Page 4 of Coming Home for Fall 2
“See,” Callie said assuredly to the young woman. “I told you she would be cool with it.”
“She’s just being nice.” Sasha looked at Mallory. “You’re just being nice, I know you are. If it weremyroom, I would be totally upset!”
Yes,Mallory thought.But you're twenty and I’m nearly forty.These were the sorts of things young, immature people were supposed to be upset about. Mallory, however, wouldn’t dare pitch a fit about handing her childhood bedroom over to Sasha and her baby. Even if she was a bit perturbed.
“I’m sure your mom told you who I was,” Sasha went on. “And so you’re probably thinking that the right thing to do is to give me your room, but I’m telling you, you can have it back. I hate the idea of taking the space away from you, and Dot and I have slept in rooms the size of a tin-can before. We are going to be happy with any bedroom in this gorgeous house.”
If this was Sasha’s attempt at making Mallory feel okay with taking her room back, it failed. The more the young woman insisted, the harder it was going to be for Mallory to force her into a smaller space.
“No, really, it’s okay,” Mallory insisted. “I don’t care where I sleep. I came home to be with my parents and to spend a little time in Ferndale, but I’m not emotionally attached to my room necessarily.”
This was a lie. A bald-faced lie.
Mallory loved her room. It had been her safe haven when she was a rowdy kid who got in trouble with her parents for tracking mud through the entire house. It was her solace when she was a teenager facing expulsion. It was the place she returned to whenever she felt like she had nowhere else to go.
But now it was providing a similar comfort to a woman who needed it a lot more than she did.
Malloryhadto be okay with that, otherwise, what kind of person would that make her?
“Are you sure?” Sasha asked once more, wringing her hands anxiously.
Mallory smiled. “Positive. There’s absolutely no need for you to switch rooms. You and your baby should stay where you are comfortable.”
Sasha sighed with relief and Callie beamed at her youngest child. “Thank you so much,” said Sasha. “It means a lot to me. More than you might realize. For some reason, Dot seems to really like your room. She sleeps great in there, which means I sleep great. I just—” The woman sniffled and covered her mouth with her hand. “Thank you.”
“There’s no need to thank me.” Mallory shook her head. “It’s a great room, and I’m glad you and Dot have been enjoying it. Just don’t go looking in the back of the closet.”
Callie frowned. “What are you talking about? There’s nothing back there! I cleaned that room top to bottom.”
Mallory smirked and acted like she was whispering a secret to Sasha. “There’s a loose floorboard. Underneath is where my sister and I hid a bunch of love letters to boys and stuff when we were in middle school. There also might be a few dollars hidden in there too. If you must go snooping, you can keep the money as long as you also promise to never tell Ryan Waterhouse that I never really got over him.”
Sasha grinned like a gossiping schoolgirl. “Deal.”
“Great.” Mallory clapped her hands together. “Now that that’s settled, I’m going to take this cup of coffee with me into one of the other rooms, drink it, and then probably crash for about eight hours.”
“Seems like the opposite order of operations,” said Callie. “Why not leave the coffee for later, when you’re done sleeping?”
“The coffee is what’s going to get me from point A to point B,” Mallory joked. “It’s not going to keep me awake, though. I’m not sure there’s any amount of caffeine that could keep me up right now.” She looked at her mom. “Which room do you want me in?”
“I figured you would want to sleep in your dad’s office. He hardly ever takes meetings in there these days. This morning is a bit of an anomaly. He likes to go into the building for work usually, soak up as much in-person experience as he can before he retires. Plus, it’s on the main floor, so you won’t be woken up by the baby in the middle of the night.”
Mallory nodded. She had to admit, she’d been hoping to get the bedroom down there. No offense to Sasha or her baby, but Mallory liked having her own space. If she was getting kicked out of her bedroom, then having the main floor to herself at night was the next best thing.
“Works for me,” Mallory said. “But does that mean I’m not going to be able to get settled right away?”
“I’m afraid so,” Callie said. “You can take a nap in the master bedroom upstairs if you want though. Or on the couch. I’ll just be doing some grading on the porch and Sasha was about to take Dot for a walk, so it’ll be quiet. Your dad will be done soon, I think.”
Mallory shrugged and dragged herself towards the living room. “Couch it is. I would say don’t wake me unless there’s a fire, but even then, I don’t think you’ll be able to rouse me anytime soon.”
*
Although Mallory’s comment had been made in jest, it seemed everyone in the household took her seriously, because she wasn’t woken up until much later in the day. Her mother had come inside from the back deck, and the sound of the sliding door closing brought Mallory out of her a dream in which she was winning some kind of award. She couldn’t have said what the award was for; all she remembered was the cheering crowd and the feeling of accomplishment blossoming in her chest.
“Oh, sorry,” her mom said upon entering the house. “I was trying to be quiet.”
“That’s okay,” Mallory said. “It’s about time I get up anyway. I’m starving.” And as if to underline her point, her stomach growled just as she was sitting up. She ran her fingers through her snarly hair a few times and stood. “I’m assuming dad’s done with his meeting?”
“Yeah, he went to the store to pick up some stuff to make dinner,” Callie announced. “And Sasha and the baby are taking a nap.”
