Faked (Ward Family #2)(41)

"Truth or dare," I amended. My version of a peace offering. "I'll play, but I can't guarantee I'll answer everything."

Claire weighed that for a long moment, face thoughtful, body language relaxed. "Deal."

While she finished dinner, I set the table with two dark blue plates I found in the pantry and added some wood to the fire. Outside, the wind picked up, whipping through the trees until they swayed side to side. Still, Claire hadn't said I told you so for the fact that we were stuck here. Because into day two of this ridiculous storm, we were poised to get over thirteen inches. The accumulating snow wasn't even what kept us stuck until it died down. Right now, it was the fact that they were so focused on clearing main roads that places like Scotty's along Lion's Bay were way down on the totem pole.

Claire drained the pasta, releasing a cloud of steam into the air. I got up to find us something to drink.

I crouched in front of the pantry, watching Agnes warily as she slinked across the wall in my direction. "Do you know if he has any alcohol hidden in this place?" I asked the cat.

She sat on her haunches and started licking a paw. But she didn't hiss at me, so I shrugged. I gave it one last look but decided Scotty must hate himself since there wasn't so much as a single bottle of anything in the entire place. Maybe that's why he still managed to do what he did physically even though he was over sixty.

"I couldn't find anything fun to drink," I told Claire as she set the bowl of pasta in the middle of the small table. "So water it is."

"I find proper hydration fun."

"As do I." I took a seat opposite her and gave her a smile. "Thank you for making dinner."

Her cheeks flushed pink. "No problem."

The food was delicious, and I groaned happily at my first bite of the sauce-covered noodles. "This is incredible."

"Why don't you ever go home to Seattle?" she asked without any preamble.

The noodles lodged in my throat when I coughed in surprise. After a hefty drink of water, I was able to swallow. When I was finally able to speak, my voice was rough. You know, from almost choking to death. "Jumped right in, eh?"

"It's my turn."

I sat back in my chair and studied her. "Seattle isn't my home anymore. It hasn't been for a long time. I moved to Whistler when I was eighteen and never looked back."

"Why don't you and Adele get along?"

"Oooh, no dice, you don't get two questions in a row."

Claire tilted her head. "You asked me at least four before we agreed to this. I think I've earned two."

Bracing my elbows on the table, I leaned forward and held her gaze. "Why does it bother you so much to figure me out?"

Claire didn't brush off my question like I expected her to, blaming it on her major or her own background with a mother figure that was no relation, she just searched my face. "I think sometimes I'm just as curious about the people who inflict the damage on children as the children themselves. So, while I don't know Adele very well, I'd never have pegged her as someone to hold the sins of another woman onto an innocent child."

"I was never innocent," I answered easily. "I did some boundary pushing of my own when she and my dad got married, not to mention my absolute hellion years in high school. So don't think I made it easy on Adele to walk into our family."

She pointed her fork at me. "And now you defend her. See? This is fascinating to me."

I exhaled heavily. "Can we move to a dare yet?"

"She was obviously rude to you at the dinner and even at Richard's, despite the fact that his opinion of her is incredibly valuable to her. I don't understand how an adult can act like that."

"You've met me, princess," I said with a shrug. "Everything about me bugs Adele and has since day one. Maybe someone else would've tried to gain her approval or love, but the last thing I wanted to do was sit in the shit and dwell on it all the time."

Reading between the lines of my forced casual reply was easy enough for someone as smart as Claire. And wisely, she dropped it.

We ate quietly for a few minutes until I felt like a complete asshole. It wasn't her fault, not really. I mean, no, Claire didn't have to try to understand why my stepmom and I had the relationship we did, and how that bled into my relationships with my father and brother.

I opened my mouth to apologize, but Claire spoke first.

"I don't like thinking too hard about why our mother left us."

This didn't feel like the time to say anything, so I held her gaze across the table and waited.

Claire twirled some pasta on her fork and took another bite. When she was done chewing, she set the fork down. "I'm not angry with her, not really. But when I stop and think too hard about the fact that she left four girls with their thirty-something-year-old brother, I get really, really pissed off."

Her face was so calm when she said it that I laughed.

"That's funny?" she asked.

"Not really," I admitted. "I don't get angry with Adele. I just have a million other things I could be doing with my time, so why would I choose to dwell on that bullshit?" That was an answer she could understand, judging by the look on her face in the muted light of the cabin. I lifted my chin in her direction. "Truth or dare."