Howie sighed. He got up and walked over to Samantha. He sat down on the bench below her, resting his elbows on the table and his head on his hands. He looked up at Samantha. She looked so far away; almost like her body was in the room but her spirit and her thoughts were someplace entirely different. He touched her leg and smiled at her, silently encouraging her to continue.

"Taryn started college at Stanford while I was a junior in high school. 2 years later I started at Stanford. That was also my father's idea. Christopher received his degree from Stanford Medical School and he wanted Taryn and I to do the same. My father had this idea that Christopher, Taryn and I would all be pediatricians and open an office together. Christopher was in practice with another doctor at this point but my father figured by the time Taryn and I finished med school, Christopher would be ready to go out on his own. Because I had taken a few different classes than Taryn did in high school, I wound up in some of her core classes even though I was 2 years behind her. After receiving her B.A., she decided she wanted to transfer to U.C.L.A. instead of finishing her degree at Stanford. She told my father it was because she felt too much pressure going to the same school I was attending. That was part of the truth but I knew the real reason she wanted to transfer schools was because she had met a guy who lived in Los Angeles and she wanted to be closer to him. Taryn and I had never really had the opportunity to socialize with kids our own age. She was 19 and this was the first guy she had ever seriously dated. I was only 16 and I looked about 12 so I had no social life. My father agreed to let Taryn transfer schools. He wasn't happy about it though. I received several lectures on how I should have helped Taryn study more so she wouldn't have felt so much pressure to do well."

"Sounds to me like you had nothing to do with Taryn transferring schools Sam. You dad shouldn't have blamed you for that."

"Thanks Howard." Samantha sighed deeply. "It didn't matter to him what the REAL reason was that Taryn wanted to transfer schools. All she had to do was blame me and he was by her side, comforting her during her hard times." She rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry. You have probably already guessed there was no love lost between Taryn and I."

"I don't think you are to blame for that Samantha." Howie said quietly while silently cursing her father for turning her into the emotional wreck he had witnessed this weekend.

"Thanks." Samantha bit her lip again. "My father didn't meet Devyn until Taryn had been at U.C.L.A for over a year. Devyn was a musician. Well, he called what he played music so I guess that made him a musician to some people. He gave me the creeps. Taryn couldn't see that though. She was very naïve. Physically and chronologically she was 20 but emotionally, she was about 13. She thought the sun rose and set in Devyn. I didn't think his group was very good. They were sort of thrash metal. Actually, they were just very loud. Taryn thought they were great. She was at every show she could get to. I am really bad about judging people on first impressions. I was right about Devyn though. I told Taryn he was using her. She told me to mind my own business. My father had a speaking engagement at U.C.L.A. near the beginning of Taryn's second year in med school. He had never spoken there before but since Taryn was there, he accepted their request. After he met Devyn, he told Taryn in no uncertain terms that if she didn't quit seeing him, he would stop paying her tuition. Taryn agreed to stop seeing Devyn."

"So your dad had a great deal of influence over Taryn as well." Howie stated raising his eyebrows.

Samantha snickered. "Not as much as Devyn did."