Give him a call this weekend, he and Brenda are feeling a little low right now.’ We said our good-byes and hung up. Feeling a little low? Damn, I’... be going fucking nuts about now. I pulled up my bank statement on line and figured I had about five grand extra I could send to him and maybe an extra couple hundred every month but my dad was right, it was a drop in the bucket. I called my brother Sunday and neither he nor my sister-in-law said jack shit about his condition. They told me they were. Just not the rest of it." Phoebelaughed in a self-deprecating way. "You know, the loving him back part." It's definitely nice to have the attention, but that doesn't mean youhave to love the person back. You don't have to love just any old personwho loves you. You're not under any obligation."Marcia was thinking to her own early days with Claire, how Claire, beingolder and more experienced, had pursued her. How Marcia was sure, eventhen, that she didn't love Claire, but that it had felt so good. ..the handsome guy you mentioned? Well, I'll put her in her playpen. I really need sleep." After Amy settled down, Kate gave me a kiss and headed back to her room.The baby flopped about in her playpen for a while and then started to fuss. When I picked her up she started to cry again.Demie came home right at that moment, her face screwing up in distaste as she heard Amy crying. "Ugh. Just give her to me."I held Amy back. "Demie, you will NOT use your 'whammy' on my daughter!"She looked at me,. Both had been cutting again, this time inside their thighs where their legs came together.“That stops right now, you two. Neither of you has the skills to be cutting yourselves. If your hand jerked, you would end up as boxed worm and cockroach food, not at this party, naked. You won’t want to do it anymore, and your six new combined best friends, lovers, brother, and sisters aren’t going to let you anyway,” I told them as I was running my fingers over the scabs between their legs. “When the.