Chapter 6
A week later, Callie had to face her fears.
In less than three days, Ariel, Taylor, and their families were going to be arriving in Ferndale, and she still hadn’t told her son. But when Taylor called her the Friday morning before Thanksgiving to discuss travel plans, she couldn’t put the conversation off anymore.
“Hey, sweetie,” she answered the call from the cafe on campus.
Callie had carved out the whole morning to do some grading and had decided to do so at the school.
It wasn’t that she was avoiding her family, she just needed a moment to herself.
Mallory and Sasha were always on edge around each other, and David was also stressed ever since his workload had increased before his week-long Thanksgiving break.
All this drama left Callie walking on eggshells in her own house, so she’d woken up that morning with a plan to stay out until at least the early afternoon.
“Hey mom,” Taylor said in a cheery voice. Taylor had always been a morning person, and as long as the sun was up, he tended to not only be awake, but chipper. “How’s it going?”
“It’s going alright.” She looked around at the cozy cafe and smiled. “It’s going great, actually. I’m having a lovely morning grading papers with a delicious cup of coffee.”
“That sounds nice. I’m jealous. My Friday is already chalking up to be a total nightmare with work, but I suppose that’s to be expected with the holiday coming up.”
“Don’t work yourself too hard. I’d hate for you or Erica to get sick before coming out to visit! Your father and I are so excited to see you.”
“We’re excited too,” he said. “That’s actually why I’m calling, I just wanted to make sure it was okay that our flight gets in late on Saturday night. Or actually, I should say it gets in really early Sunday morning. We didn’t book our tickets on time, and there were only red-eyes left.”
“No worries.”
“Well, don’t say that before you even find out what time we’re getting in,” he said with a short laugh.
“We’ll get a cab from the airport, so you don’t have to worry about picking us up in the middle of the night, but that means we’re going to be coming into the house at an ungodly hour. Probably before the sun rises.”
“That’s fine, honey!” she said causally and then recalled that she wasn’t just speaking for herself, David, and Mallory—none of whom would’ve cared if Taylor and Erica woke them up.
However, there was a tired mother and her baby to take into consideration now.
“Uh—well, actually, now that I’m thinking about it, do you know what time you’d be getting in? ”
“Our flight lands at four a.m.,” he said. “So, by the time we get our bags and catch a ride, we’d probably be getting to the house between five and six in the morning. Is that alright?”
“Yes, that’s alright!” She said more confidently this time. Sasha was usually awake by six anyway, so this wouldn’t be much earlier than her normal day-to-day. “That’s not too crazy.”
“For Mallory it is.”
“Maybe, but your sister could sleep through an earthquake,” Callie joked. “Don’t worry about her. She’s not going to wake up.”
“Do you remember when dad would make pancakes and set the fire alarm off nearly every weekend? Mallory didn’t even open her eyes to the sound!”
“Of course, I remember.” Callie shook her head. “It scared the hell out of me. As a mother, you really like to think that your kids at least possess the most basic survival instincts, but Mallory… I guess she’s just always went to the beat of her own drum.”
“That’s a nice way of saying she’s a total weirdo. But anyway, I’ll let Erica know she doesn’t need to change the tickets. Should I send the itinerary to you or dad?”
“You can send it to me,” she said. “Your father is without a computer right now.”
“Oh no, did that dinosaur of a laptop finally burn out?”
“Yeah, something like that,” Callie said, not wanting to reveal that Mallory was the one who’d pushed it over the edge. “But he’s shopping for a new one this week. He’ll probably look for a good deal on Black Friday.”
“Not a bad idea. I’ll help him pick one out when I’m there.”
“I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.” She said and nervously played with the heat-protectant sleeve on her coffee cup.
“So, uh, did you end up talking to Erica about the news you heard from the doctor?” She knew this was an odd time to bring up this sensitive subject, but she was trying to buy some time before coming clean about Sasha.
Besides, she’d been curious to get an update, and she felt this was important information for her to have before Taylor and Erica came to stay—in case she was going to be cursed with the weight of yet another secret.
“Yeah, we talked about it a little bit,” he said.
“You were right. She’s not upset with me or anything, but we decided to not worry too much about it until the new year.
We just want to take the next two months to relax, and we’ll figure out the baby stuff when we’re ready to look into alternatives. ”
“I think that’s a great idea,” she said.
“I think it was your idea,” he said with a laugh.
“Oh, well then, I’m even more on board with it.” Callie smiled to herself. “And I’ll do what I can to make Thanksgiving a relaxing week… But in order to do that, there’s something I have to tell you before you and Erica come to town.”
“What’s up?” He didn’t sound particularly uneasy, which gave Callie the courage to rip off the band aid.
“So, a little over a month ago,” she began.
“Your father and I decided to sponsor a young single mother and her child. She’s been staying with us for a while now, things are going really well, and uh, yeah.
She’ll be here with the baby when you’re in town for Thanksgiving, so I just thought I’d let you know. ”
“Um… Okay. What do you mean you’re sponsoring her? Like, what does that mean?”
Dang it.
Callie had a feeling that would be the word that he fixated on.
She knew it wasn’t the right term to perfectly encapsulate what she was doing for Sasha and Dot, but she also didn’t know an exact word that described the situation perfectly.
“It’s nothing too crazy. We’re, uh, just letting her live here and we’re taking care of her living expenses.
And the living expenses for the baby as well I suppose. ”
“You’re paying for stuff for her and her baby?”
“Well, yeah, but only while she’s staying here, we’re covering the groceries, and I bought her a new stroller since the one she had was unsafe. I couldn’t in good conscience let her continue putting her baby in it. But that’s about it.”
“I’m confused... Is this something you signed up for through some sort of organization? How did you even find out about this woman?”
“She was living at a shelter that I used to regularly donate to,” she explained.
“And when I heard that she needed a safer, more stable place to stay with her nine-month-old, I offered up one of the extra rooms we have in the house. They’re just sitting empty, you know, so it was an easy decision.
Your father and I have way more space than we need, and to sit idling by while people in our community are struggling… It’s just wrong, don’t you think?”
“Sure... In theory.”
“In theory, but not in practice?” Callie laughed. “That sounds like someone who wants things to change but doesn’t want to do the work.”
“Mom, this isn’t about me,” he said, clocking her attempt to turn the conversation around.
“I just want to make sure I’m fully grasping the situation.
How did you hear about this woman in particular?
I mean, I’m sure there are plenty of other single mothers at the shelter who’d love to move into your house, but is there an organization that decides who gets sponsored? Did you have to apply for this?”
“Um, there was no formal application process, no. A social worker called me.”
“Someone just called you out of the blue and asked if you’d sponsor a random woman?” Hearing the doubt in Taylor’s voice, Callie knew she was losing ground.
Why didn’t I rehearse this more?
“That doesn’t make any sense, mom. This sounds like a scam to me.”
“I knew you were going to say that.” She sighed. “This is why I didn’t tell you right away.”
“If you knew I was going to say this was a scam, does that mean you were ignoring the red flags?”
“No, you’re twisting my words. It’s just that you always assume your father and I are sitting ducks!”
“I never called you sitting ducks. But I do wish you would’ve told me about this sooner. I could’ve looked into the situation before you let the woman come and live with you—just to ensure that there’s nothing I need to worry about.”
“I had a feeling you’d find something wrong with the situation no matter what,” Callie admitted.
“Mom—”
“Let me finish,” she said, but in a cool, collected voice.
Callie wasn’t upset, but she was going to explain herself fully before her son continued on with his baseless assumptions.
“I know that this whole thing is a little… patched together. But that’s what happens in a small town like this.
Someone needs help, another person steps up to offer that help, and that’s that.
So what if there wasn’t a bunch of official paperwork?
When I gave birth to your sister at the local hospital, they ran out of paper, and they couldn’t even print out any of my medical records.
This was before the internet, so the records were just gone, and your sister didn’t get her official birth certificate for over a month. ”
“What does this have to do with you sponsoring a homeless woman?”