A Mother to Embarrass Me by Carol Lynch Williams Page A

father?”
    “No, should I?”
    “Absolutely not.” Boy, did I mean that. The next thing I knew, Mary might start dancing with my father. He might teach her to break-dance. What a frightening thought.
    “Who else is coming?”
    I ran through invitations, ticking off the names I could remember from Mom's list, then running high-speed through mine. “And Derek, Maggie, Sam and I think that's all.”
    And Quinn, too
, I thought, but I kept it secret. I hadn't invited Rebecca to come with him because I wanted to have a chance to maybe sit near him, if it was possible.
    “Is Christian coming?” Mary asked.
    “Maybe.” I hadn't spoken to him, not once, since the morning he caught me spying on him and Mom. Until yesterday, every time I saw him, he looked the other way. Yesterday I had given him an invitation, walking it to his door even, the names Quinn and Christian written in my best handwriting on the cream-colored envelope.
    “For Mom's party,” I had said to Christian. I had stood outside the door to his house, cool air blowing out on me, things smelling a little like spaghetti. He'd said nothing, only raised his eyebrows.
    I backed down the stairs. “Hope you cancome,” I'd said, lifting my hand to shade the afternoon sun from my eyes. “Quinn, too.”
    Christian had shrugged, then shut the door with a soft click. It had sounded worse than a slamming door, though I'm not sure why.
    Now I said to Mary, “We'll see about Christian. We'll see if he even shows up.” And I kind of hoped he would.

Dad helped Mom into her La-Z-Boy as soon as we heard car doors slamming outside. He tucked a blanket around her knees and there she sat, makeup on for the first time in days (“I can't let them see me without it!”), hair all done (“What will they think if I don't at least brush my hair?”) and in a pretty pink outfit (“I don't look that terrific in my jammies”).
    “I haven't been up in so long,” Mom said, “I can hardly stand the wait.”
    “Remember, Jimmey,” Dad said. “Laura and I will do anything you need us to do.”
    “I won't risk baby Kyra,” Mom said. She smiled like nothing else, her face all lit up. “Being in bed has been such a bore.”
    “Still, I want you to take it easy,” Dad said. He planted a kiss on top of Mom's head.
    “I'll not be overdoing anything,” she said.
    I could only hope this would be true. And about the commercial. I could only hope for a towel as big as a tent. I glanced at Mom. No, a towel bigger than a tent.
    Mary was the first kid to arrive.
    “Help me greet,” I said when I let her in. It was hot outside and the smell of petunias swept in through the front door.
    “I love this!” she said. “I love parties!” Mary clapped.
    “I know it,” I said. “That's because you have your parents and I have mine. Parties at your house are nothing to fear. Don't forget the Night.” I did a little bit of a dance, chugging my arms around, trying to look geeky. What I needed was a too tight silky shirt and a sequined glove like M.J. used to wear. Darn my luck for not having those things.
    “But Laura,” Mary said. “You told me your mom and dad promised not to do anything embarrassing. Besides, even if my parents were embarrassing, and they are, they would never have a caterer show up and do this kind of thing.” Mary threw her arms out, meaning my whole house, maybe my whole
life.
    If only she knew.
    Mary and I answered the door as Mom and Dad's many friends showed up. It wasn't long before the game was about to start. That's when Isaw Quinn come walking down the driveway from where he… what was that? From where he and Rebecca had parked.
    “Oh no,” I said.
    “What?” Mary looked out too. “I see,” she said. “No Christian. Maybe he'll still show up.”
    “Yeah,” I said. “Maybe so.”
    Quinn and Rebecca made their way down the driveway, hand in hand. They were still kind of far away when he said something and Rebecca threw her head back and