Her throat closed, but she picked up her glass and forced a sip of water to cool it.

Mom blathered through the rest of the meal about her current boyfriend, and by the time Raven got back to the gallery, she'd been so shaken she didn't even say hello to Nicole. Walking past her assistant, she climbed the steps to her office and sank behind her desk, shaking. She had no idea how long she'd been staring at her blank monitor when Nicole strode in later.

"You have a lot of ...