Page 17 of Coming Home for Fall
“Well, anyway,” he said with an awkward grin, “have a good night.” He waved and turned to leave.
She waited until he was gone before she started gathering her own things together. In her work bag, she carried her laptop, the latest novel she was reading, the rhetoric textbook she’d practically memorized, and various pamphlets from the school. Callie had collected them while in the campus library earlier that day, thinking she could give them to Sasha, having discovered she had an interest in Biology.
The day before, when Callie had asked Sasha to sit down and have a chat, Sasha had revealed that her childhood dream as a kid was to work with animals. Callie had originally set out to make sure Sasha didn’t feel pressured to get a job, but by the end of their conversation, she had a new mission. She was determined make Sasha's dream come true by helping her enroll in a few community college classes and get her as many scholarships as possible.
In Callie’s opinion, it was a great idea, she just needed to talk to David about it first. He would know how to present the idea to Sasha in a way that didn’t incidentally offend her.
Shoving the two essays she’d received a week late between the pamphlets, she headed toward the door. Her phone rang just as she was flicking off the classroom lights. Digging around in the bottom of her bag, her fingers finally curled around the cold metal of her phone.
She answered without even looking at the screen. “Hello?”
“Hey, mom.”
“Ariel!” She brightened and shifted her bag to the other shoulder so she could hold the phone more easily. “Hi, my love, how are you?”
“I’m doing alright,” she said. “I just got the kids down for the night and finally have a second to myself.”
Callie checked the time. It wasn’t even nine. “Wow, you’re a supermom, aren’t you? I don’t know that I ever got all three of you down this early once you guys were old enough to know how to work the TV.” Ariel’s kids were ten, eight, and five. “Doesn’t Hannah give you trouble?”
“Hannah always gives me trouble.” Ariel sighed. “But she signed up for volleyball this fall, and the practices are for two hours after school, so she’s actually tired when I want her in bed. It’s a miracle. If I’d known that signing her up for sports woulddo this, I would’ve put her in every sport I could since the day she could walk.”
Callie chuckled, passing through the side door of the building that led directly into the staff parking lot. “Ah, yes. Your dad and I used that trick too. Remember that summer we put all three of you in daily swimming lessons even though Taylor already knew how to swim?”
“I remember him complaining every morning when he had to jump in the pool with all the little kids.”
“Yeah, yeah, he made his complaints known,” Callie said. “But he always had a big smile on his face once he started swimming. And all three of you would come home bone-tired and with tanned faces. You were so calm afterwards. It was great.”
“Why does it feel like so much of parenting is just finding different ways to burn off your kids’ energy?”
“Ha! Well, because it is. But anyway, how’s everything going? Is Chris out of town this week?”
“Yeah, he’s in Minneapolis for the next few days,” Ariel said. “And then he’s going to Chicago for a bit. After that, he’ll be home for almost a full week before his next trip.”
Callie whistled under her breath. “That’s a lot of travel. I thought you said things were going to be calming down last time we talked.”
“They are. In the new year. Chris is being moved to a different department and his new position requires a lot less travel. I’m so excited. It’ll be great to have him home more. Plus, having more help with the kids will give me a chance to explore some of my side projects.”
“Side projects?” Callie smiled as she got into her car. “What side projects?” Once she turned the engine on, her phone connected to the speaker and Ariel’s voice echoed throughout the small sedan.
“Oh, you know, just little stuff. Hobbies. Crafts.”
“Please tell me you’ve started drawing again. You were always so talented.” If Taylor was the math kid, and Mallory was the outdoorsy one, then Ariel was definitely the artsiest of the three. She’d even gone to college for studio art, but she’d put her work on the back burner to start a family. Ariel never regretted that decision, at least not that Callie was aware of. However, as a mother, Callie was also thrilled that her daughter was starting to put some of her own needs front and center again.
“Yeah, actually,” Ariel said, her voice peaked with excitement. “I’ve been drawing and painting a little. I’ve also been writing.”
“Really?” Callie's heart soared as she drove out of the parking lot. “That’s amazing! What kind of stuff have you been writing? Would you ever let me read any of it?”
“Oh, sure. You’ll get to read it eventually. But I don’t think you’ll get much out of it. Let’s just say… it’s very different from the literary fiction books you seem fond of.”
“I read things besides classic literature!”
“Yeah.” Ariel laughed. “Shakespeare.”
“You make me sound like such a stick in the mud! Over the summer I read two contemporary romance novels that Kate recommended to me.”
“And did you like them?”
“They were… fine.”
