The mature blonde had struck a provocative pose by the luxury sedan, her eyes bright, her large full breasts thrust forward and her legs parted slightly. She was watching Eddie and his mother closely, it seemed to Lily, with that faintly predatory look often found in older wealthy women of a liberal bent. The blonde was certainly beautiful, Lily thought, sensual, but the type all too common out here who went to middle-class orgies in sumptuous homes with saunas and Japanese tubs. As for the man, well, he was handsome enough, but she wouldn't trust him alone with his own grandmother.

Lily turned her attention back to her young son, smiling gently, and stood him away again to look at him. "Honey," she said, "honey, what are you doing here? I thought… well, your father…"

"Oh, Mom, I couldn't stay with him another niinute, I just couldn't! I had to come to you!"

Lily looked past him again to Carl and Cindy. "Let's go inside and talk honey," she told her son.

But the couple were walking towards Lily now, Carl smiling disarmingly. Lily felt uncomfortable in his presence. Even though she didn't care for his type, she had to admit he was one hell of a hunk of man; and a night with her long lithe legs wrapped tightly around him would probably be one she wouldn't soon forget…

Carl said: "We picked up your son hitchhiking outside of Reno, Lily. We had a long talk, and he confided in us to a great extent. And we sort of feel obligated to see him through and lend him moral support."

Lily did not like the way he used her first name so familiarly. She said coolly: "Why should he need moral support?"