Half dead? Did she look that awful? "It was a mistake," Mabelle insisted tiredly, rubbing the tender spot on her forehead where she had hit it earlier. "I just wanted a place to sleep. I wasn't going to steal anything or bother you. It wasn't because I miss you." As she said it, Mabelle realized how much she actually had missed him, meeting his gaze briefly before forcing it away again.
Crossing her own arms defensively and tightly across her chest, Mabelle shivered. "I don't know," she weakly snapped, beginning to lose patience for the criticizing questions. Days were blurred together in her mind, and her brain wasn't exactly running at full capacity. But she knew her last few scraps of food were from the trash and she certainly wasn't going to give him that ammo to mock her. "Is this going anywhere? Can I leave yet?"