Page 17 of Coming Home for Fall 5
“So, what I’m hearing is that youdon’tknow for sure that she wasn’t in a women’s shelter.”
This was Callie’s first comment when her kids finished telling her how they had figured out the “truth” about Sasha.
“Of course we do,” Mallory said. “Taylor’s friend—”
“Called to say that they didn’t have record of Sasha Sommers in any of the databases, yes, I heard you.” Mallory raised her eyebrows, as if to say, “what more do you need,” so Callie elaborated. “There are a million reasons they might not have a record of her, right?” She looked around at everyone in disbelief. “Maybe you didn’t spell her name correctly, or she’s listed with her middle name. Heck, maybe Sashaisher middle name, and she goes by that instead of her legal first name. Maybe the file was lost, I don’t know! If you give me some more time, I could probably come up with dozens more explanations.”
“Or,” Taylor said cautiously, “the most straightforward explanation is the one we’re looking for, and that’s that Sasha has been lying to you guys. Pretty sure there’s some sort of logical principle about that.”
“Occam’s razor,” Ariel noted. “I think.”
“Exactly!” Mallory said. “The simplest explanation is the one we should go with, especially when you add on all the other ways that Sasha has been acting. She didn’t tell us about herbirthday, and I still don’t trust that she was looking for soap the other day.”
Callie shook her head. “You’re only connecting thenegativedots.” She frowned. “What I’m saying is that there are a lot of great things about Sasha, good stuff that she’s done since she’s arrived, that you’re choosing to ignore. You’re focusing only on the bad.”
“It’s not our fault the bad is so–well–bad! How can youstillbe defending her so vehemently?” Mallory fumed. “This whole thing has been weird from the beginning and now we have proof. You refuse to even acknowledge what’s right in front of your eyes. Why?”
“I’m sorry,” Callie said, pushing her shoulders back. “I’m just not ready to completely cast Sasha aside. I’d like to hear what she has to say first.”
Mallory shook her head. “She’s just going to lie again!”
“I don’t think so. She and I had a lovely, honest conversation recently. She opened up to me a little, and I think if we all just give her the chance to explain,and don’t jump down her throat, it’d be for the best. There could easily be a very good explanation for this, and I’d hate for us to make her feel bad for what could amount to nothing at all really.”
Mallory smirked. “This is crazy. I feel like I’m going crazy. Like I’m the only person who sees what’s happening.”
Callie felt a pang of sympathy for her daughter, who was clearly in distress, but she didn’t know what to do. It felt wrong for them to sit around, swapping theories about Sasha’s life, when the woman wasn’t even in the room to defend herself.
“Maybe mom’s right,” Ariel said in a soft voice. “We should at least give Sasha the chance to tell us what’s going on with the shelter records.”
“I’m all for hearing what she has to say.” Mallory threw her hands up in the air. “I just think we all need to realize that she’smost likely going to lie again. If we’re going to get the truth from her, I think we’re going to have to play a little hard ball. We need to put some pressure on her.”
Callie didn’t like the sound of that. This girl had already been through so much.
“Callie—” It was David. He was sitting next to her on the couch, offering her a compassionate look. “I think the kids are right. We need to ask Sasha to tell us the truth and make it clear that we’re not messing around.”
“You think she’s scamming us? Really, David?” Callie’s voice broke. “I’m not sure I can accept that.”
“I wouldn’t have given the idea a second thought either,” he admitted. “But look.” He handed her his phone. “This was the app that was open when Mallory gave this back to me. She was scrolling around on my old Facebook page. I haven’t gone on that app in months, maybe longer.”
Callie stared down at the screen where David’s Facebook friends were listed out in blue lettering. Her heart sank like a stone. “Oh.”
“She’s definitely not telling us the full truth,” he said sadly. “And we deserve to know the truth.”
“Yes, you do,” Sasha said.
Callie turned to look over her shoulder. Sasha was standing behind the couch holding Dot, her face was pale and Callie was worried she’d faint. Sasha smiled meekly down at Callie, handed her the baby, and then came to take a seat in the only chair that was unoccupied. Drawing a deep breath, she glanced at everyone in the room and said, “I guess, I’ll start from the beginning.”
Chapter 8
1.5 Years Ago
“Mom, do you have any change? I’m short on bus fare and my appointment is in thirty minutes.”
The sleepy, overworked twenty-year-old Sasha stood on the other side of the closed bedroom door. They had been subletting a one-bedroom apartment in Fortuna for the last three months, and they had switched off who got the bedroom every other week. Although it was Sasha’s turn to sleep on the bed instead of on the couch, she’d given her mom a few extra days because Molly hadn’t been feeling well.
“Mom?” Sasha tried one more time, in a soft voice. It was early and she assumed her mom was still asleep. Molly’s shift at the bank didn’t start for another hour, but then again, her mom had asked Sasha to wake her up before she left for her doctor’s appointment. She was torn between wanting to let her exhausted mother get a few more minutes of sleep and not wanting Molly to sleep through her alarm again while Sasha was gone. After a few seconds of debate, she decided it was best to do what her mother had asked and opened the door.
“I know it’s early,” Sasha said as she approached the bed. “But I need you to remember that this is what you wanted, so don’t snap at me. I need to leave for my appointment in five minutes, so you should probably get up.” She sat down on the edge of the mattress and gingerly shook her mother’s shoulder.Molly let out an uncharacteristically pathetic moan and it was then that Sasha realized how pale her mother looked. She was clammy too.
