“She can’t,” Hannah said and left it at that. There was always the possibility that the floor would open up and swallow them. Or perhaps the karaoke machine would malfunction. Or maybe the microphone would start screeching with feedback and they’d have to shut it off.

Hannah watched in shock as the mothers reached the top step and turned to walk to the center of the stage. Delores picked up the microphone and held it between them as the first bars of the song they’d chosen began to play.

“What song is it?” Andrea asked.

“I don’t know,” Hannah answered her, and then she groaned as Carrie and Delores linked arms. “They’re not going to dance…are they?”

“I think they’re going to do some kind of step,” Michelle said.

“Bye Bye Love,” Norman said, and when all three Swensen sisters turned to look at him, he hurried to explain. “That’s what they’re going to sing. I recognize the intro. It’s an old Everly Brothers song.”

A few beats later, the mothers opened their mouths and began to sing. They looked as if they were having great fun as they stepped back and forth in perfect unison, and sang the lyrics.

Hannah had all she could do not to cover her ears. One glance around the table and she realized she was not alone. Norman looked pained, Andrea looked highly embarrassed, and Michelle looked as if she wanted to burst out laughing. As for Hannah, every extremely flat and loudly amplified note that reached her ears made her head throb and her teeth hurt. It had to be the worst rendition of an Everly Brothers song that had ever been performed.

The agony went on through verses too painful to enumerate, but it was met by a wave of raucous applause. When it was over, Hannah breathed a huge sigh of relief and wished she’d ordered that glass of wine. “That was really awful,” she said. “They weren’t in tune at all.”

Norman turned to smile at her. “That’s true, but both of them were equally flat, and that means that they were harmonizing.”

“I thought it was kind of cute,” Michelle said. “They weren’t nervous at all and the audience liked it.”

Hannah had to admit that Michelle had a point. The audience was still applauding, and a guy at the front table was calling for an encore.

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” Andrea said, and Hannah knew she was trying to be charitable. “At least they looked good.”

Hannah glanced toward the stage again and what she saw made her eyes widen. “Smiles everyone, and remember…we thought their performance was fantastic. They must have spotted us while they were singing, because here come the mothers!”