Chapter 8
“Hannah, will you go tell your brother to—” Ariel’s voice was drowned out when a high-pitched scream came through the phone, forcing Callie to pull the device away from her face to protect her ear drum. She waited a few seconds and then tentatively got back on the call. “Never mind. I’ll do it.”
“Is everything okay over there?” Callie asked.
Ariel let out a weary sigh, a sound Callie recognized as that of an exhausted mother trying to wrangle her kids for a long car ride.
It was Saturday morning, and in less than twenty-four hours, all her children and grandchildren were going to be in Ferndale. She was excited but also boiling over with fear.
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Ariel said. “I just don’t have Chris here to help me like I thought I would, so I’m trying to get everyone ready on my own.”
“Where’s Chris?”
“He got called on another last-minute work trip,” Ariel said with a dejected voice. “But He’ll be in Ferndale before Thanksgiving. Hopefully, no later than Tuesday or Wednesday morning.”
Callie deflated into the couch where she’d been taking a break from moving furniture when her daughter called.
She knew Ariel had been really looking forward to spending the week with her entire family, and she had probably been counting on having her husband’s support with the kids.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. That’s a real bummer. ”
“Yeah, it’s not exactly how I pictured this road trip would go, but oh well. I’m hoping this is the last holiday season we have to deal with stuff like this. Oh—oh hold on, mom. Hannah, will you make sure your sister is buckled in. I don’t want to have to climb back there.”
There came the sound of muffled voices and another squeal that Callie guessed was her youngest grandchild, five-year-old Rebecca, raging against being buckled into her seat.
She was a wiggly child who hated to be contained.
Between Hannah and Becca, there was Micah, who was the quiet, bookworm type.
He was a sweet boy, but shy as could be.
“Okay, I’m back,” Ariel said a few seconds later. “I’m letting Becca have the full back row to herself, but maybe that’s a mistake because it’s really hard for me to get back there if need be. We should’ve gotten a bigger van.”
“It sounds like Hannah’s helping you though.”
“For now,” she said with a bitter little laugh. “We’ll see how long her good mood lasts. But it’s okay. Everyone’s in the car and I think we’ve got everything.” She breathed in deeply. “I’m just going to take a moment to myself before I get in there with them.”
“Good thinking. Center yourself a bit.”
“Exactly. And I have to run through my list, make sure I’m not forgetting anything.
” She verbally checked things off and Callie threw in a few items that came to mind as well.
Once they were done going over the list, Ariel laughed softly.
“At least I know I packed everything. Now we just have to get through the drive. I’m guessing we’ll have to stop at least twice for pee breaks, since the two little ones insisted that they didn’t have to go before getting in the car. .. we all know how that goes.”
“One of them will be crying they have to go to the bathroom in thirty minutes, if I had to guess.” Callie chuckled. “But at least the drive isn’t too long. You’ll be here in no time.”
“I just wish I had another adult with me,” she said. “Someone to deal with the kids in the back while the other one focused on the road. It always stresses me out having to do both. You’d think I’d be used to it by now, but not really…”
Callie could hear the heartache in her daughter’s voice. “Honey, I’m really sorry. If I’d known sooner, I would’ve driven out to you last night and then we could’ve carpooled or something.”
“It’s okay. I’ll be fine. Micah has a couple books to read, and I told Becca that she could watch as many movies as she wanted on the iPad, as long as she didn’t bother her older sister.
She’s been driving Hannah crazy lately, and now that Hannah’s almost eleven, she’s developing a bit of an attitude, so she snaps back real fast.”
Callie winced. “I would say that it’ll get better, but when it comes to kids her age, things are going to get a lot worse before they get better unfortunately.”
“Yeah… I know. God, I’m really not looking forward to the teenage years.”
“You’ll be fine. And if Chris switches to a new department, then he’ll be there to help a lot more with those years.”
“He better.” Ariel snorted. “And he already promised that he’d be in charge of the kids the entire day of Thanksgiving. He told me he wants me to drink wine, eat a lot of good food, and not lift a finger for the kids. So that’ll be nice.”
Callie’s face softened. Chris was a good husband, even if he was absent more than anyone would’ve liked him to be. “I’ll make sure you keep up your end of the bargain. A break will be just what you need.”
“Especially after dealing with the kids on my own for four days in the rental.” Ariel groaned.
“They’re always so much more hyper when we’re on vacation, and this rental is a real no-frills kind of place.
I’m not even sure they have a TV, which means I’ll have to find ways to keep the kids entertained whenever we’re there. ”
“Well, you’re not going to be there during the day, right? It’ll just be at night.”
“Yeah, I guess… But maybe I could let Hannah sleep at your house for a night or two? Then I can just put on a kid’s movie for the other two and I won’t have to listen to her complain about how she hates cartoons.
Oh yeah—that’s her new thing. She’s decided she’s an adult and so she only wants to watch the TV shows that Chris and I watch.
It’s been an ongoing battle for months now. ”
“Of course she can stay here!” Callie said. “You can all stay here if you want. It’ll be cramped, but we could make it work. You could take the master bedroom, and that way you’d have a king bed.”
“I’m not going to take your bedroom away. Doesn’t dad have to sleep on that mattress anyway? Because of his back pain?”
“Actually, he prefers the pull-out couch these days. His doctor told him it was better for him to be on a firmer mattress, so we bought a better pull-out that doesn’t have springs and has thick memory foam.
So, we can sleep on that no problem, and then you and the kids can have the big room.
At least three of you can fit in the king bed, and then maybe Hannah could crash with her aunt, Mallory? ”
“She would love that idea! Do you think Mallory would mind?”
“Not at all. You know those two are two peas in a pod.”
“Yeah, alright. I guess this could work. But if things get too crazy, we’ll go to the rental, okay? I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, and I know you’ve got more people in the house than you bargained for already.”
“We’ll be fine,” Callie said, hoping she sounded a bit more confident than she felt.
She knew David would have something to say about having more people under one roof, more prying eyes.
However, Ariel needed help with the kids, so it was an easy decision to let them stay at the house.
“Don’t worry about a thing, just get here safely. ”
“Yeah, alright. Will do. I’ll text you when we stop to let you know what time we’ll be getting to Ferndale.”
“Sounds good. Drive safe, sweetie.”
“See you in a few hours.”
They hung up and Callie let her head fall back into the cushions, breathing out heavily before going back to work.
“Was that Ariel?” Mallory asked as she came into the room. She was wearing a cute, long-sleeved black dress and tights. It was fancier than her usual attire, and if Callie wasn’t mistaken, her daughter had even put some make-up on. There was also a slight curl to her hair. “Is she on her way?”
“She’s just hitting the road now. Chris got pulled away by work, so she was slow getting the kids ready all by herself.” Callie frowned up at Mallory. “You look nice. Are you going somewhere?”
Mallory shrugged. “Just into town.”
“Are you… meeting anyone?”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” she said. “Why?”
“No reason.”
“There’s clearly a reason.” Mallory cocked her head to the side. “Why are you acting weird?”
“I’m not acting weird. If anything, you’re the one acting weird. I was just commenting on your outfit. You just look cute. I thought maybe you had plans or something, that’s all.”
“Well, I don’t. I’m just going to run some errands.”
“Okay.” Callie put her hands up in surrender. “Forget I said anything. Oh, is it alright if Hannah stays in the office with you for a couple nights? Ariel isn’t sure about staying in the rental with the kids by herself, so I said they could stay here until Chris got to town.”
“Fine by me. But that’ll be a lot of people. Taylor and Erica get in tonight too, right?”
“Technically tomorrow morning, but yeah.”
Mallory raised her brows. “Sounds a little chaotic. Maybe if Ariel isn’t using her rental for the first few days she’s in town, I’ll go sleep there.”
“Anyone can sleep wherever they want,” Callie said. “I just want you all to be comfortable. Although, it might be kind of fun to have all three of you kids staying together again. It doesn’t happen very often.”
“That’s probably for the best if you ask me. We always manage to get on each other’s nerves when we spend too much time together. It’s like Ariel’s kids. Someone always gets irritated and then the fighting starts, and bam, they’re at each other’s throats.”
Callie shook her head. “You have an awful negative view of these family dynamics.”
“I like to think of it as an accurate view. Anyway, I’m gonna go. Do you need anything from the store?”
“I don’t think so,” Callie said. “Your dad is going shopping in a bit, and I already gave him my list. But I’ll text you if something comes to mind.”
“What about Sasha? Do you think she needs anything? Or Dot?”
Callie smiled. “That’s very sweet of you to offer. But Sasha’s actually at the bookstore all day, training for her new job.”
“Right. I forgot about that.”
“You don’t sound very pleased.”
“I’m not not pleased,” Mallory said defensively. “I’m just a little surprised. With all her talk about making her resume perfect, I was starting to think that maybe she was never going to actually apply.”
“I think she’s just a perfectionist,” Callie said.
“But she’s really excited about starting work with Kate.
You should stop in to say hello while you’re in town!
She took Dot with her, but I’m going to go pick up the baby in about an hour so she can really train without having to worry about her baby. ”
Mallory frowned. “What’s she going to do when she starts working officially? She can’t take Dot with her there on a day when the bookstore is full of people, can she?”
“I’ll watch Dot while she’s at work. Besides this first weekend, her hours aren’t going to be that crazy and I’m happy to hang out with that little bundle of laughs.”
“Hmm.” It was clear Mallory had some thoughts on this arrangement, but she apparently didn’t feel the need to get into all of that right then.
“Alright. Well, I won’t be gone too long, so if there’s any more furniture you want to move, wait until I’m back.
I caught dad trying to bring up the queen bed frame from the basement on his own a few minutes ago. ”
“I told him not to do that!” Callie clicked her tongue. “I said I’d come and help him after I got off the phone with Ariel.”
“I already helped him. With the frame and the mattress. He’s taking apart the twin bed frame right now so it’s easier to store in the basement.”
“I suppose he probably can’t injure himself while he’s doing that,” Callie muttered, but even as she said it, she had her doubts.
David was healthy for his age, but he had a tendency to overdo things, which was how he’d injured his back a few years ago.
“On second thought, I’m going to go supervise. Just in case.”
Mallory laughed. “I’m sure he’ll love that. I’m off.”
“Do you need the car?” Callie called after her daughter.
“No, that’s okay. I’m going to walk. It’s a beautiful day out.”
Callie looked out the window and smiled at the view. “It always is.”