Pressing Flowers by Katie Blanchard

Author:Katie Blanchard [Blanchard, Katie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pressing Flowers
Publisher: Katie Blanchard
Published: 2018-02-06T22:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

CHARLOTTE HAD GOTTEN it in her head one morning that we needed a massive birthday celebration for the three of us. Penelope, Charlotte, and I all have birthdays just a few days shy of each other. They were coming up quick. In fact, from the day Charlotte got the idea she only had a week to plan before the first one, Penelope’s. I knew I shouldn’t let my daughter’s birthday go by without doing something since I’m trying to recover to the land of the living, but Charlotte had a tall order. One week? Impossible. There was a sense of urgency in her eyes that I couldn’t say no to, so for the last week we have been busting our butts and following my sister’s orders.

The party is today. Charlotte has invited family, Penelope’s friends and parents, and of course Oliver. I didn’t have an extensive guest list to hand her. I refused it for days until she made it for me and just asked my okay. It was pathetic to see the number of people who wanted to deal with and celebrate me written on a piece of paper. You could have fit it on a post-it and still had room. All that was on there was Oliver. Naturally, Penelope and Charlotte were my people as well, but they live here. Charlotte knew better than to put Mom as a name on my guest list, though I’m sure she was tempted after seeing how small my number was.

I asked if she planned to invite Arthur, her boyfriend she left to go live with her crazy sister. She brushed me off and avoided it for days until finally, she confessed it didn’t work out between them. When I asked why the only reason she would give me is that she didn’t want to hurt him anymore. Vague. I’ll let her slide, for now, I’m not the pushing type like my sister is. I’m not even sure it would work with her because she has mastered and probably owns the rights to those skills.

I find myself in charge of a lot more than I ever wanted to be for this party. Charlotte woke with a horrible headache, so I sent her to bed with some ibuprofen to sleep it off. It felt like a fine decision at the time, a kind and nurturing one, but now, standing in the kitchen trying to finish off the food for the party I was longing to whine to my sister to help. I hate parties. I hate planning. I always knew I was going to fail at being this kind of mom, not for lack of effort, instead, I just lack the grace and calmness. I was currently staring down at a dark brown mixture in a saucepan that was meant to be white. I burnt the marshmallow mixture for the Rice Krispies treats. That’s how bad I stink at this.

I set my head on the cool tile counter and counted to ten. I am going to ruin the party that Charlotte worked so hard for.

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