Chapter 6
“David—we need to talk.”
It was later that evening, and Callie had spent the last five hours cooking and overthinking in a very warm kitchen.
She had sweat on her brow, and her nerves were a little on end, but she knew this conversation couldn’t wait.
After finishing her cooking, she took off her apron and marched down the hallway to David’s office.
She leaned against the doorway and waited for him to respond.
Seated at his desk, David stared up in surprise. “Umm… okay. What’s going on? You know saying that kind of thing stresses people out if you don’t elaborate.”
“Right. Sorry. I just don’t even know where to begin.
” Callie sighed and stepped into the room, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.
“You were right.” She glanced at her daughter’s stuff that was scattered all over the floor.
“It’s been a lot harder to keep up this facade with all the kids under the same roof. I’m struggling a lot actually.”
His eyes widened. “Did something happen?”
“Nothing really,” Callie said. “But I’ve had to lie a few times now and I don’t like it. It feels… wrong.”
“Yeah, I know. That’s what I was trying to tell you.”
“And I’m sorry I was so dismissive. I think I was a little bit in denial.
Maybe I’ve been this whole time, all these years.
” She looked up and he was frowning at her, so she clarified.
“I’m not saying I regret our decision. Not at all.
I just mean that it’s been easy to pretend like nothing was different when the kids were around.
Now that they’re older though, it’s starting to feel like I’m keeping this secret more for myself than to protect them. ”
He nodded. “I’ve had similar thoughts myself.”
“So, with that said, I think we should finally come clean and tell the kids the truth.”
David smiled. “Well, you already know how I feel about this. I think that’s the right thing to do. Before everyone leaves this weekend for sure.”
“I agree. I’m thinking maybe we should talk to them on Friday. Sasha will be at work all day, so we won’t have to worry about her interrupting the conversation—that would only make the kids more emotional, I think. We can tell Sasha another time.”
“Good thinking. Plus, Thanksgiving will be over, so we won’t be ruining dinner or anything like that. And they’ll have the entire weekend to process their feelings and ask questions.” He shrugged. “Who knows, maybe they’ll even be okay with it by the time the week is over.”
“I wouldn’t go that far. But I guess it’s a good thing you’re coming at this from a ‘glass-half-full’ perspective, because I’m definitely not. I’m worried if we don’t tell them in the right way, there’s going to be a major fallout. I want to try and mitigate that damage, if possible.”
David rubbed his chin. “I’m not sure there’s a way for us to tell them that doesn’t lead to some kind of fight, unfortunately. In the initial conversation, I mean. They’re just going to be so shocked, you know?”
Callie’s shoulders sank.
“But look,” he went on. “The kids are going to react the way they’re going to react and we just have to accept it. They’re adults, so hopefully they’ll at least not blow up in our faces, but if they do—we can handle it. We got through Mallory’s teenage years, remember?”
“That’s true.” Callie chuckled. “But I think this is going to be worse than that.”
“I don’t know,” David joked. “That was pretty bad.”
Callie said nothing.
“I think our best bet is to be fully honest, answer their questions, and then give them some time to process it all.”
“You make it sound so simple.” She huffed. “And yet, I think this is going to be one of the hardest conversations I’ve had in my life.”
“We’ll get through it.”
Callie nodded, but she wasn’t sure she believed that right then. “Yeah, alright. So—Friday?”
“Friday.”
She smiled despite how many negative emotions were rattling around inside her. “Oh,” she said, recalling their daughter’s big news, “did Ariel tell you about her book deal?”
“She did! Isn’t that something!”
“Yeah, it’s amazing,” she replied. “And Taylor and Erica told everyone about their fertility issues and how they’re thinking about adoption, so we don’t have to tiptoe around that anymore.”
“Good to know. Sounds like our kids are doing well, all things considered.”
“I know.” Callie reached out and knocked her knuckles on the wood of David’s desk.
“We haven’t even talked about how Mallory is hanging out with that sweetheart she went to school with, James.
Her potentially finding love right here in Ferndale feels like a miracle.
All three of our kids seem to be in good places in their lives. ..”
David raised a brow. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. Doesn’t that mean they’re more likely to take this news well?”
“Maybe. But maybe it means that we are going to end up ruining what would otherwise be a perfect week.” She blew a few loose strands of gray hair out of her face. “God, this is stressful.”
He sat back in his chair. “Are you starting to have doubts?”
“No, no. We need to tell them. I’m just trying to talk through some of my worries, so I don’t end up spiraling and backing out last minute.
” She sighed. “The worst thing I could do now is start to tell the kids the truth, change my mind, and lie again or something. It’s all or nothing, don’t you think? ”
“For sure,” David said. “All or—”
“Is that my dad’s phone?” Mallory’s voice echoed from down the hall, loud enough that it stopped David mid-sentence and sent a nervous chill down Callie’s spine. She could hear the disdain in her daughter’s tone and knew who Mallory was talking to before she left the office: Sasha.
“Uh-oh,” Callie said, leaping to her feet. “That doesn’t sound good. We better go see what that’s about.”
David followed her out the door and into the living room to hear the full story—at least, Mallory’s side of it.
“I was going into the living room to see if Sasha wanted some tea,” she said, relaying the information to her brother, sister, and Erica. The kids were all upstairs watching a movie in the master bedroom, thankfully. “And I found her snooping on dad’s phone!”
“I wasn’t snooping!” Sasha said indignantly. “It was ringing, and I just looked to see who was calling. I was going to go take it to David afterwards and—”
“Oh, yeah right,” scoffed Mallory. “I didn’t hear it ringing, did anyone else?”
Nobody spoke up.
“It must’ve been on silent then,” Sasha said.
“Don’t even try to lie to me. I’ve been onto you since day one and I know you’ve been deceiving my parents ever since you got here.”
“Mallory!” Callie hissed. “What are you talking about? Why are you going after her so viciously? Who cares if she was looking at your dad’s phone?”
“I care!” Mallory said. “Especially since we know that Sasha–”
“Mal,” Taylor said, stopping her with a warning look, “we agreed that we weren’t going to bring this up until after we talked to mom and dad privately.”
“Talk to us about what?” David asked, but nobody answered his question.
“Yeah, well that was before I caught her going through our dad’s phone.” Mallory held the phone up in the air as if it was all the evidence she needed. “She wasn’t just looking at the screen. It was unlocked and everything!” She narrowed her eyes at Sasha. “How did you even know his passcode?”
David cleared his throat awkwardly. “I—I don’t have a passcode on my phone.”
“Oh, dad,” Taylor groaned. “That’s like rule number one of technology safety. Are you trying to give me a stress ulcer?”
“See!” Mallory said, throwing an accusatory finger at Sasha. “No passcode! It would’ve been so easy for her to get into his phone and—I don’t know—do whatever it was she was doing on there. Probably looking for banking information and doing a money transfer or something!”
“I wasn’t!” Sasha cried out. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“Mallory, really,” Callie insisted. “I think you’re overreacting a little.”
“Don’t defend her mom,” Mallory said with an icy look in her eye. “She’s not who you think she is. I know you want to believe that she's a perfect little angel who just needed help, but she’s a liar! She’s using you. She was never even in a women’s shelter before she came here.”
Callie and David shared a look of surprise, but everyone else in the room, including Sasha, seemed strangely unaffected by this comment. Callie knew she should probably say something, but she was too stunned.
“It’s true,” Mallory went on, breaking the tense silence.
“We found out that there’s not a single women’s shelter in California that has a record of someone named Sasha Sommers being there.
That means she either lied about the shelter or gave you a fake name.
” Mallory folded her arms and glared at Sasha. “So then, which is it?”
“I—I—” Sasha stuttered and just then Dot woke up from her nap, screaming from the play pen on the other side of the room. “I have to get her.”
“I’ll get her,” Ariel said, already halfway out of the room. “You stay here.”
If Sasha had any qualms about letting Ariel fetch her baby, she kept them to herself.
She probably didn’t want to rock the boat any more than it was already rocking.
It was obvious to Callie that the poor woman was terrified, and her first instinct was to comfort Sasha. But what if Mallory was right?
“Oh, god,” Callie said, rubbing her temples. “This is too much. Will someone please explain what’s going on? Sasha, maybe you’d like to shed some light on this situation?”
Sasha looked around nervously.
“Go ahead,” Mallory prompted her. “Tell them. Tell my parents how you are not who you said you were. How we were right to suspect you of trying to scam them!”
“That’s not what I was trying to do,” Sasha insisted.
“It’s… more complicated than that.” She inhaled sharply and then went to Ariel and Dot, who’d just come through from the kitchen.
Dot was still howling, but she calmed down a bit when Sasha took her into her arms. “I promise, I’ll explain everything.
Just let me go change her. She’s not going to stop screaming until she has a clean diaper. ”
Ariel—or someone else—might’ve jumped in and offered to do it themselves, but Sasha darted out of the room quickly.
Mallory stared wide-eyed at her parents after she disappeared around the corner and said, “You can’t just let her go upstairs alone!
Who knows what she’s going to do. Taylor, follow her. ”
“No thank you,” Taylor said with a furrowed brow. “That’s very creepy.”
“But—”
“Hang on a second,” Callie said in a soft tone, moving towards the couch and doing her best to remain calm. “Nobody needs to follow her. What’s the worst she can do?”
“I don’t think you want me to answer that question,” Mallory muttered. “Because I have a long list of ideas.”
Callie chose to ignore that comment. “Let’s all take a deep breath.
Things are getting a little crazy, and nothing is going to be accomplished if we all end up screaming at each other.
Now—” She looked up at her three children from her seat.
“I want you to sit down and tell me exactly how you came to find out that Sasha wasn’t in a women’s shelter. ”