lose too much time. But the chances of two people with no mushing experience harnessing six excited dogs quickly is next to impossible. I don’t see how they can win, and the hope they’re trying to keep alive is gutting me.
It’s not fair.
It’s not fucking fair.
Isabella and Beto have emerged as the strongest team of the three. They would have won the race. They would have had first place cinched and a million dollars in the bag, if I hadn’t fallen in love with Isabella Gonzalez.
But Ididfall in love with her, and by God’s grace or some existential act of mercy I never saw coming, shedidn’treject my declaration of love last night. I half expected her to turn and walk out of my room when I confessed my feelings to her. Instead, she leaned into me, she caressed my face, she called me her heart and her life, and she asked me to make love to her.
My god, how will I ever say farewell to her at the end of the summer?
It’s a question that weighs on me, that tortures me, that steals the joy from the time we have together. Once we get back to Skagway, I need to start looking for a solution because I’m more and more certain that letting her go is something I won’t be able to bear.
I get out of the van, shaking Cody’s gloved hand and saying hello to Juliet.
“The dogs are totally overstimulated,” she tells me. “So many people here. Vehicles. Cameras. They’re all cuckoo.”
Cody grimaces. “Gonna be a tough job for your girl and her cousin to get them hitched up.”
“I’ll do whatever I can to help them,” promises Juliet before heading back to Team Brady’s golf cart, where six of the Garrison’s sled dogs are ready to race, howling and barking, eager to get started.
Teams Brady and Newlyweds get a quick lesson on mushing from the Garrisons, hop into the front seat of their golf carts, and take the reins, trusting their lead dogs to take them safely around the two-mile-long circuit and back here to the pit stop.