Page 11 of Coming Home for Fall
“We’re planning on it.”
“Good!” She forced some levity into her voice. “I’m hoping the whole family will be able to make it. That’ll give you and Erica a nice little break from work as well. You two can relax, and we can talk some more about this, if you want to.”
“I don’t know. You can tell dad, that’s fine. But everyone else... I’d like to keep this information to myself for a bit.”
“I understand. They won’t hear anything from me.”
“Thanks, mom.”
“Is there anything else I can do? If you two want to come visit earlier than Thanksgiving, you know we’d love to have you.” But as she said this, she remembered that they already had two house guests, and that Taylor hadn’t even been made aware of Sasha and Dot’s stay. Closing her eyes and holding her breath, she waited for her son’s response.
“Thanks for the offer, but we’re still playing catch up at the firm and if we’re going to take the full week of Thanksgiving off, we need to do a lot of prep before that.”
She sighed with relief. “Right. That makes sense. No worries.”
“But we’re excited to see you and dad!” he added. “It’s been a while. How are things in Ferndale anyway? How are you and dad?”
“Oh, we’re good,” she said casually. “Just the same old, same old. Your dad’s prepping for his next trip. Actually, his next two trips! And then you know he’s retiring not too long from now, so things are slowing down a lot for him at work.”
“He sent me a photograph of the hotel he’ll be staying at in Dubai!” Taylor said, his somber tone replaced by excitement. “It looks crazy! He said he got his room for a steal, but I was afraid to ask how much he actually paid for it.”
“You know your father.” She laughed. “He’s always got a friend of a friend who can get him a deal on something. The benefits of working for a travel guide company for thirty-five year, I guess.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to go with him this time?” he asked. “I don’t get why you two travel separately these days. This could be the trip of a lifetime!”
“I don’t think Dubai is really my thing,” she said. “Maybe if he was going to Ireland or something, I’d tag along, but not this time.”
“Okay, but I still think it’s an odd choice.”
“You could go with him,” she joked. “If you’re so interested in him having a travel buddy.”
“Hey, if I wasn’t so busy, I just might!” he said, laughing. “But anyway, how are things with you? How’s the semester going?”
Oh right. The semester.
With all the excitement from that day, Callie had forgotten about the stack of essays she had to grade before her class at the community college met next Tuesday night. She’d been an English professor for most of her life but had cut down to just teaching one class a semester after turning sixty-five last July. She enjoyed teaching and was happy to have a reason to leave the house every now and then, but she no longer had the bandwidth to take on a full load of students.
“It’s going alright,” she said. “We have one more week before my students have to start thinking about their mid-term paper. That always seems to send some of them spiraling, but I think they’ll be fine. I have a good batch this fall.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” he said. “That makes all the difference.”
“Agreed.”
“Anything else new?”
This question shouldn’t have caught Callie so off-guard, but it did. She just hadn’t expected her son to keep inquiring about her life, and for a moment she panicked. Had David accidentally told the kids something about Sasha? Did they know she was keeping a secret?
“Uh—no. Nothing really. We’re just going day by day.”
“Sounds about right,” he said, without a hint of doubt in his voice. “I can relate. Well, I’ll let you go. I know I probably called you right in the middle of dinner. Thanks for picking up, by the way.”
“Always. And again, if you or Erica need anything, please don’t hesitate to call me or your father. And if her aunt needs anything! Gosh, this seems like such a stressful time for you both, and we just want to help.”
“I know. We appreciate it. I’ll call you once I know for sure what day we’re flying in for Thanksgiving, okay?”
“Okay, sweetie. Love you.”
“Love you too!”
