Page 15 of Coming Home for Fall 2
“Well duh. You used to make me eat them off your plate when we were kids so mom wouldn’t get mad at you.” She held her mimosa glass up. “Cheers.”
“To what?” Mallory asked, clinking her glass against Ariel’s.
“New beginnings? Is that too cheesy?”
“It’s definitely cheesy.” Mallory laughed. “But I like it. To new beginnings!”
*
Two drinks later, Mallory was feeling the buzz. Her belly was full of delicious food and she was listening contentedly to her sister giving updates on her three kids. Lunch was going so well, in fact, that she forgot about her worries and just enjoyed the afternoon. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d sat around talking with someone like this. Her friends back in Chicago, who were mostly just her coworkers, never seemed to have much tosay. If she wanted to relate to them in any way, she would’ve had to have started to play video games on the weekends, but Mallory had no money for a gaming console and terrible hand-eye coordination. She really missed her family more than she realized.
“What about you though?” Mallory asked when Ariel finished talking about her youngest. “You said you’ve been filling all your free time with fun stuff. Like what? I want to know. Let’s get back to that rich lady in publishing! I feel like there’s a good story there.”
“Oh, well, I might’ve played that friendship up a bit too much. And I haven’t been up to a ton, just a few projects.”
“... Like?”
“Some creative stuff,” she said. “I don’t want to jinx it too much by talking about it, but I think I might have a big opportunity on the horizon.” She rattled her knuckles against the table. “I don’t mean to be so vague, I just want to keep it a secret until I know for sure.”
“Alright,” Mallory said. “But will you know by Thanksgiving? Because now my curiosity has really peaked.”
“I should have a better idea by then, yes.”
“Okay, then I’ll expect an update. You’re being very secretive, which isn’t like you, so now I’m really curious. What is with this family and playing their cards close to the chest lately?”
Ariel smiled. “I guess we’re just in our mysterious era.”
“Yeah, I guess. Anyway, how’s Chris?”
“He’s good. Busy, but that’s nothing new.” She smiled. “But he’ll be taking a full two weeks off during Christmas time, and I’m really looking forward to that. Oh, and did I tell you that he is angling to get moved to a different department so that he doesn’t have to travel as much?”
“No, but that’s great!”
“I really hope he gets it. Not only so he can help me with the kids more, but also because I know he’s tired of missing out on so much of their lives. And if he doesn’t get it, but this opportunity works out for me, who knows? We might even end up switching places.”
“Hmm?”
“He might be the one to stay home and I’ll go earn a paycheck for a change.”
Mallory smiled. “That sounds exciting!”
“I agree,” Ariel said, looking genuinely quite happy. “But anyway, enough about me and my life. What about you? I won’t ask you to tell me what happened to your job in Chicago, but are you thinking about going back there? Did you have a group of friends or a boyfriend…?”
Mallory fought the urge to groan. Her sister could never stop herself from asking about Mallory’s dating life. She finished off her third mimosa refill before responding. “No, I didn’t really have any friends, unless you counted the coworkers I used to gripe with in the break room. They were… fine. They were a lot younger than me, so we didn’t exactly have lots in common.”
“Fair enough. What about dating? Have you been seeing anyone?”
“Not really. I was dating someone last year but it ended in the spring. He was moving to New York City for his work and the relationship had run its course anyway.”
“What does that mean?” Ariel frowned. “I’ve never understood when people said that about a relationship. Like it’s something that had an expiration date from the beginning.”
“That’s because you married the first person you ever fell in love with. You don’t know what it feels like when your relationship comes to the end of the track. You can just tell that it’s going to happen, and that if you don’t jump off the train soon,you’re going to get really hurt. He and I both jumped off at the same time, which made the breakup much easier.”
Ariel laughed and shook her head. “If you say so.”
“What?” Mallory knew her sister was holding something back. “Go ahead, say what’s on your mind.”
“I just—” She sighed. “I wonder if maybe the reason you didn’t get hurt is because you didn’t let yourself really feel strongly about the relationship in the first place. No offense, but that’s kind of your MO, isn’t it?”
