Late to the Party ✔

6. A needle in a haystack

She was overthinking things. She'd been about to change outfits for the third time when Sheldon walked by and asked: "Weren't you just wearing your pink floral cardigan?" and she'd decided to leave it like this. A respectable skirt and blouse, some light make-up, her crucifix necklace. She looked nice, but not too nice. Didn't want Jeanie to get the wrong idea.

"Look who's finally decided to join the land of the living."

Of course. Usually, Mary'd welcome her mother's friendly face at the breakfast table, but today, she'd hoped for a smaller audience. Especially since the badly toned down smirk she tried to hide behind her cup of coffee didn't bode well for her. And yes: "Trouble sleepin' last night?"

She sent her a look. The last thing she needed was her mother making this into some sort of inappropriate joke.

Sheldon and Missy were sitting across from her, him working on his homework and her reading a magazine. He glanced up, his pencil still on the paper. "She was awake. She just changed her clothes at least two times this morning."

While he went back to his mathematic formulas, Missy's interest was piqued, as was George's, who'd been reading his newspaper, and Georgie's, who'd seemed to have been dozing off above his bowl of cereal.

"Is that right?" her mother asked, and suddenly, she wished she'd chosen the boring brown skirt after all. "What, you and George goin' on a hot date today?"

She snatched up the cup of coffee she'd made earlier and took a sip. It was supposed to look natural, and it probably would've, hadn't the brew gone stone-cold. "No," she said, coughing. Quickly, she poured the rest of it down the drain. "If you've got to know, I had a bit of a mishap with the toothpaste."

"Twice?" George questioned, like he never stained his shirts with barbecue sauce and ketchup.

"It happens." Her eldest nodded, and she felt a rush of love for him.

Apparently, the story satisfied most of them: they went back to whatever they were doing, though Mary felt her mother's eyes following her. She busied herself clearing up the countertop and filling the dishwasher, wondering how on earth she was going to bring up her plan for the day. She hadn't counted on the whole family being there, to be honest.

Her heart was beating frantically — maybe she'd lost her mind. She hadn't done anything wrong. She wasn't going to do anything wrong. So, why did it feel like she was?

The countertop all empty, she looked up, hoping one of the people in the room would start a conversation. Nobody even as much seemed to notice her. "Anyway," she started, forcing one of her usual bright smiles on her face, "Sheldon, Missy... I promised Jeanie I'd come over to help her clean out her Uncle's place today, and I thought it might be fun if you both came with me."

Missy was the first one to look up. "And with Jeanie you mean the one who isn't your friend?" She grinned, and strangely, Mary had to fight the urge not to do the same.

"Yes, that one," she admitted, a tiny smile slipping through her defenses.

"Sure. Heather M. canceled on me anyway."

Sheldon pulled a face. "No, thank you," he said. "I'll pass."

"There might be some interesting science books you could keep," Mary said. "Uncle Carl used to hoard everything within sight."

It worked, just like she'd expected: immediately, he perked up, closing his books and arranging them in a neat pile. "Let me get my notebook," he said, and he was off to his bedroom.

"Hold up, hold up." George folded his newspaper, a large crease in his forehead. "Are we talking about Jean Lucas here?"

"Yes."