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“No. She was really drunk.”
Sky’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe she doesn’t remember. Maybe she thinks you guys did something you didn’t, and that’s why she’s so hurt over it.”
“It’s possible.” I leaned forward, putting my elbows on my knees. “But I promise you, Sky, we didn’t sleep together. She was way too drunk for that. I did walk her to her room and put her in her bed. But I didn’t stay there with her. I left right after I made sure she was safe.”
Her green eyes held on to mine as she delivered three words I never thought I’d hear her say. “I believe you.”
“You do?”
She nodded. “Yeah. For whatever reason, River, I don’t think that you’re a liar.”
“Thanks?”
“I know that didn’t sound like a compliment, but it was. Hating you has been exhausting. But it’s also been kind of fun. You’re always quick with the comebacks, which I appreciate. Keeps me on my toes.”
I stopped myself from laughing. “I want to disagree with you, but whenever we fly together, it’s as infuriating as it is exciting. I never know what you’ll say next. It pisses me off, but a part of me enjoys it.”
I pushed to a stand and pulled her curtains back to look outside. The snow was falling so heavily that I couldn’t see anything, except for a solid blanket of white. We were definitely going to be stuck in this hotel for the foreseeable future.
“I am sorry though. For being so mean all the time. I know I take it too far sometimes.”
“I accept your apology. And I’m sorry too. About earlier.” I let the fabric go and turned to face her right as she took a step closer to me. I hadn’t even heard her get up from the bed and move in my direction.
“For which part?” She was looking up at me, her eyelashes batting, tempting me to take her in my arms and worship every inch of her.
I grabbed one of her hands and brought it to my lips, pressing a gentle kiss there. “For what I said about your dad. I obviously didn’t know.”
The hand I was holding tensed, and instead of dropping it, I held on tighter.
“Thank you. I appreciate you saying that.”
“Were you two close?” I asked, knowing that I was opening myself up to the same line of questioning from her. I was willing to go there.
“We were.” She pulled her hand from mine, but didn’t step away. “The holidays hurt so much without him. It’s not the same, you know?”
“I can imagine,” I said because I didn’t know what it was like to lose a parent to death. Both of mine were still alive. Even though I had little to no respect for my father anymore, he was still breathing and around whenever I visited.
“Are your parents still married?” she asked, and I gave her a curt nod.
“If you can call it that,” I said, and she looked sad for me.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that my dad was a habitual cheater, and my mom felt stuck since she didn’t have a job, so she stayed with him instead of leaving.”
Sky sucked in a long, deep breath before blowing it out slowly, digesting everything I’d just said. “And that’s why you don’t lie.”
“Huh?”
I’d never put the two things together before, but she was probably right. I hated the way my father constantly lied, even after getting caught. I never understood why he didn’t just own up to his indiscretions, but maybe it was because he wasn’t sorry for them. Admitting that he’d had multiple affairs should have been followed by an apology, and that was something he didn’t want to give.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard my father apologize in my entire life now that I thought about it.
“When you grow up with someone who lies a lot, you go one of two ways. You either adopt that behavior because it’s familiar. Or you despise it so much that you become the polar opposite. I think you took the opposite route.”
“I think you might be onto something,” I agreed because she was right.
That was exactly what I’d done. I didn’t want to be anything like my father, so I’d made sure that I wasn’t. Not in that regard anyway.
