Page 10 of Coming Home for Fall 2
“I would happily talk about itin frontof mom, if she didn’t shut me down every time I tried. You saw how she was at dinner. You didn’t think I was asking Sasha anything that intrusive, did you?”
He put his hands in the air. “I want to be left out of this one. It’s between you and your mother. But go ahead and take the car whenever you want. I can always get a ride into the office if I need to.” He gestured at her with his empty beer bottle. “But if I were you, I’d text your sister first and make sure she’s even up for the drive. She’s been pretty busy these days with the kids.”
“Does she visit you guys often?”
“Hardly ever.”
“Huh.” Mallory got her phone out to send Ariel a message. “I just assumed she would come over a lot. This is the closest she’s lived to Ferndale since she left for college.”
“I don’t know what to tell you. None of you kids visit much. Why do you think we had to go and replace you with a new daughter?”
Mallory gawked at her dad, who found his own joke to be very hilarious. She ignored his laughter and texted her sister, then got up from the couch. “For the record, that was not funny. Not when that woman is staying inmybedroom.”
“I was just kidding!” he said. “We could never replace you guys. Never ever.”
“Whatever,” grumbled Mallory. “Make your little jokes. We’ll see how humorous Ariel and Taylor find this whole situation once I tell them what’s going on.” As she was leaving the room, she got a text back from her sister. “Oh, good news! Ariel said she’s free the whole day tomorrow.”
“And she’s willing to meet you?” David said, sounding doubtful.
“Well,” Mallory said mischievously. “I might’ve worded my message a little… frantically.”
“Meaning?”
She paused in the doorway to the next room and smiled over her shoulder. “Meaning I told her that she had to meet with me because it was an emergency. A matter of life or death.”
David shook his head, laughing a little. “Oh Mallory. When Ariel finds out you were lying, she’s going to be furious.”
“Yeah, but Ariel being mad at me?” Mallory shrugged. “What else is new?”
Chapter 5
Mallory had to give Dot credit. As far as babies went, she was very quiet. The child didn’t make a peep the entire first night Mallory was back home, and the next morning, she only cried for a couple minutes before being calmed back to sleep by just a few coos from Callie. Mallory didn’t mind being woken up by the sound anyway, since she had to leave the house early if she was going to make it to the lunch spot Ariel had chosen for them. It was directly in the middle between Ferndale and the town Ariel and her family were currently living in. Mallory could never remember the name.
The only thing left to do was sneak out of the house without her mother noticing. She would tell Callie the truth about where she’d been when she got home. For now, however, she was just trying to avoid a fight. It was too early and she’d already made up her mind. Letting Callie know the truth would only upset her mother for no reason.
That’s why she waited in her room until things quieted down in the kitchen. She wouldn’t be able to have any coffee, but she could always pick some up on the way. Outside of her father’s office, Mallory tiptoed down the hallway and took the keys off the hook on the wall. She was nearly out the door when her phone beeped in her pocket—the sound echoing throughout the otherwise quiet house. Mallory held her breath and froze in the entryway, but nothing happened.
“Thank god,” she whispered to herself, then she snuck outside and got into her father’s car before her luck ran out. She pulled out of the driveway and waited until she was all the way across town, filling up the tank with her credit card, to check her phone.
She had a text message from her old boss, Donovan.
Call me, ASAP.
She hadn’t heard from Donovan since she’d left the company and she truly had no desire to talk to him just then, but her curiosity outweighed her exhaustion. She first went inside to get a cup of coffee however, and then called Donovan back while parked in the gas station lot.
“Mallory!” he answered. “Finally.”
“What do you mean finally? You only texted me like fifteen minutes ago!”
“And in those fifteen minutes, a lot has happened.” Donovan was talking in a low, rushed voice. “The FDA is here.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The FDA! They are here raiding the place.”
Mallory cracked a smile. “They are? Why? Do they have a warrant?”
“Yes,” he said. “Trust me, that was the first thing I asked. Apparently, one of the chemists who works for us filed an anonymous report with the FDA, stating that our supplements cause damage to the esophagus! Can you believe that?”
