“She handed me one of the water bottles, and I sat down on the couch as she sat down on the coffee table in front of me. I smiled at this little quirk of hers that her mother always yelled at her for. It was such a familiar memory. Alice always liked to sit on the coffee table. When we were talking, she would face me like she was now. When we were watching TV, she would sit on the other side closer to the TV and lean forward as she gazed at the screen.
“I’ve missed you so much,” I said, my voice suddenly heavy with emotion.
“Me too,” she responded with the same emotion in her words and her expression. “I missed you, Ella. It hasn’t been the same without you, and I hated him for doing this to us, and I know that you hate him too. So how has he forced you to be with him?” she “de
