After Zoë makes it here.”If Zoë makes it. No one said that aloud. Zoë not making it to us meant Pat and Kia couldn’t make it home either. I tri...d not to go down that rabbit hole. My face was turning as ashen as Andrea and Renée’s.“I want to do it,” Suzi squeaked, “If you’ll let me.”She wasn’t asking me for permission. Her light brown eyes flickered from Xiomara, to Renée, and to Marin.“I think it’s a great idea,” Connie beamed.“I don’t know--”“Don’t be silly,” Marin interrupted me, “I think. Well, maybe for me anyway. That's how I dealt with it, doing something that I'm not sure most, if many would approve of or view as very appropriate or morally acceptable. I jerked off. A lot.It wasn't about being horny, or in general had anything to do with sex at all. It was simply my way of relieving the stress, dealing with all the hardship and sadness that had smothered the atmosphere inside the house like a wool blanket on a hot summer's day.I had left behind friends, one girl in. The picture was intoxicating."It's okay with you, that they call you Milo?" Oh, yeah, I love it." Yeah?" Oh, yeah. I always seem to be short of time and moving pretty fast, so I'm sure that's where it comes from. They don't mean anything nasty about the dark part, I'm sure." That's okay then... Milo." Great. Now listen, are you always here at this time of the morning?" Mostly, why?" Well, like I said, I need somewhere to have a coffee. This is really convenient, but I hate to have coffee alone.. Well, it certainly hadn't been for richer. For as much as she'd done to push him ahead at work, he was always complaining about how hard it was to make ends meet. She couldn't get away from it, even on vacation. There they'd be in the suite she'd picked out on top of the cruise ship, and Steve would be whining over a few bottles of champagne for the friends they'd met at dinner.Her father hadn't complained. But fat chance of getting his money. Mommy was burning through it so fast she'd even.