He flinches. "So that's what it is? You're scared I'll leave you?"

"I'm not scared." I am. I don't want to be alone. "I'm just preparing for the inevitable."

"Don't lie to me, AJ." Spaghetti forgotten, he prowls towards me. "I don't want to leave any more than you do, okay? All the power is in your hands now. All you need to do is promise not to send me away."

That spaghetti will burn. "How would I send you away?"

"You could tell the police about me. Tell them I'm ...