Page 7 of Coming Home for Fall 2
“That’s not—” She shook her head. “I know I can always come back here. You and mom have made that clear time and time again. It just feels a lot more pathetic this time around. For… obvious reasons.”
He sighed and was quiet for a moment. “Remember what I used to tell you kids when you were younger? About comparing yourselves to others and how it only ever makes everyone feel worse?”
“... Vaguely.”
“Well, it’s as true today as it was back then,” he insisted. “Don’t play the ‘who deserves such and such more’ game with Sasha. It’s a waste of time and it doesn’t do anyone any good. The fact is, I’mgladto have you home. It’s been a while since you’ve come to visit and I’ve been missing my bad movie partner.”
She smiled. “You still haven’t convinced mom to watch those stupid shark movies with you?”
“No, she thinks they are idiotic.”
“That’s the point!”
He put his hands up. “You don’t have to tell me. The good news is that I’ve saved up a few so that we can watch them together. Maybe when your siblings get into town, we can convince them to watch one with us as well. Taylor used to watch those dumb action movies when he was a teenager. These have a similar feel to them.”
“Ha, I would love to see the look on Taylor’s face when we make him sit down to watchAttack of the 100-Foot Shark.Although it would be really good payback for that depressing documentary he tricked us into watching last time we were all together. It’s not that I don’t care about penguins, it’s just that I didn’t exactly want to spend Christmas morning learning about the melting ice caps and crying over starving polar bears.”
David made a face. “Oh yeah, that was a little dark. We’ll definitely have to make sure he doesn’t pull anything like that this year. Not with Sasha around.”
“Speaking of, mom let slip that Ariel and Taylor also didn’t know she was staying here. She said she was going to tell them before Thanksgiving, but that seems like a long time to wait if you ask me. What’s that about?”
“If it were up to me, we would’ve told all you kids before Sasha even came to live here. But she was worried you would—well, that you would jump to the exact conclusions you already jumped to. That we were being scammed or something. Now that I’ve heard your reaction, I should probably apologize to your mom for thinking she wasn’t giving you kids enough credit.”
“Hey!” Mallory glared at him. “I think my reaction is perfectly reasonable! If anything, you and mom are the ones acting weird.”
“Maybe,” he admitted. “But it’ll be fine. She’s assured me she will tell everyone before Thanksgiving.”
“Not to sound difficult, but I think she needs to tell them sooner. I’d bet that Ariel and Taylor are going to be calling a lot the next two weeks, getting all their travel plans in order, and they’re going to know something is up if she tries to keep this from them.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Yeah, that’s actually a good point. I hadn’t thought of that. I know your mom isn’t comfortable with outright lying to you guys either.”
“Great! We’re on the same page then. I’m going to let mom know that she has to spill the beans in the next day or two.”
“Oh yeah? You’re going to demand that she does?”
“It’s not a demand…” Mallory muttered. “More of an ultimatum. I need her to tell my siblings soon, or else I’m going to tell them.” When she caught her dad looking at her with a judgmental eye, she frowned back at him. “What? It’s not like she told meIhad to keep it a secret! Besides, it’s only fair that we give them enough time to process this information and find other accommodations if they want to.”
“I think Ariel and her family are already going to stay elsewhere. The kids are getting too old to share a room.”
“Taylor and Erica might want to go to a hotel as well. You know how they always end up working over the holiday, and if there’s a baby crying in the next room, they aren’t going to be able to talk on the phone to all their clients.” She shrugged. “I just think it will be a lot weirder if mom waits to tell them. Then it’sreallygoing to seem like she was hiding something, and the chances of Taylor and Ariel turning that suspension onto Sasha feels pretty high to me.”
Her dad finished off his last sip of beer and smacked his lips together. “I suppose you’re right, even though I know you’re only saying all of that because you want to justify your choice to tell them yourself.”
“Two things can be true at once.”
This got a smile from him. “Do whatever you want about your siblings.” He rocked back in the chair and took a deep breath. “But just do me a favor and give Sasha the benefit of the doubt. She’s been through a lot, and she’s really one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. The baby is really sweet too. Hardly ever cries.”
Mallory thought about it for a second, but knew she had no reasonnotto be nice to this woman. “Yeah alright,” she saideventually. “I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt. But I’m going to ask her a few questions at dinner tonight. Nothing intrusive, mind you. I just want to see ifshecan tell me more about the shelter. Even just knowing the name would make me feel a lot better at this point.”
“As long as you don’t give her the third degree.”
She grinned at him. “Me? Never. I’ll be a perfect angel like I always am.”
Chapter 4
Mallory waited until dessert before she started asking some of her most pressing questions, which she felt demonstrated just how patient she was being. Not to mention, she started out with the easy ones. Or so she thought.
“So, Sasha, where are you from?” Mallory smiled across the table. “Ferndale or…?”
