Chapter 8
Callie and Sasha had stayed up late the night before, drinking wine and laughing.
Two weeks had passed since Sasha had arrived, and this was the first night they’d spent time together without David, who’d had to stay late at the office.
The two mothers sat on the back porch, sipping pinot noir and chatting about the woes of parenthood.
Sasha was still a little guarded when it came to answering questions about her past, but she loved peppering Callie with questions about how things were when she had babies to look after.
The night was not only fun, but it eased Callie’s fears that she wasn’t connecting with Sasha.
They just had to engage in some good old-fashioned girl talk, and the wine definitely helped.
Technically, Sasha wasn’t old enough to drink, but she was only two months shy of her twenty-first birthday and Callie wasn’t going to tell her to stay away from alcohol.
Sasha seemed to have a good head on her shoulders.
Moreover, after all she’d been through in the last two years, she was emotionally far older than twenty.
The next morning, Callie was feeling her own age. She woke up before her alarm, and the blood pulsing through her veins was loud enough to drown out the sounds of the birds outside. She held her head as she sat up, groaning from a hangover she wasn’t expecting.
“Oh, man. That’s—that’s a feeling I thought I’d never experience again.” Callie wasn’t much of a drinker, and it was rare for her to have more than one drink in a single evening. Still, she wouldn’t take back her choice to stay up late and finish off the bottle with her new friend.
She dragged herself across the master bedroom and staggered into the bathroom, turning the shower dial to hot.
She let the water run for a bit, filling the room with steam, which helped wake her up a little.
But once she stepped inside, she yelped when the hot water hit her skin, and she quickly turned the handle toward the center.
“You good?” David’s voice came from outside the bathroom door, startling her.
“I’m fine! Why are you sneaking outside the bathroom door?”
“I wasn’t sneaking,” he said, sounding a bit defensive. “I just thought I heard a car door shut outside and I was wondering if we were expecting someone?”
“I’m not! Maybe ask Sasha?”
“I think she’s in the shower too,” he said. “I have to jump on a work call in like—well, now—so if someone knocks on the door—”
“I’ll hear it, don’t worry,” Callie called out. “Go get on your computer, it’s fine. I can’t imagine anyone would be dropping by this early anyway. How come you have a meeting at the crack of dawn?”
“It’s international,” David said. “I gotta go!”
Callie went back to her shower, thinking David must’ve just heard one of the neighbors leaving for work. However, a few seconds later, as she’d poured a bunch of shampoo on top of her head, she heard a knock at the door.
“Oh, crap!” She struggled to wash out the shampoo as quickly as possible, allowing it to drip down her face and into her eyes.
She swore under her breath a few times, putting her head directly under the shower stream and forcing her eyelids open.
Even though she got the shampoo out of her eyes, they still burned when she jumped out of the shower and wrapped herself in her robe.
“I’m coming!” she called out, even though she knew the person at the front door couldn’t hear her.
It just made her feel better. Dripping water all over the place, her hair only half rinsed, Callie ran out of the bathroom and down the hall.
She turned the corner into the entryway, almost slipping on the wood floors, and then froze.
Sasha had already opened the door and her hair wasn’t wet, so Callie realized that David’s earlier assumption had been wrong. Dot was in Sasha’s arms as she conversed with someone Callie couldn’t see on the other side of the open door.
“You’re what?” said a familiar voice.
Callie’s chest tightened.
Oh no.
The moment she stepped forward, Sasha moved to the side, giving Callie a look at her unexpected guest. Mallory stared at her mother with a wide-eyed expression. There were bags at her feet, and Callie immediately understood that her daughter had come for an extended stay.
“Oh—hi, honey!” she said, trying her best to sound happy and unfazed. “I didn’t know you were coming to see us! What a wonderful surprise.”
“Yeah,” Mallory said, scoffing. “Surprise is the right word for it.” Walking through the door with her shoulders squared, she shot a suspicious glare at Sasha before turning to her mother again. “Mom, would you mind telling me who the heck this woman is? And why she’s telling me she lives here?”