"Would I be with your ass if I wasn't just a little bit messed up?" Hunter replied, smirking right back at him. "We got like half an hour till dinner, sounds like time to kill to me," she added, moving past him and heading for the stairs again.

She was amused, but watching her family for too long was never something she indulged in. Just seeming the three of them huddled together like that always left her feeling empty, like an outsider staring in at the family of somebody else. It was moments like those that always made her miss Ben more than ever; if he had been there, things would be different. Or so she hoped.