r, thick and bitter, a perfect match for

at the kitchen table, he

dy gone to his room, sens

a dry, painful sound that scraped at my nerves. He

trembled on

r voice cracking. "I... I

nds clenched into f

pay at the steel mill, Lisa' s part-time waitressing tips. Enough to get by,

lling over. "Bren Kowalski. She invited me

u could call someone who always seeme

I kept my voice

mall. Then it got bigger. Sal Mor

, a cardsharp. Of c

asked again, l

ds barely audible. "Kevin's college money. The

chair, knelt on t

y. So, so sorry. P

ve thousa

uture

a broken woman. And I felt nothin

ey smell was m