“I like sitting here with you and drinking wine.”
“Well, those two things, sitting and drinking, happen to be my best events. You ever play two truths and a lie?”
“Is that a drinking game?”
“C’mon. It’s fun. You tell me three things about yourself—two truths and one lie.” I got up and got his Maker’s Mark and noticed there was a fresh bottle behind it. I collected two highball glasses. “If I guess the lie correctly, you have to take a shot. If you fool me, I take one.”
“You should probably know I’ve had SERE training.”
“In other words, you can lie effectively?” I filled the glasses with a finger’s worth of bourbon and put the bottle between us. “Don’t count on that.”
“You’re an actor, so same goes. Is that it?” He gave a disarming grin.
“Let’s see, shall we? Who goes first?”
As he relaxed into his seat, I moved closer.
“Your idea,” he said. “You go first.”
“Fine.” I might have had a bad feeling about things, even then. “Uh…One: When I was five, my mother bet me in a private poker game and lost. Two: I threw up on Pope Benedict’s papal loafers. Three: I smoked grass with a famous sixty-three-year-old rock icon when I was eight.”
“I think I’m going to need clarification on number one.”
“Fair enough,” I said.
“Your mother.” He had a way of peering at me that made me feel naked. “Did you mean to say she bet against you, and you won?”
“No. I meant she used me as a wager and lost.”
“That one.” He shook his head with a chuckle. “That’s the lie.”
“Bzzzzt. Take a drink, Dances with Wolves.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Nope. That’s how I ended up the face of Franklin’s Fizzy Tabs, which ceased manufacture six months later, happily, due to trademark infringement. I shit you not.”
“But—”
“But for six months of infamy I was Franklin’s Fizzy Kid.” He made jazz hands.
“What was the lie, then?”
“I never smoked pot at eight. Geez. We were actually smoking cigars.”
Silently, Stone knocked the shot back and poured another. “You didn’t tell me that you’ve been through such an unbelievable load of crap.”
“There’s more where that came from, baby. Your turn. Amaze me.”
“Okay. One: I met my wife in the seventh grade. Two: I participated in the largest lottery scratch off ever organized. It was a world record. Three: I once shoved the Monopoly dog so far up my nose it took a doctor to get it out.”
“Hm…Clarification, please.” I wasn’t sure if it was the lottery scratch off or the Monopoly dog. “Number one. You were both in the seventh grade, or you took a child bride?”
He gave me a shove with his foot. “Shut up.”
“Obviously, it’s the Monopoly dog story. You made that one up. Everyone knows only the car or the thimble will fit up the average child’s nose.”
“Bzzzzt. I’m special. You lose. Drink up, sonny boy.”
“Shoot. It was the scratch-off thing, huh? The way you told it sounded so likely.”
“That’s because my brother did it. The event was in Idaho. The best lies have an element of truth.”
“You’re right. Okay. Hush. I need to think.”
We went two more rounds and took the second bottle of bourbon, the game, and Morrigan outside to visit Hades and Persephone. Neither of us was any too sober since we both kept losing. Once we settled in the kennel with our furry friends around us, it was my turn again.
“Okay, I have it.” I leaned my back against the bars of the kennel with Hades’s head in my lap. His fur was coarse, not soft like Morrigan’s. “Hades needs conditioner. One: I had a cat named ‘Mouse.’ Two: My father left because I accidentally told him Mom was asleep with a Brazilian leather-goods designer. Three: When I was sixteen…I…thought I was invincible.”
“Two. The lie is two.”
“Bzzzzt. You lose—” His hand came down over my mouth.
“Even if one or three is also a lie, so is number two, so you lose anyway. Your dad left because your mother slept with a Brazilian leather-goods designer, not because you accidentally told him about it.” He blinked down at me. “How old were you?”
“Five,” I whispered. “I was five, and I didn’t know it was supposed to be a secret. She told me they were having a grown-up slumber party.”
“Holy shit.” He put his hand on mine. “Listen. Dads leave. Sometimes that happens. But it’s never, ever a kid’s fault if they do.”
“Logically, I know that.” With shaky hands, I poured myself a shot and downed it. “It was just a figure of speech. The real lie was I never had a cat. Mom is allergic to fur and hair and responsibility.”
He shook his head. “I don’t like your mother very much.”
“Mom’s not very likable, actually. She’s entitled as hell, she does things that are just awful sometimes, then she acts all sweet when she gets her way. That’s why I stayed with Dad whenever I could. But Mom lives in LA, and that’s where the work was…so…”
“My turn, huh?” He tapped his fingers on his thigh.
“Mmhmm. But after this round, I think I need to hit the road. If this fog gets any thicker, I’ll have a hard time finding my way back.”
“Morrigan and I will walk you back. Okay. Okay. I’ve got it. The last hurrah. One: I lost half my face when an enemy pressure cooker exploded. Shhh.” He put a finger to his lips and waved me forward. “That’s not the real story, but if I told you I’d have to kill you, so…that’s the official lie, except not for these purposes because that makes it true, doesn’t it?”
I blinked up at him. “You’re too drunk for this game.”
“No, I’m not. Two: My ex-wife, Serena’s, the only girl I’ve ever…you know. Been with. She’s the only girl I’ve ever even kissed.”
My mouth dropped open. What could that mean? Was he saying he was into guys? Why didn’t I get that vibe at all?
“Three: My kids think I’m a hero whenever we get together, and they love to play with Hades and Persephone and Morrigan.”
“Two. Two is the lie.” Of course his children thought he was a hero. What kid wouldn’t want a dad who worked with trained wolfdogs in the movies? “Drink up, bubba. I told you, you were too drunk for this game.”
“Bzzzzzzzzt. You get the long buzzer this time. Bzzzzt. Bzzzzt.”
“Come on. What the heck? What was the lie then? The one about the pressure cooker?”
He shook his head. “Nope. It was three. Actually, my children think I’m a monster. I scared them so much, Serena asked me to leave and never come back. She’s remarried to Jason now, so the kids have a new dad. I’ll bet he’s not a monster.” His eye glistened. “I hope he’s not.”
A tear ran down his cheek and hung on his chin for a bit before darkening a spot on his shirt. He ran his sleeve over his face too late.