Karen Lloyd leaned toward Janice Watkins. “Ms. Watkins, chew a used rubber.” Then she slammed the door.

Toby was staring at his plate when Karen came back to the table. His face was red and her face was tight and pale. When she picked up a piece of original recipe, her hand trembled and she put it back down.

Toby said, “Why did you tell’m he wasn’t my dad?”

Karen lifted the piece of chicken again and this time took a small bite. She didn’t answer. After a while Toby got up, took his plate into the kitchen, then went down the hall to his room.

Karen Lloyd put down her chicken and said, “Shit.”

At seven-fifty that evening the doorbell rang again and this time when Karen answered, Peter Alan Nelsen came in without Nick or T.J. or Dani. He said, “I’ve been thinking about this and I’ve got a way to make everybody happy.” Toby must’ve seen the limo, because he came out of his room.

Karen stiffened as if someone had injected her with Super Glue and said, “He can’t keep that thing.” First words out of her mouth.

Peter started to say something, but then he didn’t. Showing restraint. “I’m not a dope. I know I’m here at a bad time. You’re trying to straighten out this thing with the DeLuca people, and you’ve got me here, and you’ve gotta be worried about Toby. Lemme lighten the load for you. How about I take Tobe back to L.A. with me until you guys get this worked out?”

Toby said, “Yeah!”

Peter looked from Karen to me and then back to Karen. He spread his hands. “Toby’ll be safe, and I’ll be out of your hair, and you can take care of what you need to take care of. When it’s done, you can give me a call and Toby and I will come back and we can work out our family situation.”

Toby was giving it the ear-to-ear. “Great! Can I meet Sylvester Stallone?”

Peter said, “Sure.”

Karen said, “No.”

Peter frowned. “No, he can’t meet Sylvester Stallone, or no, he can’t go to L.A.?”

Karen went back to one of the wing chairs and sat down. Her knees were together and so were her hands. “He has school. He has basketball.”

I said, “It might make things easier.”

Peter said, “Jesus Christ, Karen, it won’t kill him to miss a few days of school.”

Toby said, “I can get Miss Garrett to give me the work. I won’t fall behind.”

“No.”

Peter said, “What do you mean, no?”

“It would be too disruptive. Who knows how long this is going to take?”

I said, “I think it’s a good idea.”

Karen flashed the hard eyes at me. “Nobody asked you.”