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"I know, but it's something new I'm trying."
She looks me over. She's examining me. "You could tell me. Put me out of my misery."
"After coffee."
She shakes her head. "Don't make me torture you."
I smirk. "Torture me how?"
"I'll tie you to the dining room table."
"I'm liking it so far."
She folds her arms. "And drink all your tea while you watch helpless."
I laugh and all the tension in my back eases. She's trying.
"You win. That's much too horrible a fate." I bring my gaze back to hers. "Samantha wants to buy out my half of the house."
"What did you tell her?"
"That she could have it."
"Oh." Her gaze turns to the backyard.
"I'd rather not go to war over it. Before we started staying here, I didn't want anything to do with this place."
"Bad memories, right?"
"Yeah." I move closer to her. "If you want me to keep this place, I will. I'll call her right now and tell her she can't have it."
Alyssa shakes her head. "What do you want?"
"I promised it to her a long time ago," I say. "And she needs the stability."
"Do you do whatever she asks?"
"It's only a house."
She hugs her knees to her chest. "This time, it's a house. Last time, it was running off to be by her side for a week. Next time, who knows?"
"Ally, she tried to kill herself."
She shakes her head. Bites her fingernail. "And she milked that for as much as she could, didn't she?"
"It's not like that."
She sinks into the couch. "What the hell is it like then?"
"We're friends."
Her voice is low. Desperate. "No you aren't. Friends don't ask you to rearrange your life for them. They don't guilt you when you leave after a week by their side. Friends give as much as they take."
"She's going through a rough time. She can't help it."
Alyssa lets out a sigh. "And this rough time has lasted what--a year?"
"About that."
