They watched the pasta bubble in silence. The whole room was starting to smell warm with spices and tomato sauce, a comforting and homey sort of smell. Claire stirred the spaghetti sauce, which was looking delicious now that it was simmering.
The kitchen door banged open again. Shane, this time, a beer in one hand. Whats burning?
Your brain. So, did you two girls kiss and make up? Eve asked, stirring the pasta.
He glowered at her, then turned to Claire. What the hell is she making?
Spaghetti. And technically, it was Claire mostly, but she decided not to mention it. Um, about your daddo you think theyre going to catch him?
No. Shane hip-bumped Eve out of the way at the stove and did some spaghetti maintenance. Morganvilles got a lot of hiding places. Thats mostly for the vamps benefit, but itll work for him, too. Hell go to ground. Ive been sending him maps. Hell know where to go.
Maybe hell just leave? Eve sounded hopeful. Shane dragged a piece of spaghetti out of the tangle in the pot and pressed it against the metal with the spoon. It sliced cleanly.
No, Shane said again. He definitely wont leave. Hes got no place else to go. He always said that if he crossed the border into Morganville again, he was here until it was done.
You mean until hes done. Eve crossed her arms, not as if she was angry, more like she was cold. Shane, if he goes after even one vampire, we are dead. You know that, right?
He picked up the beer bottle and drank, avoiding an answer. He flipped off the burner under the spaghetti, took the pot to the sink, and drained it with the edge of a lid. Like a real chef or something.
Which, Claire had to admit, was pretty much totally hot, the way he moved so confidently. She liked to cook, but he had authority. In fact, she was paying a lot more attention to what Shane did todaythe way he moved, the way his clothes fitor didnt, in his case, because Shane was wearing his jeans loose and just baggy enough to give her fantasies about them sliding down. Which made her blush.
She concentrated on getting down the bowls from the cupboard. Mismatched bowls, two out of four of them chipped. She put them out on the counter as Shane returned with the spaghetti and began portioning it out. Eve grabbed the sauce and followed him down the line, ladling.
It looked pretty tasty, actually. Claire picked up two bowls and carried them into the living room, where Michael was tuning his guitar as if nothing had happened, as if he hadnt been stabbed through the heart and dragged outside andoh my God, she didnt want to finish that thought at all.
She handed him the bowl. He set the guitar carefully back in its casesomehow, with all the mayhem that had gone on in the past two days, it had escaped damageand dug in as Eve and Shane trailed in with their own dinner. Eve had two chilled bottles of water under one arm. She tossed one to Claire as she sat down cross-legged on the floor, next to Michaels knee.
Shane settled on the couch, and Claire joined him. For a few minutes nobody said anything. Claire hadnt realized that she was hungry, not really, but the second the sauce hit her tongue and exploded into flavors, she was starving. She couldnt gobble it fast enough.