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I’ll bring the food and join you.”
    Cory nodded. “Sounds good. But I’ll need ten minutes to get there through this crowd. Wish me luck.”
    It took twenty. People she had known her entire life and people she barely knew wanted to talk, or hug, or introduce Cory to a guest. She smiled and laughed, returned the embraces, and thanked everyone for coming. She was grateful for the support, but it was exhausting.
    Mac arrived at the table just as she did. “I could tell you wouldn’t get here that soon,” he said as he set a plate in front of her. He nodded greetings to Tony and Sasha, and spoke to the three children. “Behaving?”
    “They’ve been great,” said Sasha. “Tell their mother I’ll baby-sit anytime.” She turned to the three girls seated opposite her at the table. “Sing Mac the song I taught you.”
    “Please don’t,” said Tony. “Sorry, kids,” he said to the girls, “but I’ve already heard it fifteen times.”
    The middle girl was undeterred. She placed her hands on her hips, sashayed a few times in her seat, then started singing. “My name is Aphrodite, I’m the goddess of love. I get my sexy attributes from Zeus up above. I’ve got the sex appeal—”
    Mac stopped her with a raised hand. “Jessa, how old are you?”
    “Eight.”
    Cory was laughing so hard she spilled food on her shirt. “Darn. Wouldn’t you know I’d wear white?”
    “Do you want to hear the rest of the song?” Jessa asked.
    “Why don’t you ask Cory about last Halloween—” Sasha interjected.
    “Please, Sasha, don’t.”
    “When she sang that song—”
    “Stop it, Sash.”
    “To the high school principal.”
    The little girls squealed disbelief, and Mac stopped eating, his fork frozen in midair. “Really?” he asked.
    Tony nodded. “It was great. For the Halloween dance last year, Cory dressed up as this incredible, sexy bombshell. You couldn’t recognize her.”
    “That’s not a compliment,” Cory said.
    “But it’s true,” Sasha said. “She wore a red wig, four-inch heels, and loads of makeup.”
    “She stuffed her chest,” said Tony. “Really stuffed. What a difference!”
    Cory tossed a wadded napkin at him and, for as long as she could resist, didn’t look at Mac, not wanting to see where he was looking. When she finally peeked, he was smiling right at her.
    “Everyone was fooled,” Sasha said. “Donaldson was in the gym chaperoning the dance, and she goes up to him and sings.”
    “What did he do?” Mac asked.
    “Nothing,” said Cory. “He just looked tired. I think the guy’s been a principal too long. Nothing bothers him.”
    “So, you see,” Sasha said to the girls, “I learned that song from Cory K., and now I have taught it to you.” The girls stood up and started bumping hips and singing. Mac finally succeeded in quieting them and they resumed eating. He turned to Sasha. “Thanks for watching the kids.”
    “No problem.”
    “But,” he paused and seemed to be weighing his words, “a song about sexiness and Greek gods isn’t really appropriate for American Indian kids. I don’t know how their parents will feel about it.”
    Sasha paled in distress. “Mac, I had no idea.”
    Cory looked at Mac. His face was still and serious, but she discerned something agitating. “Sasha, I think he’s pulling your chain.” Mac’s face relaxed into a smile.
    Tony burst out laughing. “Oh, man, he’s got you figured out.”
    “I’m sorry, Sasha,” said Mac. “I was teasing. The song is fine. I even bet that in a few days they’ll probably have Barb singing it to them at bedtime.”
    “She’ll like it,” agreed Jessa. “She’s always singing songs.”
    “Your problem,” Tony said to Sasha, “is that you get your rules out of some ‘How To Be a Liberal’ manual. You worry too much about doing the wrong thing.”
    “Too much?” she snapped. “That’s impossible. And maybe you should worry more.”
    “Look what you’ve done,” Cory said to Mac.