Not when she had nothing to apologize for.

Surprising herself, Emma said, “I’ve already told you.”

“You’ve told us nothing, just a load of nonsense.”

Julie returned with three fresh glasses of champagne and Jane picked hers up as if it had the cooties.

Rudely shoving it back at Julie she said, “We have nothing to celebrate here.”

Emma already had hers at her lips and even as Jane said, “Don’t you dare drink that, young lady,” Emma pounded her glass in one long gulp.

“Here, take this one too,” Julie said, deftly replacing the empty glass in Emma’s hand with Jane’s untouched reject, muttering, “I have a feeling you’re going to need it,” in sympathy.

“Impertinent girl. I’ll be sure to speak to the owner about her cheek,” Jane huffed.

It was sick, Emma knew it was, but she smiled at the thought of her mother telling Jason to fire one of his friendly waitresses. Talk about a scene.

“Since you don’t seem to be able to think clearly, your father and I are going to do it for you.”

Emma merely sipped from her third glass of champagne. Funny, the last time she drank this much this fast had been last Saturday night. At the reunion. The alcohol had made her bold that night. She knew it was a cop-out, wished she was strong enough to stand up for herself without the benefit of a buzz, but since she wasn’t, she desperately hoped it would do the same for her tonight.

“As soon as Mrs. Ellison told us that aFOR SALE sign went up on your house, we knew you needed our help. Immediately.”

Jane’s “we love you and know what’s best for you” wasn’t going to work. Not this time. If they really loved her they’d want her to be happy. Not get back together with an ex-husband she should have never married in the first place.

“Mmm-hmm,” she said, taking another fortifying gulp of the bubbly drink.

“It was that boy who convinced you to do it, wasn’t it?”

“Boy?” She wanted to hear her mother say his name, acknowledge his existence as a real person. And yes, even though Jason had indeed proposed the sale of her house, Emma would never admit this fact to her parents. Never.

“That…. Jason Roberts.” Jane nudged Walter. “Your father never did like him, did you? Tell her.”

Her father shook his head, but Emma could tell that as usual, he was doing his damndest to stay out of it.

Too bad. Because this time, Emma needed him to take a side. To have an opinion.

“Really, Daddy? What didn’t you like about him?” she asked pointedly.

Jane spoke quickly. “He had no manners. No culture.”

“I didn’t ask you for your opinion, Mother. I already know how you feel about Jason. I asked Daddy.”

Jane pinched her lips together and glared at Walter as if she were daring him to say the wrong thing.

Patiently, Emma waited for her father to respond. “Well,” he finally said, “we thought you could do so much better.”

Emma cocked her head to the side, thinking,You actually thought that Steven was better for me? But what came out of her mouth was, “Are you saying that you never had anything against him personally?”

“I never liked him, with his overly familiar behavior,” Jane said and with one quick glare, Emma made it perfectly clear she was waiting for her father to respond. Besides, she wondered furiously, what was wrong with Jason coming across to strangers as friendly? Open? Approachable? It was better than all those society friends of her mother’s who acted like they had regular pole insertions up their you-know-whats.

Surprisingly, her fierce look was working wonders on her mother. It might have very well been the first time Emma had ever seen Jane back down to let her father get a word in.

“No,” her father finally admitted. “I had nothing against the boy.”

Emma let this shocking news sink in.

“Enough useless chitchat,” Jane fumed. “We informed the Realtor you were mistaken in putting your home on the market.”

Emma got angry, then. Really, truly angry.

“How dare you?” Out of habit, she took a drag from her glass of champagne. Suddenly disgusted with herself for needing alcohol to make her brave, she pushed it away.

“Perhaps you haven’t noticed, maybe I haven’t given you any reasonto notice, but I’m not a little girl anymore.”

“No matter how old you are, we still know what’s best for you,” Jane insisted.

“No you don’t.” Each word fell from Emma’s lips like a bullet. “And I’m not sure you ever have.”

Jane’s gasp was loud enough to cause diners at the surrounding tables to turn their heads. “How can you say such a thing? We’ve only ever had your best interests at heart.”

Emma had never used foul language in her parent’s presence. But there was a time and a place for everything.

“Bullshit.”

Jane’s hand slapped across Emma’s cheek in the blink of an eye. “How dare you speak to your father and myself like that! Like some low-class tramp. That’s what being here, with that boy, has done to you.”

Pushing her chair back, she wrapped her bony fingers tightly around Emma’s wrist. “Get up right now, young lady. We are leaving.”

Her mother had never slapped her before, but then Emma had never given her cause to do such a thing.

Especially given that she’d spent the past thirty years playing the role of “perfect daughter” with such precision.

But Emma was surprised to find that she was stronger than her mother. By far. Maybe it was due to all that delicious food she’d been eating, which had given her a couple of extra pounds of strength.

Or maybe it was the knowledge that Jason wanted her. No one had ever truly really wanted her. Not like he did. The real her, not someone he was trying to mold into his own picture of perfection.

Jason’s low voice held thunder and lightning as he stared at Jane with a look of utter hatred. And contempt. “Apologize to your daughter. Immediately. And then get out of my restaurant.”

Emma hadn’t heard Jason come out of the kitchen until he’d leapt to her defense. She was thrilled that he cared so much about her, but tonight, she needed to finally fight her own battles.

Calmly getting up from her chair, she stood before Jason, taking both of his hands in hers. “I know you want to help me, but please, let me do this on my own.”

His jaw was tight as he stared at the raw skin on her face.