Hello? Who are you aliens that took my mother? Can you keep her? This one’s halfway nice.

“You’re welcome,” I said and dropped two slices of white bread in the toaster.

“I’ve gotta go and pack,” Leslie said.

“Really? Where are you going?” Momma said.

“Vegas, to see my husband. I’ll be back Sunday,” she said. “He has been begging me to come since the first day he got there.”

“Well, you tell him I said, if we’re going to have a female impersonator in the family,” Momma said, “he’d better be the best damn one the world has ever seen!”

“Oh, Momma!” Leslie said. “That is like the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

I thought I had better go lie down.

Leslie left for Las Vegas, and I didn’t hear anything from Sharon over the next three days, so I took a deep breath and called Sharon that night. She answered on the first ring, but I didn’t read anything into that.

“Sharon? Hey, it’s me, Holly.”

“Hi, Holly. What’s going on?”

“Not much. How are y’all doing?”

“Great, thanks.”

“So I was just thinking about Tyler’s birthday. It’s right around the corner.”

“I’m aware,” she said.

Ooooh, boy. I thought. This is not going to go down as I had hoped.

“I’d like to make a cake for him and I wanted to make sure it was all right with you.”

“Of course! By all means. Make him a cake. That’s very nice of you.”

“Well, I’m delighted to do it. So, if you could just tell me how many people you’re expecting at his party so there’s enough to go around.”

“Let’s see. Well, my parents, so that’s two, my aunt and uncle, so that’s four, Archie, me naturally, and of course the boys. That’s eight.”

I was a little stunned.

“What about Tyler’s friends?”

“You mean you’re thinking we should have fifty children running around, screaming and making a mess? No, no. In my family, birthdays are strictly for family only. I would send cupcakes to school, but school is out for the summer.”

“I see. Okay then. I’ll make a cake for eight.”

“With a little extra for my family to take home.”

“Sure thing.” Was she kidding? “What day are y’all celebrating?” It was all I could do to hide the disappointment in my voice.

“Oh, I think Sunday afternoon would be nice, say early dinnertime?”

“Okay, I’ll drop it off after church.”