"It was pretty bad," she agrees, her nose wrinkling slightly as she looks down at her coffee. "But I got to see Dale again. I got to say goodbye and really... accept that he's gone, I guess."

She looks up again and smiles. "That sounds sort of awful, too, but it wasn't. That part was nice and it was necessary, I think, and so as much as it sucked, I'm not sure it was entirely meant as a punishment or as some kind of cruel joke."