Page 2 of Coming Home for Fall 5
“I do not!” Becca yelled. Callie winced, thinking the little girl was about to kick the seat again, but the impact never came. When they reached a stop sign, a woman crossed the street with three fluffy dogs on leashes that tugged her along.
“Look!” Micah called out, pointing out the window. “They look like clouds!”
“Yeah, that’s Mrs. Steinfeld,” Callie said. “And she told me the breed name once… I think it’s Great Pyrenees? Or are those the fluffy black ones?”
“Newfoundland?” Hannah suggested.
“Could be.” Callie shrugged and then stepped on the pedal again. “Becca, if you had a big fluffy dog like that, what would you name it?”
If there was one thing Callie was good at, it was distracting rowdy kids and steering them away from a potential squabble. Thankfully, swapping potential names was enough to keep the kids occupied for the rest of the ride and all meltdowns or fights were avoided. Callie sighed with relief when she parked, and Ariel met her in the driveway.
“How’d it go?” she asked as Callie stepped out of the car.
“Not bad, but I think everyone’s a little cranky.”
Ariel nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure they’re hungry. I’m on it.”
Callie went around to the trunk and started unloading the groceries. After Ariel grabbed her youngest from the car seat, she sent all her children inside and then helped her mom with the rest of the bags. “I’m just going to leave these at the door,” Callie said, setting down the last load of bags onto the concrete steps. “I have to run back into town.”
“You do?”
“Yeah, I’m gonna pick up some lunch and bring it to Sasha,” she said. “I’ll be back in an hour or so.”
Ariel shifted her weight back and forth on her feet. “Okay…”
“Are you alright?”
“Hmm? Oh, yeah.” She waved a hand in the air. “I’m fine. There’s just—well—never mind. I’ll talk to you about it later.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely,” she said. “Have a nice time!”
Callie promised she would, but she had no idea what she was walking into. She was about to bombard Sasha at work and demand that she explain what had happened. Who knows what kind of reaction Sasha was going to have? It was a risky move, but Callie couldn’t wait any longer. Now that all three of her kids were back in Ferndale, she had to field questions about Sasha from multiple suspicious parties. It was only a matter of time before they discovered that Callie was hiding the truth about what had happened the other morning.
Not to mention, if Sashawasup to no good, Callie needed to know about it.
*
“Callie?” Kate smiled when her friend walked through the entrance of the bookstore. “What a surprise! I didn’t know you were dropping in today.”
Callie held up a plastic bag full of food from the Mexican restaurant down the street. “I come bearing gifts. I’ve got enough food to feed a family of five, so I hope you and Sasha are both pretty hungry.”
“Ooh, great timing. I could tell my blood sugar was starting to drop. Hey, Sasha!” she called into the back room. “Callie’s here. She brought lunch.”
“Oh—uh—okay.” Callie could hear the worry in Sasha’s voice, but Kate didn’t seem phased, unaware of the tension between the two women. “I’ll be right there.”
Kate moved some books and paperwork off the counter next to the register. “We can lay it all out here.”
“Perfect,” Callie said, unloading the food. When Sasha emerged from the back room, she kept her head down and offered Callie a muted hello. Callie figured the food could act as both a peace offering and a way to ease into the conversation.
The three women loaded up their respective paper plates with food and dug in. Kate chatted casually about everything she still had to do to get ready for Friday. Callie half listened, too caught up in her thoughts about how she could talk to Sasha alone.
Why did I corner her at work?
This was the least private place for this conversation, and there didn’t seem to be any inconspicuous way to ask Kate to leave her alone with Sasha. Then again, the bookstore was the only place where Sasha couldn’t dodge Callie. It wasn’t like she could just walk out of the shop without a good reason. Callie felt a little guilty using Sasha’s need for a job against her, but she didn’t know what else to do.
“And Sasha’s a very fast learner,” Kate said, going on about how the onboarding process was playing out. “She’s already got the online ordering system down, and that’s the hardest part.”
