Page 6 of Coming Home for Fall 2
When Mallory heard her dad arrive home from the store, she went immediately to go help him unload the groceries. His face lit up when he saw her walking down the driveway towards his car.
“My baby girl!” David threw his arms open wide to embrace her. “Your mom told me you were in town. It’s so good to see you!” Mallory leaned into the hug and closed her eyes, enjoying this moment of parental support. She hadn’t realized before that moment just how badly she’d needed a hug from her father. “How are you?”
“Better now,” she said as they pulled apart. She followed him to the open trunk and saw it overflowing with bags. “Whoa, are we planning a feast?”
“I got all your favorites,” announced, grinning. “And some of Sasha’s favorites as well. Have you had a chance to meet our new friend yet?”
“I have.”
“And?” He raised a brow. “What do you think?”
Mallory smiled and grabbed two armfuls of bags. “We can talk about it later. Maybe over a beer?”
He gave her an inquisitive look but nodded. “Sure. You know I can never say no to a beer.” They finished unloading the car and then David got a few things prepared for dinner. They chatted about nothing really as he chopped veggies and let the chicken thaw. He checked his watch and said, “I think we’ve gotabout thirty minutes before I can do anything with the chicken. How about that beer?”
“Yes please.”
He took two bottles out of the fridge and they brought them out onto the deck. David sat down in the rocking chair while Mallory made herself comfortable on the lounge chair. She took a sip of the fresh, cold beer, and sighed with relief. “Mm, that’s good. Just what I needed.”
“Same here.”
A comfortable silence fell over the two of them as they sat. A few birds cooed nearby and the wind rustled through the trees, but it was actually a pretty warm night for that time of year. Mallory knew the silence wouldn’t last forever, and still, she wasn’t prepared when her father looked at her and said, “So, you want to talk about it?”
“About what?”
“About Sasha and the baby. I’m sure you have thoughts.”
“Oh. That.” She took another big swig. “Well, I don’t want to bombard you with questions, but I have to say, I’m a little uncomfortable with how few details mom was able to give me. She couldn’t even remember the name of the shelter where Sasha was staying before.”
“Your mom’s never been great with details.”
“Which is why I’m now talking to you about it,” Mallory pointed out. “Because knowing you, there’s a binder somewhere in this house that you’ve put together with all the information I’m looking for.”
He laughed. “Usually, that would be a safe assumption, but not this time. This has been all your mother’s doing. It was her idea and I just let her run with it. She cut back to only teaching one class and went looking for other things to add purpose to her life, so it was kind of perfect when she got the call from the shelter.”
“What?” She scoffed. “You don’t have any more information than mom does?”
He shook his head. “I would guess I have less information than your mother does.”
“You can’t be serious. You just let her bring a stranger into the house without doing due diligence? Dad, I’m sorry, but you have to hear how insane that sounds. It’s irresponsible. What if she’s, I don’t know, a criminal or something? A serial killer!”
He gave her a look. “Does she seem like a serial killer?”
“Criminals come in all shapes and sizes!”
“She’s not dangerous,” he assured his daughter. “She’s very sweet and so is her baby. I’m telling you, you’ve got nothing to worry about. If she wanted to scam us or steal away in the night with all our valuables, she’s had plenty of opportunities to do so the past two weeks.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better at all.”
“It should!” He chuckled. “She’s harmless, Mallory, I’m telling you. If you’ve got a lot of questions, that’s fine, but I think you should ask yourself what the most logical explanation is for her being here. Does it seem more likely that she’s a criminal mastermind pretending to be a single mother from a shelter? Or, is it more likely that she’s a woman down on her luck and your mother overlooked some of the semantics.”
“Well, when you put it like that,” grumbled Mallory.
“I’m not trying to dismiss your concerns, honey,” he said. “But I think we all just need to trust your mom on this one. She just wants to help people. She cares so much about this community, and I think she was starting to feel the loneliness of being an empty nester. Sasha coming to live here with her baby has been a win for everyone.”
Mallory let those words sink in. She hadn’t even considered the idea that her mother had been feeling lonely. A pang of guilt twisted in her stomach and she tried to wash it away with morebeer. “So what you’re saying is that Sasha is a joy to have around and she brings so much love and light into this house, unlike me, who comes barging in without anything to offer?”
He snorted into his beer. “I didn’t say anything of the sort, and don’t you dare twist my words around to make yourself feel bad. You have every right to be here as Sasha does.”
