"Of course, Mom. That can happen later, after you--" She made obscene gestures with her hands.

"I'm not having this conversation anymore," Joyce said as she got up and left for her office.

But as she thought about the matter, she had to admit her daughter had a point. A man trying to establish intimacy with a new woman in his life doesn't want to have the woman's daughter--even a technically adult daughter--just down the hall from where they are making "nookie." So now she had to contrive to get Gerald to take her to his place. Why shouldn't he? She would have a natural curiosity about his residence. The...