if only

Ellie tried her best to stay on task, hoping this dinner with her parents and Eric wouldn't be a disseaster.

"It should be a lovely time." Her mother was patting down the rub on the pork that her dad would soon grill.

Ellie couldn't help but squint a scowl while watching her mother. She tried her best to break up fresh spinich from her Dad's garden into the salad.

"Yeah, I don't see it being a problem," Ellie nodded. "You'll like him. He's smart. He's sweet-" She almost said sexy but stopped herself.

"You didn't say handsome, don't you think he's handsome?"

"Yeah," then Ellie squinted again, imagining her Mom flirting with Eric. Then she looked up at her Mom in her very sheer blouse that was possibly see-through. "You are going to change aren't, you?"

"Are you?"

Ellie hadn't thought about it, but then said. "Of course, I will." She'd wear something Eric liked her in, one of the sun dresses, but she supposed it might be too dressy for just a cookout. Her Mom might not let her wear a sun dress to dinner, anyway. She would say it would upset Dad when she knew it would just upset her.

Ellie started in on the cucumbers. The tomatoes would be last. Her Mom didn't like those til the very last minutes. Ellie finally decided to investigate what was on the stove. Beans.

"Mom, we're having beans?"

"Good old pinto beans," she smiled. "Why? Don't you like them?"

Ellie shrugged. There were a few things that were not on her diet, lately. Beans and broccoli. So gassy. Didn't her mother know this? Then she opened the fridge and found the broccoli cole slaw.

"You said you weren't going to make so much. Its just the four of us," Ellie turned back to her mom who was still busy with the pork.

"Five. We had to include Kyle."

"What?" She wanted to throw a fit like a three year old now. "Why?"

"Because he's your friend. He's been doing so much for your father, lately. He just mowed the lawn."

Ellie tilted her head back then closed her eyes with a huff. "Mom, this was suppose to be just Eric. Why can't we be like other people and go out to eat once in awhile?"

"Because a good family meal is the heart of a home."

Ellie gritted her teeth and made a mad face. Where did her mother find such crap to recite, Woman's Day?

"Whatever."

Ellie thought this might be a good time to walk up to her room, lay on her bed, possibly pray, that she could get through this evening.

"Don't you go and call him now." Her mother scolded. "Remember those minutes on your phone are for important occasions."

Ellie wouldn't bother to tell her that Eric bought minutes for her all the time. Of course, she told him she couldn't in the beginning, now it was becoming a weekly habit.

"How about washing some dishes for me. Or unload the dishwasher and reload it."

Ellie's teeth clinched again. She walked back to the sink and started doing what her mother asked. It would feel like weeks before this dinner would happen. Finally her Mom left out the front door to take the meat to her Dad in the back yard.