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“Yeah?”

“Mom used to let me clean out the frosting bowl with a silicone spatula and lick it clean while she piped the cupcakes.” I swiped the inside of the bowl with my finger, giving it a taste. “She did all the baking while I watched.”

“She didn’t teach you?”

I shook my head and leaned against the counter as he pulled the cupcakes from the oven and set them aside to cool. “She tried, but I was too young to take it all in. I wanted to be the next big thing and have my own cooking show and restaurant—the whole nine yards, but…”

He turned from the counter to face me. “But?”

“Infernals took her away, and I stopped caring.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

My jaw dropped.

“I mean, why would you stop caring for the rest of your life?”

I glared at him. “Really? I told you what happened.”

“I still don’t understand why that’d keep you from cooking or doing whatever else you dreamed of.”

“I saw monsters, Cyn. Monsters. I didn’t know they were my kind. I didn’t know anything about this place. All I knew was that some evil monsters tore apart my family and that I couldn’t stop seeing them everywhere. It’s kinda hard to focus on achieving any kind of dream when you’re afraid you’ll end up in a mental ward.”

He licked his lips and clenched his teeth, glancing at the piping bag on the counter.

“I thought about trying again, but my focus shifted to Grandma and keeping myself from appearing delusional to everyone around me. Then y’all showed up and everything blew up in my face.”

His face screwed up in confusion. “We didn’t stop you from pursuing your dreams.”

“I’m not saying you did.” I groaned and rubbed my face. “I’m saying there’s no way in hell I can think about doing something like that now.”

“So you regret it?”

“Regret what?”

“Coming here.”

I scoffed. “What do you care? You didn’t want me here in the first place.”

“That’s not answering my question.”

“No.” I glanced over at the dining room table where we’d shared meals together. “I don’t regret being forced to come here. I’m just not sure about my dreams anymore. And what does it matter to you?”

Even if things between us had improved to the point that we could live together amicably, I wasn’t under any delusions that we were on the path to becoming a bonded pair. There was still so much we didn’t know about each other. And although we physically trusted one another, I didn’t believe he trusted me on an emotional level. I couldn’t confidently say I trusted him either.

He tossed down the washcloth he’d grabbed to clean the counter, sending flour into the air and adding to the dusting we both already had on our skin and clothes. “What do you want from me, Raelynn?”

“What do you mean?”

“I brought you in here to teach you to make cupcakes, and you act like I don’t give a shit.”

“What? No, I’m not.”

“You literally just asked what it matters to me.”

“That was about my dreams.”

He pressed his tongue against the inside of his cheek. “Because I wanted to know more. You were talking about your mom and—”