Stoner slowly turned his head and fixed on her, like a big guard dog. “Since when does this Barks bitch make the rules about what we do as a family?” I’d been thinking it was ever since the night Mom almost offed herself and Stoner gave me a black eye, but maybe that’s just me. According to Stoner, the Peggots and me were a no-go. He said he was getting an injunction, so if I went over there the cops would arrest me. I looked over at Mom like, Is this true? And she made just the tiniest, tiniest shake of her head. He didn’t see it. The microwave he’d bought her with the blue lit-up clock said
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