For a moment, her grandmother regarded her as if trying to decide whether Madison was lying or not. But then she shook her head—either because she realized that Madison had made that name up, or because she’d decided that it didn’t matter. “As if being a lesbian wouldn’t be bad enough, you’re a good-for-nothing spoiled brat on top of that. And I won’t allow you to ruin everything I have worked my whole life for.”

It was best to ignore the swipe about her sexual orientation, but Madison couldn’t ignore Grandmother Eileen’s other words. “What you worked all your life for?” She knew it would have been better to keep her mouth shut, but Madison never did what was good for her. “What exactly have you worked your whole life for? If Grandfather hadn’t picked you up from the streets, you w—”

Grandmother Eileen gasped. “How dare you!”

“You always pretend to be a businesswoman who comes from old money. Be honest just this once. You never worked for anything you have; it was served up to you on a silver platter when you married. And you’re about as old money as—”

“Madison!” Grandmother Eileen shot a look to Phil, who was stirring on the couch, and shag-rug girl, who was still blinking against the beaming sunlight.

She knew she would regret her words later, but she couldn’t help herself. “When it comes to me, you seem to have no problems calling things as they are. So let’s call a spade a spade for a change. Your father was a truck driver, and your mother didn’t even finish high school because she opened her legs for the first guy who paid her any attention! So what’s your problem? In a way, I’m following family tradition.”

“Um, I’d better go.” Phil waved his hand at Grandmother Eileen. “Hello, Mrs. Fielding.” He pulled up the girl from the shag rug. “Get up.”

The girl looked around. “Have you seen my shirt?”

“The dog ate it.” He grabbed his leather jacket from the couch, covered the girl with it, and dragged her to the door.

“Dog?” Shag-rug girl blinked. “I haven’t seen a dog.”

Phil pulled more forcefully. “Who cares? Let’s go.” After opening the entrance door, he shouted back, “I’ll call you!”

“Yeah, see ya.” For a moment Madison stared at the closed door. Hopefully, everybody had left. But with her luck today, Phil had probably slept on the couch because the guest room had already been taken. She turned back to her grandmother.

“How could you say such things in front of your”—Grandmother Eileen wrinkled her nose as if she smelled something foul—“friends?”