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sighed and her voice was conciliatory when she spoke. "I am not trying to be mean. I don't want you to end up like I did, that's all. Unmarried and pregnant. Totally disowned by my family. On my own at eighteen."
    Gabby's shoulders slumped a little. She knew her mother meant well, despite her harsh behavior. Her mother loved her. "I'm twenty, Mama. Not eighteen. And I won't get pregnant, I promise."
    "He's so much older than you."
    "Why does that matter?"
    "How can you be sure he isn't only after a young chippie for a good time?"
    She faced her mother. "How do you know that I'm not after the same thing?"
    "Gabriella Cristabel Marie Appleby!"
    Shame made Gabby's face hot. She shouldn't be poking her mother. The woman was sick, depressed and worried. "I'm sorry, Mama. Let's not talk about this anymore, okay?"
    "Are you seeing him again?"
    "Yeah. Tonight."
    "You're going to leave me alone again? For a third night in a row?"
    "Mrs. Riley—"
    "Mrs. Riley is not my family, Gabby. You are. You shouldn't be leaving me in the care of a stranger from down the hall. And you know I'm too weak to manage all by myself."
    Gabby walked over to her mother and peered into the coffee cup that sat on the table near her elbow. "More coffee?"
    "Don't change the subject!"
    She took the cup and went into the kitchen. When she got there, she slumped against the counter and hung her head. Conflict was exhausting. And, in some ways—key ways—her mother was right. She shouldn't be left to the care of a neighbor. Gabby really needed to hire an aide to come in while she wasn't at home. Maybe if they cut back on expenses more, it could be done. Sighing, she stopped herself from falling into that trap again. Their expenses were cut to the bone; there was no place to economize. She bit her lip. The answer was to model more, but modeling jobs were hard to come by. Her agent did her best, but Gabby, while pretty, wasn't exotic or unusual in any way. There were jobs, nude jobs, and stuff that bordered on pornography. Those paid pretty well and were easy enough to get, even though she was padded. She'd been resisting, however, because good Catholic girls did not have sordid pictures taken of themselves. Still, it would pay for the aide. The whole idea had been churning around in her head for a month or more. She'd have to force herself to do it. It was the only way.
    In the meantime, Gabby was responsible for her mother. It was improper for her to be going out on the town every night while her mother was home, suffering alone.
    She poured more coffee and brought it back out to the small table at her mother's elbow. "I'll cancel tonight's date, Mama. We'll watch TV together, you and I. Okay?"
    "Dancing With The Stars?"
    Gabby smiled, but she wasn't at all happy. "That's our favorite show, isn't it?"
    The older woman nodded and rested her head back on the cushion behind her. "I love you, Gabby."
    "I love you, too, Mama." A tear slid down her cheek and she wiped it away as she went for her phone to call Ace.
    * * *
    Ace juggled the teetering cardboard box as he pressed the door intercom outside Gabby's building. The Chinese food inside the box was making him hungry as a bear at the end of hibernation.
    "Yes?"
    "Gabby, it's Ace. Let me in, sweetheart."
    "Ace? What are you doing here? I thought you understood that our date was canceled."
    The box tilted in his arms and he adjusted his hold. "I know. Let me in, will you please?"
    The door buzzed and Ace made his way through and started up the stairs. Gabby came out to meet him. Her hair was drawn up in a messy ponytail at the crown of her head; she wore no makeup; and, her gray sweatpants and tank top were rumpled and showed water spots. She was adorable.
    "Hi, li'l girl."
    "Hi, yourself. What are you doing here? And what's that in the box?"
    He met her on the landing. "Since you couldn't come out for dinner, I brought dinner to you. Chinese."
    She bit her lower lip and her gaze went from him to the box and back