Barrio Boy
The author must likely included the following sentence to?
Almost tiptoeing to the office, I maneuvered myself to keep my mother beetween me and the gringo lady.
Almost tiptoeing to the office, I maneuvered myself to keep my mother beetween me and the gringo lady.
Based upon the lines you've provided, we can infer that the author wants us to understand the speakers desperation to keep his mother separate from the other woman.... possibly hoping to avoid a confrontation.