I could see it on his face. He didn’t want to admit he needed help, let alone help from his twenty-two-year-old daughter.
“Please, Dad.”
With a frustrated exhale, he finally nodded. “I want you to keep some of that money, though. Put it in your savings.”
I couldn’t help the smile that broke out across my face. “I promise I will.”
He held his arms open, and I threw myself into his embrace. “If this is something you’re sure about, then I’m on board.”
Squeezing him harder, I felt a little bit of the weight of the world lift off my shoulders…and prayed Dad did as well.
Chapter Two
HUNTER
November – Hamilton, MT
“Hunter, is there a reason you’re hovering around the front door?”
Turning, I saw my mother heading down the hallway to the foyer. She wore a navy-blue dress and had her hair pulled into a bun on the top of her head. She looked so beautiful, as usual.
“Mom, you’re breathtaking. You’re going to be the most beautiful woman in the room tonight.”
She smiled. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Your father said nearly the same thing to me only moments ago.”
“It’s the truth,” I stated.
“Kiss-up,” my sister Morgan said, approaching from the same direction as Mom. She must’ve entered through the kitchen. I would know since, like Mom said, I was staking out the front door.
My mother spun around and nearly screamed. “Morgan! Darling, how are you feeling?”
I rolled my eyes. That seemed to be the first thing everyone asked my sister these days, as well as our sister-in-law Georgiana, since they’d told everyone they were pregnant a couple of months ago. Morgan was due May second, and Georgiana on April twenty-ninth. My parents were over the moon. But not as much as Ryan, my sister’s husband, and my older brother, Blayze. Ryan happened to be Blayze’s best friend. They were both excited to be new dads in the near future.
Everyone was also just happy to have Morgan still with us, safe and sound, after she’d been stalked and kidnapped a few short months ago.
“I’m feeling amazing,” Morgan said as she placed a hand over her stomach, where she wasn’t showing yet. Turning to face me, her smile widened. “Are you ready for this, little brother? You’re going to be famous!”
I rolled my eyes once again. “Hardly. It’s a brand-new streaming network that no one knows about.”
“Are you kidding?” Ryan said, joining us. “I’ve seen ads for it all over the place. The local channels are really pushing it.”
“And I saw an ad pop up on Instagram,” Rose said as she breezed through the front door, heading toward the living room.
Turning to my mother, I asked, “Why is Rose here?”
“I told you I was inviting the family.”
“Mom, when you said family, I assumed you meant our immediate family,” I said, pointing at myself, my sister, and her. “Not…the family family.”
Before my mother could say anything, Lily and Bradly entered. “Well, that’s rude.”
My head snapped back to my mother.
She simply shrugged. “Avery, of course, won’t be here.”
“What, she couldn’t fly in from Paris?” I deadpanned.
Taking my hand in hers, Mom said, “Sarcasm doesn’t become you, darling.”
“Really? I feel like it does at this moment,” I said as they all turned and headed in the same direction Rose had gone. “Oh God, this isn’t going to be good.”
I shoved a hand through my hair and sighed. I had a small immediate family. One older brother and one older sister. But I had six cousins. Granted, Avery and Bradly weren’t technically blood relatives, but they felt like it. We all grew up together, and truth be told, all of them felt more like brothers and sisters than cousins.
The front door opened and the rest of the family started piling in. My younger cousins, Joshua and Nathan, followed by Uncle Ty and Aunt Kaylee, who were the parents of Rose and Joshua. Uncle Tanner and Aunt Timberlynn, parents of Lily and Nathan. And Uncle Dirk and Aunt Merit, parents of Avery and Bradly—who weren’t actually related, but Dirk had been my dad’s best friend forever, so there you go—were the last ones in.
Aunt Kaylee stopped and pulled me in for a hug, then pushed me out to arm’s length. “I googled the hell out of the little hostess of your show.”
“Did you?” I asked, trying not to smile. It was totally something I could see her doing.
“It’s obvious why they asked her to host. The girl is stunning, smart, seems to have a good head on her shoulders…and did you know she volunteers at an orphanage in Bozeman?”
I did know that, but I wasn’t about to admit to my aunt that I’d goggled the shit out of Kipton as well. “No, I wasn’t aware.”
“Too bad you can’t swipe right on her.”
I laughed and was about to reply when the doorbell rang. My mother appeared out of nowhere. “That will be Kipton and her parents.”
Mom had ultimately decided to invite the Howses over first, without Jack and Travis, so they could get to know the people who’d be hosting their daughter.
I drew in a deep breath as my mother walked to the door with my father right behind her. Where in the hell had he come from?
The door opened—and I tried like hell not to push them out of the way to get my first in-person look at Kipton. She’d been so friendly during video chats with her and the producers, helping to calm my nerves, which had been steadily building as the days passed. Hell, I already felt like she was a bit of a lifeline, and the show hadn’t even started.
“Mr. and Mrs. Howse, what a pleasure to meet you! This must be Kipton!” my mother gushed as she opened the door farther. Mrs. Howse, who appeared to be around the same age as my mom, stepped into the foyer. She wore her blonde hair in a low pony and was quite attractive. After my father greeted her, she turned to me.
I let out the breath I hadn’t even realized I was holding and reached my hand out to shake hers.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Howse, I’m Hunter Shaw,” I said, giving her the smile that I used when I was trying to impress a woman. What can I say? The flirting gene clearly passed from my dad to my brother to me.
She smiled back. “Goodness, you are handsome. I can see why they picked you to do this show.”
I felt my cheeks heat as I motioned to her coat. “May I take your coat for you?”
“Thank you, Hunter,” she said as she turned so I could help her slip it off.
Bradly appeared at my side, flashing a wide grin. “I’ll take that for you, Hunter.”
When Mrs. Howse turned around, her eyes went wide at the site of Bradly.
“Mrs. Howse—” I started.
“Please, call me Laura.”
I nodded. “Laura, this is my cousin, Bradly. Bradly, Laura Howse.”
When he took her hand and kissed the back of it, I had to force myself not to roll my eyes. As he stepped back, he glanced over to me and winked.
“Hunter, this is my husband, Gilbert Howse.”
Reaching a hand out to shake his, I took in Kipton’s father. It was strange; she didn’t favor either of her parents. Her father was most likely in his late forties. Handsome guy, and pretty built. It was clear he worked out.