Sam took a swig of soda. ‘Don’t that put you right off being a lumberjack then?’

Everyone laughed this time, and the fact that Marty sniggered into his wine let Claire out of the cage. She ran a finger round the top of her glass. ‘I would have thought that given your background, Sam, you’d be slightly more sympathetic to a statistic like that.’

Katie shot Sam a glance. Sam held Claire’s gaze.

‘Sorry. Not with you.’

‘No. I’m sorry. Sorry if I’m the one to remind you that Native Canadians don’t do too hot in the promotion stakes. That is if they can get a job at all.’

Sam looked steadily at her. ‘I got a job.’

Marty put a hand on Claire’s. ‘Claire.’

She pulled her hand away. ‘No, come on folks. Let’s face up to it here. What kind of a job have you got exactly, Sam? A good job?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Oh well pardon me once again. Gerry led me to believe you were a manual groomer. Not exactly executive status, unless Silver Ski Company’s started recruiting from Harvard.’

Sam said nothing.

Claire softened her voice, and if the intention by doing so was to paper over the cracks, it was wasted.

‘Look, all I’m saying is that I know how you people must feel. I’m a woman. I get shit on too.’

Sam looked into his soda like there was something dead in there. ‘I can believe that. The last part anyway.’

Marty wiped his mouth with his napkin. ‘Okay, time we were hitting the road. Listen, it was real nice meeting you. We’re staying with Gerry and Ann another week. Maybe we can all ski together.’

Katie was still looking at Sam. She slipped a hand beneath the table and wound her fingers between his. ‘Yeah. That’d be neat. I don’t know if we can take time off, but if we can, sure.’

Sam looked across at Claire. ‘If we can’t, I sure look forward to sweeping the snow off your car.’

Marty stood up, and the others followed his example, scraping their chairs on the wooden floor, and fussing over their possessions. Marty moved round the table, kissed Katie and put a hand on Sam’s shoulder. ‘No hard feelings, Sam. Lighten up. Everyone’s a little gassed.’

Sam nodded solemnly.

There were polite noises made and Katie herded everyone out without the assistance of her husband who remained seated, staring into the middle of the abandoned table. He heard the door close and their footsteps crunching in the drive, and was aware of Katie standing behind him, leaning against the doorframe.

‘She was a jerk. Wasn’t it enough to just let her be one and leave it at that?’

‘Should have been.’

Katie pulled up a chair beside him and put her head on his shoulder. He slipped his arm round her.