His attention snapped back to her. "No," Scotty replied simply.

Beady sighed. "I guess he had his reasons. But … I thought he cared more. I hated him for a while for disappearing on us like that."

"He was an asshole-"

Beady shook her head. "Not really. He just didn't know any other way to be." She was quiet for a while and Scotty was uncomfortable enough that he had nothing to say either.

She drew in a deep breath as if coming to a difficult decision. ...