The Truth Is...

Claudia deliberately didn’t answer Eric’s question about James’ use of the word ‘we’ when talking about his house in Vegas. She wasn’t mad at him, because she knew what he had meant by it, rather than it was their house he had meant ‘we’ in terms of the fact that they were both in Vegas and doing things like furniture shopping together.

She simply took a sip of her wine, flipped a chunk of her blonde hair back over her shoulder and asked Aaron, “What time are you leaving tomorrow?”

James saw Eric roll his eyes, but he knew well enough not to get involved in their family drama.

Aaron told Claudia, “Probably around lunch time.”

“God you’re good at that.” Eric announced, watching Claudia as he leaned back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest. When her eyebrow raised slightly, but she kept her stare on Aaron, Eric added in for good measure, as if she had no idea what he was talking about, “Pretending I don’t exist, by the way, in case you weren’t sure what I meant.”

Eric, the oldest of all of them, had always had a way of getting under Claudia’s skin. She always assumed it was because she was so much closer to Aaron, who was only a year and a half older than her, rather than nine. She had, for a long time, felt bad for Eric, being that there was so many years between all of them, she, Aaron and Marc all got to grow up together and he hadn’t had anyone.

She had always given Eric the benefit of the doubt, unlike Aaron and eventually Marc. Every time he did something she always found some way to justify it. Like when he snuck out of her bedroom window, which was the closest to the ground outside, when she was eight, ‘borrowed’ the family car and crashed it into a pole coming home a few hours later. Claudia had made excuses for him then, as much as her eight year old brain could at the time.

When she was thirteen and he was twenty-two she had covered for him when their mother’s rather expensive family heirloom went missing, claiming she had dropped it one day and was too afraid to say anything. She knew what had happened to it, deep down, but a part of her felt like she knew her parents would be less upset with her for breaking it than they would with Eric selling it.

She made excuses every time he stole something to sell it, she made excuses every time he showed up after months away asking for money because he was broke and messed up. She made excuses when he threatened their father with a kitchen knife over a silly argument about who got what when he died.

She finally stopped making excuses for him when she was seventeen and he had come home to visit after nearly a year and a half of being God knows where, and his visit had ended with her in the hospital.

She made all those excuses for him because she always thought he would grow up. Now here they were, she was thirty-one and he was forty years old and still pulling the same stunts.

Eric continued, “That’s fine, I’m used to it. This whole family has been pretending I don’t exist for two decades. What’s one more uncomfortable dinner where I’m obviously not wanted?”

“You’re not wanted around because you’re forty years old and you still act like a child.” Claudia stated, getting up from her chair. She put her napkin on the table and said, “I’m not doing this anymore.”

This time it was as if Claudia wasn’t even in the room, Eric turned his attention to James, who was getting up with intent to follow Claudia out, his cheeks flushed. He told him, “You know this is what she does right? You might think you’ve finally got her, but you never will. She can’t face anything, she takes off instead because it’s easier. Just thought you might want to know that.”

Claudia didn’t offer a response, she simply turned on her heels and walked away, and James cleared his throat, looked over at Aaron and Marc, who simply nodded a silent response to his silent question and then he turned and went after Claudia.

She was waiting at the passenger door of the rental car that was parked in the restaurant parking lot, James unlocked it as soon as he saw her standing there. She climbed in, and he did the same once he arrived, he started the car and hit start on their route back to the hotel, and Claudia didn’t say a word to him the entire drive back.

In fact, she didn’t say anything until they got up to the hotel room and she had disappeared into the bathroom to change out of her dress and into a pair of sleep shorts and one of his t-shirts that was miles too big on her.

She sat down on the bed, curling one leg underneath herself as she left the other on the floor, and she told him, “I’m sorry for all of that.”

James shrugged as he unbuttoned his dress shirt and slipped out of it, pulling on a t-shirt instead as he adjusted the waist to his pyjama pants. He asked her, “Has it always been like that between you guys?”

Shrugging Claudia said, “Not really… I mean… It was never great, but it hasn’t always been like it is.”

Sitting down on the end of the bed next to her James grabbed her hands, covering them with both of his and he asked her, “What happened?”

“He was always… he would be gone for a year, two, sometimes three, we would have no idea where he was or what he was doing or if he was even alive… and then he would show up out of the blue. He never stayed more than a week or two, just long enough for my parents to buy into his ‘I’ve changed and want to fix my life’ routine and he would cash the cheque and be gone again. When I was in high school, my senior year I think it was, he came by the house after like over a year of being gone, everyone else was at work or at school, I was home because I didn’t have afternoon classes. He showed up in this beat up Ford, asked me if I wanted to go get ice cream… I told him I wasn’t twelve anymore but got in the vehicle anyway.” Claudia told him, stopping to look down at their hands for a moment before she continued, “I knew he was on something, I just… I wanted him to stick around so I didn’t ask because I knew if I asked he probably would have kicked me out of the car. So we went and got ice cream, and it was… normal. It was like when Aaron and I would go do something. When we were on our way home he started speeding, I kept telling him to slow down and he just kept laughing and would go faster. I told him to stop and he decided to stop the car by driving it into a tree.”

James’ eyebrows crunched together, in all the years that they had known each other Claudia had never told him this. She had told him that she had been in a car accident in high school, when he saw the six inch long scar running vertically down her lower back. She hadn’t told him it was her brother who had been driving.

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” He asked her curiously, watching as again she shrugged her shoulders.

“It’s just something that we didn’t talk about in my family.” She told him, and a second later she went on to say, “I don’t remember what happened but when I woke up in the hospital after my surgery I asked where Eric was and Aaron told me that I wasn’t with him, that someone found me laying on the side of the road. When I told him what happened he told my mom and she was furious with me, she kept telling me that just because I made a mistake didn’t make it okay for me to blame him.”

His brow lifted, “What exactly did she think you did, drove a car into a tree and blamed someone else?”

“She thought I was out being an idiot with my friends. I just… I don’t think she wanted to believe that he was capable of that and after seeing her reaction to it I just thought it was better to not bring it up again. I said I didn’t remember what happened, nobody bought it but they stopped pressing and we went home and just didn’t talk about it.” Claudia explained to him.

Curiously James asked her, “Is that why you two don’t get along? Your mom and you?”

“My mom has always had a soft spot when it came to Eric, I think it was hard for her to believe that he turned out the way that he did. I think my dad just didn’t want to upset her so he just went with whatever she wanted to believe at the time.”

“So you took the blame even though it wasn’t your fault?” James asked her in surprise. He wasn’t sure he could have done the same. He wanted to believe that he would have, he was sure if it were one of his siblings he would have, but Claudia’s family was so different from his. If he were in her shoes he wasn’t sure he would have covered for Eric.

“After my mom’s reaction… I just… thought it was for the best.” Claudia told him, and then she said, “Eric disappeared again, we went back to normal. He stayed gone for… six years that time, showed up around Christmas time years later like nothing had even happened.”

“Do you want to go back to Nashville? We can, we can come back another time for furniture and stuff.” James told her, and it made her smile gently.

She leaned over and kissed him quickly before she told him, “No, I’m fine. I just think maybe we have breakfast just the two of us in the morning.”

James nodded his head, “Sounds good to me.”



James and Claudia had ended up having breakfast with Aaron and Marc the next morning, once again Eric had done a disappearing act, not that anyone was surprised. They had both apologized profusely, telling Claudia that the only reason they had brought him was because their mother asked why he hadn’t been invited and they felt guilty. Claudia knew that their mother was probably behind it from the start so it wasn’t as if she were mad at them.

They had said their goodbyes, James had promised to clear his schedule for dinner when he was in Phoenix next and then Claudia announced that she wanted to go back to bed. So they went back up to their hotel room and while Claudia napped James sat at her computer and looked for places to buy furniture, making a list of what he needed and where he could find them.

The list surprised Claudia when she woke up and found it on the table by the window while James was showering, and she smiled thinking that maybe she had rubbed off on him a little more than she had thought. She didn’t say anything when he left the bathroom in a towel, she simply walked by him and made sure to reach back and slap his butt as she passed, making him let out a loud laugh. Once she was dressed James distributed his phone, wallet and list into the pockets of his dark wash jeans, straightened his white t-shirt, ran a hand through his hair and then linked their arms together as they headed out into the Vegas heat.

Their first stop was for furniture, most of which they found at Restoration Hardware, James’ favorite place to shop for furniture, his entire house in Nashville had basically been from there. He found a large, four poster bed that looked straight out of an old Victorian movie that, surprisingly, they both liked. James wasn’t one for mismatched items, at least not anymore, and out of slight laziness he purchased the matching nightstands. It was Claudia who had found the deep purple square shaped tufted sectional that James had bought practically on the spot, and he let her guide him on how to mix modern and traditional though he made all of the final decisions.

She had even convinced him that, while they were here, he may as well buy furniture for the guest rooms now rather than later and James remembered, when he saw the final bill, why he hated moving in the first place. At least he was able to do it this way was what Claudia told him on their way out when he grimaced at the sight of the total on the bottom of the receipt again.

They were on their way to grab lunch, having a few hours to kill before they had to be at the house to let the delivery guys in, lucking out that most of the things James had bought they had in the warehouse, when Claudia stopped suddenly and grabbed his arm. He came to a screeching half after her, turning with a raised eyebrow he asked her, “What was that for?”

“There’s one more thing we have to do.” Claudia told him, and when he raised his eyebrow for a second time she explained, “I know it’s your house… but you need at least one thing that isn’t brand new and I’m buying it for you.”

He found himself staring at an old vintage wingback chair with distressed wood framing but it was the bright yellow velvet fabric that made him raise both of his eyebrows at her. He pointed out, “It’s yellow.”

“Trust me.” She told him as she dragged him inside.

James didn’t argue with her when she paid an obscene amount for an old chair, because she had that look in her eyes that told him it was futile. He pulled the rental car up to the street outside the shop, loading the chair into the back, grateful that he had opted to rent an SUV in the even that they had to transport anything themselves.

He wasn’t sure where exactly Claudia was planning on putting this eyesore of a chair, but if he only had to deal with one item she picked out for a house he was hoping one day they would share then so be it. He could handle an ugly, canary yellow velvet chair for her.

Hours later, when the delivery people had all left and James’ new home was filled with furniture, Claudia dropped onto the couch, which wasn’t even in place, and she told him, “I want to talk to you about something.”

“I’m not sure I like the sound of that.” James stated wearily as he approached her and sat down next to her.

She smiled over at him and assured him, “No, it’s not bad or anything.”

“Okay… shoot.”

“Well I’ve been thinking about our situation here.” Claudia started, and when James’ smile faltered she was quick to tell him, “I need like two months to get everything figured out.”

“Wait what?” He asked her, eyebrows raised.

She couldn’t help but poke fun, “You know, if you raise your eyebrows any higher you’ll have to open up a fast food franchise.”

He rolled his eyes but laughed at her and told her, “You sure do have a way with words.”

“I just thought instead of torturing you with all the reasons first I should just come out and say it and then explain everything.” Claudia informed him with a grin.

He turned his body to face her straight on, and he wore as serious of a look on his face as he could muster without bursting into laughter as he told her, “Go on.”

With an eye roll Claudia told him, “I know this is a new thing and it’s a little scary to uproot my life for you right now but… like I’ve said before, this isn’t a new relationship like most other new relationships. You’re my best friend, I trust you with my life and I can’t imagine a life without you in it. So maybe we give this a real shot between us… it’s just gonna take some time to get everything tied up in Nashville, and to pack up my stuff. So I’m saying yes, I’ll move to Vegas with you, but you’ll have to survive here alone for the first month or so.”

“I can handle that.” James told her.

Before he could say anything she said, “I’ve also already arranged for you to have your meals covered in the time that I’m gone.”

James’ eyebrow raised, “You did?”

“Yeah, Elise has you covered.” Claudia told him with a laugh.

When the expansion team had been named James had given Elise, Marc-Andre’s wife, Claudia’s number hoping that if she formed a friendship with her that maybe Claudia would feel a little more comfortable moving to Vegas with him. It appeared that his plan had worked.

"You know I really think-" James started, and then he paused for a moment and he looked at her and his cheeks pinked up. For a second Claudia thought that maybe she knew what he was trying to say, and then he cleared his throat, shook his head slightly and told her, "I really think I could actually love it here."

Okay... not exactly what she had been expecting.