“If you drink like that and you don’t eat, you’re going to be sick again.”

Like hell, Gloria sneered as she snatched up her menu. She didn’t intend to stick her finger down her throat again. Once was more than enough. “Hey, they got steak Florentine. I can handle that. Remember when the old man took us off to Italy that summer? All those hot-looking dudes on motorbikes. Holy God, I had a hell of a time with that guy, what was his name. Carlo or Leo or whatever. I snuck him into the bedroom. You were too shy to stay and watch, so you slept in the parlor while we did the deed half the night.”

She snatched up her fresh glass, lifted it in toast. “God bless the Italians.”

“I’ll have the linguini with pesto and the insalada mista.”

“Give me the steak, bloody.” Gloria held out the menu without looking at the waitress. “Skip the rabbit food. Been a while, hasn’t it, Syb? What, four, five years?”

“Six,” Sybill corrected. “It’s been just over six since I came home to find you and Seth gone, along with a number of my personal possessions.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. I was messed up. It’s tough raising a kid on your own. Money’s always tight.”

“You never told me very much about his father.”

“What’s to tell? Old news.” She shrugged it off and rattled the ice in her glass.

“All right, then, let’s deal with current events. I need to know everything that happened. I need to understand it in order to help you and to know how to handle our meeting with the Quinns tomorrow.”

The gin and tonic thudded onto the table. “What meeting?”

“We’re going in to Social Services tomorrow morning to air out the problems, discuss the situation, and try to reach a solution.”

“The hell I am. The only thing they want is to fuck me over.”

“Keep your voice down,” Sybill ordered sharply. “And listen to me. If you want to straighten yourself out, if you want your son back, this has to be done calmly and legally. Gloria, you need help, and I’m willing to help you. From what I can see, you’re not in any shape to take Seth back right now.”

“Whose side are you on?”

“His.” It came out of her mouth before she realized that it was the absolute truth. “I’m on his side, and I hope that puts me on yours. We need to resolve what happened today.”

“I told you I was set up.”

“Fine. It still needs to be resolved. The courts aren’t going to be very sympathetic to a woman who’s facing charges of possession.”

“Great, why don’t you get on the witness stand and tell them how worthless I am? That’s what you think anyway. That’s what all of you always thought.”

“Please, stop it.” Lowering her voice to a murmur, Sybill leaned over the table. “I’m doing everything I know how to do. If you want to prove to me you want to make this work, you have to cooperate. You have to give something back, Gloria.”