“I absolutely want to be there,” I told them. “Let me talk to my parents and see what they say.”

Kara held up her right hand with her middle and index fingers intertwined. “Fingers crossed!”

We talked some more and caught up before I signed off. Then I hurried downstairs to catch my parents alone before dinner so I wouldn’t have to have the conversation in front of my little sister, Maisie. She has a way of making everything about her!

The delicious smell of turkey bacon frying greeted me as I walked into the kitchen. My dad was standing over a pan on the stove, tending to the sizzling slices. My mom was at the counter, slicing up a loaf of multigrain bread she had bought at the farmers market that morning.

“Smells delish!” I said. “What’s on the menu?”

My dad turned and smiled. “Turkey club sandwiches with avocado, and sweet potato fries,” he said. “You’ve got perfect timing. The table is ready to be set.”

“Sure,” I said as I grabbed plates out of the cabinet. “Where’s Maisie?”

“She earned twenty minutes of video game time,” my mom said as she popped the sliced bread into the toaster oven. “She’s got about five more minutes left.”

Perfect! I thought. With my sister out of the way I could talk to my parents about Charlotte’s sweet sixteen party.

“So,” I began as I placed the plates on our kitchen table, “I just got done talking to Kara.”

“Your usual Sunday call?” Mom asked. “How is she?”

“She’s good,” I said. “But she had a surprise for me. Charlotte was there, and I got to talk to her, too.”

“Really? What a lovely girl.” Mom beamed. “She was so terrific with you and Kara. How is she doing?”

“Great! In fact, she’s turning sixteen in a few weeks,” I told Mom. I had to be careful at this point. Although I knew it would be a hard sell, I also knew from many years of dealing with my parents that phrasing things in the wrong way could get them shut down immediately, with no further discussion. So I had to tread carefully here.

I laid napkins next to the plates, carefully smoothing each one out and trying to act as casual as possible. “In fact, she’s having this big sweet sixteen party in about a month. That’s the reason she was on the call with Kara, to invite me. But I told her it would be impossible.”

I pretended to be looking down at the table as I arranged silverware on top of the napkins, but I snuck a look at them with my eyes lowered.

They exchanged glances, and my mom pursed her lips together, then blew out air in her version of a sigh. She always does that when she is thinking something over.