He looked at her across the railing that divided their porches. "Would you like to join me for a coffee?" "I'm hardly dressed for it," she said. She was wearing a pair of cutoffs and house slippers and a shapeless green T-shirt that hung down past her butt. "The Greek doesn't stand on ceremony," he said. He was hardly dressed better. He hadn't wanted to go up to the master bedroom and face Mimi, so he'd dressed himself out of the laundry hamper in the basement. "I don't have *shoes*, Alan." "You could go in and get some," he said. She shook her head. Her shoulders were tensed, her whole skinny body a cringe. "We'll go barefoot and sit on the patio," he said after a moment, kicking his shoes off. She looked at him and gave a sad laugh. "Okay." The sidewalk was still cool enough for bare feet. The Greek didn't give their bare feet a second look, but brought iced coffees and yogurt with walnuts and honey. "Do you want to tell me about them?" "It's been bad ever since -- ever since Mimi left. All of a sudden, Krishna's Link's best friend. He follows him around." Alan nodded. "Krishna beat Mimi up," he said. "I know it," she said. "I heard it. I didn't do anything, goddamn me, but I heard it happen." "Eat," he said. "Here." He reached for a clean napkin from the next table and handed it to her. She dried her eyes and wiped her nose and ate a spoonful of yogurt. "Drink," he said, and handed her the coffee. She drank. "They brought those girls home last night. *Little* girls. Teenyboppers. Disappeared into their bedrooms. The noises they made." "Drink," Alan said, and then handed her the napkin again. "Drunk. They got them drunk and brought them home." "You should get out of there," Andrew said, surprising himself. "Get out. Today, even. Go stay with your mom and find a new apartment next month." She set her cup down carefully. "No," she said. "I'm serious. It's a bad situation that you can't improve and the more you stay there, the worse it's going to get." "That's not a practical suggestion." "Staying there, in potential danger, is not practical. You need to get out. Staying there will only make things worse for you." She clenched her jaw. "You know, there comes a point where you're not giving advice anymore. There comes a point where you're just moralizing, demonstrating your hypothetical superiority when it comes to doing the right thing. That's not very fucking helpful, you know. I'm holding my shit together right now, and rather than telling me that it's not enough, you could try to help me with the stuff I'm capable of." Alan digested this. She'd said it loudly, and a few of the other morning patrons at the Greek's were staring at them. He looked away, across the street, and spied Billy standing in a doorway, watching. Billy met his eyes, then looked away. "I'm sorry, Natalie," he said. "You're right." She blew air out her nostrils.