Gail held the phone away from her ear and glared at it.

“No. No. Frankly I don’t care.”

She leaned her elbows on the table and rubbed her eyes with her free hand.

“No, I am not going to call my therapist to schedule an emergency family meeting. Just because You are having a problem does not make this an emergency.”

She curled her lip and made a sour face.

 “No mother, I do not need to drop everything to help you deal with this. As far as I know, you have always been able to spin whatever situation to your public advantage by yourself.” She said bitterly.

She could feel Steve staring at her.

“Look, “ she gritted her teeth, “I’m not having this conversation right now. I will be back Sunday night, and I will speak with you on Monday.”

She glared out the diner window at the lake below the highway.

“You want what?” She said incredulously, “Ok, ok, I will ask her. Yes mother. Uh huh. No. Goodbye. No. Goodbye Mother.”

And with that she hung up, cutting Elaine off mid-sentence. She might pay for this later, but right now she was too angry to care.

“She wants to know if I can bring Holly to family dinner on Thursday night.” She looked at Steve, panic starting to set in.

“And you want me and Traci to come along as a buffer, don’t you.” Steve replied.

“Um, well, since you put it that way…” She practically begged.

“Oh little sister, I wouldn’t miss this for the world!” He smirked “Hey Traci, looks like we are going to be drinking for free for quite some time.” He teased, grin growing wider until he noticed Holly’s expression.

She was sitting in a very un-Holly-like way, shoulders hunched, staring at her hands and the half eaten piece of cherry pie in front of her on the table, looking like she was trying hard not to cry.

Traci moved first, eyes full of compassion. Taking Holly’s hands in hers she said, “Oh honey, it will be ok.” She soothed in a motherly voice. “Elaine’s bark is far worse than her bite!”

“It’s not Elaine I’m worried about” Holly shrugged.

Gail was about to say something when her phone rang again.