“I could have stayed home, too,” I said.
“There’s no need for both of you to do that,” Daddy said. “Cassie’s quite capable of handling it all.” He smiled. “So. Is there a lot of excitement about the basketball game Friday?”
“Very much. No one’s talking about anything else.”
“These are your best years, Semantha,” Mother said. “Enjoy them, and don’t dare worry yourself about me. It will all be fine, just fine.”
“There’s a rally the last period of the day on Friday. The whole student body will be brought down to the gym, and the coach will speak, and the cheerleaders will cheer.”
“How exciting,” Mother said. “Your father told me Cassie’s taking you to the game.”
I nodded. Was it terribly selfish of me to mention the party now, considering what had happened? Once again, my open-book face spoke for me.
“What is it, Semantha?” Mother asked. “Is something wrong at school?”
“Oh, no. It’s nothing.”
“It’s something,” she said.
Daddy nodded.
“It’s just that I was asked to go to an after-game party,” I said, trying to make it sound insignificant so neither she nor Daddy would think I was being self-centered.
“Where is this party?”
“At the home of a boy in our class, Eddie Morris. His father owns that big pharmacy.”
“Oh, yes,” Daddy said. “He’s always in politics. Very respectable people.”
“This boy I know, Kent Pearson, has asked me to go. He said his father would take us and take me home afterward, but it’s not important now.”
No one spoke for a moment, but they both smiled at me. I looked toward the doorway, terrified that Cassie might have come back upstairs and overheard me.
“Well, it sounds fine,” Mother said. “One thing is for sure. Of course it’s important. I don’t want anyone moping about and wringing her hands over me while she could be enjoying herself. That goes for both you and Cassie.”
“I don’t have to go,” I said.
“Of course you do,” Mother said. “If there’s any problem, your father can pick you up as well. I don’t want him thinking only of me,” she added, now giving him a look of chastisement.
He laughed. “Okay, Semantha, it’s settled. Now, why don’t you do whatever you have to do before helping with dinner,” Daddy said.
“Wipe that look of worry off your face, honey,” Mother told me. “Everything’s all right. Go on.”
I leaned over to kiss her and then left them. I could feel the tugging emotions inside me, the battle between happiness and fear. It actually made me shiver a bit. I hurried to my room and tried to concentrate on my homework, but my eyes kept leaving the pages of my textbooks and looking with anticipation toward my bedroom doorway. Cassie never came, so I finally closed my books and went downstairs to help with dinner.
She had already done quite a bit. She had prepared a pot roast and potatoes, begun to steam some vegetables, and had the ingredients for our salads neatly arranged on the center worktable in the kitchen. Before I could say anything or ask anything, she turned to me and snapped, “Set the table for the three of us. Put my setting in Mother’s place tonight.”
“Mother’s place?”
“Yes. I don’t want Daddy looking at her empty chair all through dinner and feeling terrible. It will hurt his appetite, and I’ve prepared this pot roast exactly as he likes it. Don’t just stand there gaping at me, Semantha. Get moving. It’s almost dinnertime, and we’ll eat on time, despite Mother.”
I nodded and hurried to do what she asked. When I returned to the kitchen, I saw she had Mother’s tray all ready to go up to her room.
“Should I take that up to Mother?”
“No,” she said. “I will. Go dress for dinner.”
“Dress?”