"You're cheering me with my own liquor," Simon pointed out, but he took the glass and downed it gratefully. The liquid courage helped tame the butterflies in his stomach.

"Maybe you're right," he mused, going back to the earlier topic of his mother. "The email says she was fifteen. Maybe she's embarrassed, or she feels guilty for giving me up. At any rate, it was her dad that emailed me. I have a grandfather."