Watch Me Disappear

the developments in her burgeoning romance with Wes. They went to a matinee on Sunday and then out for coffee. She talks to him on the phone every day.
    “Last night, we talked all night,” she says. “And I’m supposed to go with him and his friends for a hike tomorrow.”
    “That’s cool,” I say.
    “Yeah, but here’s the thing. I don’t think he’s ever kissed anyone.”
    Neither have I but I don’t say so. I wait for Missy to continue.
    “I don’t know how to initiate that, you know?” she says. “And I think maybe he’s too shy.”
    I think about Missy’s braces and the merciless teasing of kids who had braces back in middle school. I had been convinced that people with braces couldn’t kiss anyone. I have since learned otherwise, but still, kissing a mouth full of braces just doesn’t sound appealing to me. Maybe Wes feels the same way.
    “Yeah, but on this hike, his friends are going to be there. It’s not like you’re going to the woods to make out,” I say.
    “We might be alone sometimes.”
    “I guess you just have to see how it goes,” I say. I hear a clock chime in the front room. “Damn! What time is it?”
    “I think it’s 2:30,” Missy says.
    “I’m late.” I push myself off of the couch. “My mom’s probably waiting at Gram’s house.”
    “Oh, right,” Missy says.
    I make a mental note to wear a watch when hanging out with Missy. It is easy to lose track of time with her. The last thing I need is to give my mom more reasons to dislike her, especially now that I’ve been inside her house. Whatever my mom thinks, Missy and her family are exactly the kind of influence I need in my life.
     
    *          *          *
     
     “Your grandmother was just telling me how lovely Missy’s family is,” my mother says when I come rushing, somewhat out of breath, onto the porch.
    “You’ve met them?” I ask, confused.
    “Oh, yes,” she says. “And that house belonged to an old friend who was devastated to have to sell it after thirty years, but then she met the Howstons, and she was happy to have such a nice family moving in. She’s in one of the high rises now.” Gram says, rocking back and forth on the glider.
    “The Howstons apparently had a meet-and-greet when they first moved in,” my mother says. “Gram says they invited the whole neighborhood.”
    “It was very nice,” Gram says. “Has she had the baby yet?”
    “Uh, no,” I say, wondering if Gram already told my mother that Anna was pregnant and if so how she took the news. “I guess she’s due in like three weeks.”
    “Ah. That’s nice.”
    “Well,” my mother says, “we’d better get home. You’re late, you know.”
    I had hoped she hadn’t noticed. Gram, like my dad, can be a great distraction to my mother.
    “See you in a few days,” my mother says to Gram.
    “All right.”
    “Don’t fall asleep out here.”
    “I’m old, Beth, but I’m not an idiot.
    My mother wastes no time with her reprimands once we’re in the car. She doesn’t like my new habit of lateness. She isn’t sure she likes the idea of my hanging around with someone whose mother will be too busy with a new baby to pay attention to a teenager. She will not be letting me go to Missy’s again until she’s met her parents. And why haven’t I mentioned how tired Gram is looking?
    “You know the whole reason we moved here was to take care of Gram. She’s not exactly young,” my mother says.
    “I know.” I also know it won’t help to point out that Gram likes Missy and her family or that I hadn’t noticed that Gram seemed especially tired lately. It also won’t help to suggest that maybe Gram is just tired of my mother’s company, because let’s face it, what adult wants to be told what to do? I let my mother rant and watch the scenery roll by.
    “If you want to have Missy come here, fine,” she concludes as we pull into the driveway, “but we have to meet her parents before you go there again. Do you hear me?”
    I nod and get out of the car.
     
    *          *          *
     
    I’m sitting in my room trying to focus on the last of my summer reading when the doorbell rings. A minute later I hear Maura’s sticky sweet voice greeting my mother. Then she calls up the stairs for me to come down.
    “Katherine and I are going to the mall,” Maura says. “Want to come with us? We can look at makeup and stuff.”
    I can feel my mother hovering behind me. I can only