“Then I’ve saved you some time.” I pulled up a chair. “Tell me all about it.”
“There’s nothing to tell,” Rita snapped. “You’re out. You had to know it was coming—for God’s sake, you were tearing Liberty Square apart!”
“How would you know?” I asked. I struggled to remain calm. “You’ve been asleep for ten years!”
“We got updates,” Rita said. “That’s why we’re back—we couldn’t let it go on the way it was. We owed it to Debra.”
“And Lillian,” Tom said.
“And Lillian,” Rita said, absently.
Dan pulled up a chair of his own. “You’re not being fair to him,” he said. At least someone was on my side.
“We’ve been more than fair,” Lil said. “You know that better than anyone, Dan. We’ve forgiven and forgiven and forgiven, made every allowance. He’s sick and he won’t take the cure. There’s nothing more we can do for him.”
“You could be his friend,” Dan said. The light-headedness was back, and I slumped in my chair, tried to control my breathing, the panicked thumping of my heart.
“You could try to understand, you could try to help him. You could stick with him, the way he stuck with you. You don’t have to toss him out on his ass.”