Page 86 of Hunter

I look over at Harper, who winks at me, encouraging me to go on. Sawyer and Reeve sit back down. Suddenly, all eyes are on me.

I clear my throat. “So, you all know that Isabella went back to Seattle a few weeks ago, and I think you all know that she’s coming back to manage Freya’s boutique next summer.”

McKenna beams at me.So far, so good.

“But the fact is, we love each other.” I let these words settle over the room for a second before continuing because they’re my reason for every decision I’ve made for my future. “She’s my person. My forever person.”

“Yes!” yells Tanner. “Let’s gooooo, brother!” I grin at him, grateful for his enthusiasm until he asks, “When’s she moving up here?”

I glance at Harper again, and she gives me a little nod.

Go ahead. Tell them. It’ll be okay.

I turn back to Tanner. “Good, um…good question, Tan. So, yeah. We realized that a long-distance relationship wouldn’t work for us. Not in the long-term. We need to be together.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Parker stiffen in her seat.Shit.

“As you guys know, Isabella works at a school in Seattle. She needs to be there, you know? In person. From Labor Day through Memorial Day.”

Parker crosses her arms over her chest. Beside her, Sawyer sits back in his seat so hard, it scrapes the floor. I can feel the tension they’re generating, and it makes my stomach churn. Ihate it that I’m about to disappoint and hurt them. I hate that hurting them is the cost of making this happen for me and Isabella.

“You’re leaving,” says Parker, her voice flat, but her blue eyes piercing.

“I’m leaving,” I confirm. “I’m moving to Seattle in two weeks—”

“You can’t!” Reeve, who’s sitting beside me, gasps.

“Of course he can, babycakes.” Harper reaches for Reeve’s hand and squeezes it, then looks up at me. “Tell them the rest.”

“Our plan is that we’ll live at her place in Seattle from October to April and up here from May to September.”

I look at Parker, who stares up at me with silent condemnation. My middle sister and I have never been particularly close, but I love her, and she loves me. She’s the still water that runs deep in our family. Intense and clannish, somehow gentle and fierce at the same time, Parker is insanely protective.

“Is that it?” she asks.

“It?”

“You’re leaving Skagway. For six months.” She stands up and puts her hands on her hips. “Are you finished sharing?”

“That’s the gist of it, I guess.”

“Great,” she says, picking up the stack of plates she’d already collected and taking them into the kitchen.

“She’ll be okay,” says Harper, leaning over Reeve to catch my eyes. “She’s just upset.”

“She’s not the only one,” says Sawyer, reaching for the platter in the center of the table and following Parker to the kitchen.

Fuck, this isn’t going well.

I look at Reeve, who’s still clutching Harper’s hand. “Reeve? You okay?”

“I’m going to miss you,” she says, her voice thin. Her eyes are full of tears when she looks up at me.

“I’ll come back at New Year’s,” I promise her. “That’s only three months from when I leave. You’ll barely have time to miss me.”

“Yes, I will. A lot. It w-won’t be the same here w-without you,” she sobs, jumping up from the table and running to the kitchen.

With my three youngest siblings upset, I turn to my father. “Dad?”