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She took a tissue fro then to blow her nose She h and he wondered if the worst of the stor her head with a small sad smile "Do you want to knohat I ca with everything else I found an empty vodka bottle and six empty beer cans tossed in the trash There hiskey all over the patio where you’d knocked over the Maker’s Mark You ainst the table because it was tipped up on its side and there was broken glass everywhere It’s a wonder you didn’t cut your own throat"

She paused and pressed the tissue against her , "I don’t know you, Walker I have no idea who you are or what you’re about I’m serious"

"What do you want ain as long as I live I give you od’s sake Spare me Look at you You’ve been drunk for days and now an innocent girl is dead"

He knew better than to go on defending hiet it all out of her system, and then maybe she’d relent He held his hand out, palm up, in afor divorce"

"Carolyn, don’t say that I’ll quit I proive a shit about your promises You said you could quit anyti as I kept an eye on you The ain and look at the result I’e of yourself and you blew it"

"I know I understand I have no defense I’ you not to do this We’re a fa to ht That poor girl died because of you"

"Don’t keep saying that I get it and you have no idea how horrible I feel I deserve the worst I deserve anything you want to throw at me--hatred, blaht now I need you I can’t get through this without you"

Her s and she rolled her eyes "You are such a horse’s ass"

"Maybe so, but I’m an honorable man I’ll take full responsibility You can’t conde with everything else, you’re forgetting your previous DUI"

"That was years ago The whole thing was du on uy was a moron You said so yourself"

"Not so much of a moron he didn’t smell whiskey on your breath and haul you off to jail I was the one who bailed you out Because of you, the social worker nearly tossed out our application to adopt--"

"Fine All right I did that, Your Honor I’ized a hundred ti caot up and reached for her coat "Tell the judge ‘No harood for a laugh"

The rest of the day went by in a blur He feigned et more medication God bless Percocet, his new best friend He picked at his supper tray, then flipped from channel to channel on the TV set, too restless to focus He ran through the confrontation with Carolyn a hundred ti evenone way or the other How could he regret consequences when the before and the after and the in-betere gone?

At 9:00 PM he ith a start, unaware that he’d fallen asleep He heard footsteps in the hall and turned to the door expecting to catch sight of Blake Barrigan He’d never had uy, but their wives were friends and he was sorely in need of a friend hian, likesympathetic whether he felt that way or not

When Herschel Rhodes appeared in the doorway, Walker thought he was hallucinating Herschel Rhodes? Why was he stepping into his hospital rooh School, where the two had occasional classes together Herschel was a hoht, with bad skin and no social skills To cos he was earnest and studious, the poor schmuck Teachers fawned over him because he paid attention in class and actually participated That’s how out of it he was The boy was hell on raising his hand and the answers he gave were usually right He turned in his class assign so far as to type his ter the copious footnotes What a little kiss-ass Herschel was one of those kids shunned and ignored by the popular kids No one was ever outright rude to hi that went on behind his back, he gave no indication of it