Chapter 3 #2
“Except that he’s cute,” Ariel said. “That we’ve already established. I’m still waiting on an answer to the question of whether he’s single or not though…”
Mallory rubbed her face; regretting having mentioned anything James.
“I’ve told you all that I know about him,” she said eventually.
“If you want to find out more, then you can go sifting through the Ferndale rumor mill yourself.” She threw her hands up and started to walk out of the kitchen.
“I think I heard mom and dad pull up in the driveway, so if you’re done giving me the third degree, I’m going to go see if they need help wrangling the kids. ”
*
At dinner, the topic of James came up again. The kids had already finished eating and were watching a movie in the other room. Dot was asleep in her playpen, leaving the adults to sit around the dining room table and chat amongst themselves.
This time, however, it wasn’t Mallory who brought him up.
When David was discussing some of his upcoming travel plans, he mentioned his laptop’s premature demise and the nice man that had tried to fix it.
At that point in the story, almost everyone in the room gave her a knowing look.
If she could’ve sunk further down in her chair without falling out of it, she would’ve.
“Do they sell new computers at the repair shop?” Ariel asked innocently, although Mallory knew exactly where she was going with this.
“I’m not sure,” David said. “Mal, do you know?”
“Yeah,” Mal said begrudgingly. “They do. But they don’t have a big selection. You should probably go to a bigger electronic store to find a new one.”
“No way! It’s better to support local stores. I think you should absolutely go to the Ferndale shop,” Ariel said, grinning at Taylor. “We’ll come with you to help you find a good one.”
“I’d love to help,” Taylor chimed in. “And that way I can meet this amazing repairman. He seems like a great guy.”
“Not only that, he’s also very handsome.” Callie stared across the table at her youngest daughter. “And did you know, he went to school with Mallory back in the day. According to your sister, he was kind of a geek, but you’d never know from looking at him now.”
“That’s very interesting,” Taylor mused, as if he didn’t already know all of this.
“It’s really not,” Mallory said with a flat tone. “I’m sure a lot of people we all went to high school with still live here. Some of them were dorks, some jocks. Ariel, what’s your high school boyfriend doing these days? Should we call him up and see if he’s still in town?”
Ariel narrowed her eyes. “Don’t even go there. It’s not even accurate to call him my boyfriend. We only went out a few times when we were fifteen! That doesn’t count.”
“Well, in Mallory’s defense,” Taylor said. “That does count as a serious relationship in her book.”
“Rude!” Mallory gave her brother a light slap on the arm. “You’ve been here less than a day and already you’re bullying me. What’s that about?”
“I was just joking.” He tried to pull her in for a side hug, but she dodged and stuck her finger in her mouth, ready to give him a wet willy.
“Oh, you two quit it,” Callie said, shaking her finger at them. “Sasha’s gonna think we raised a bunch of troublemakers!”
“You did.” Ariel snorted.
“Honestly, it doesn’t faze me,” Sasha said.
“I had a lot of cousins growing up, and we used to fight all the time. This is pretty normal for me.” Mallory took note of this small little detail about Sasha, but she didn’t get the chance to jump on it.
“But back to the topic about serious relationships.” Sasha looked at Mallory. “Is it true you’ve never had one?”
Before Mallory could even be offended by the bluntness of this question, her sister answered for her. “Mallory doesn’t do serious relationships.”
“She doesn’t even do casual relationships.” Taylor took a big sip of his wine glass. “She prefers being alone.”
“That’s not why I don’t do relationships,” Mallory said in a stern voice, one she hoped indicated this wasn’t up for debate.
Everyone at the table must’ve heard the shift in her tone because they all looked at her and waited for further explanation.
“The reason I’ve never had a serious relationship is because I’m waiting for something special.
Something real. And if you want to put the blame for my perpetual singledom on anyone, then put it on mom and dad’s shoulders.
They’re the reason I’m still holding out. ”
“Us?” Callie balked. “Why’s it our fault?”
“Because you two are soulmates,” Mallory said.
“You were made for each other. I grew up in a house with two people who were madly in love and that set my expectations for finding a life partner high.” She smiled at her older siblings.
“You two were lucky enough to meet wonderful people when you were relatively young, but I haven’t been as blessed.
I’m still searching, but I refuse to settle for anything less than what was modeled to us growing up.
In a way, you’re right in saying that I prefer to be alone, if the alternative is settling for anything less than what mom and dad have. ”
A silence filled the room, and Mallory knew she’d successfully shocked everyone. It felt good. She smiled down into her wine glass, proud that she’d successfully shut down any more comments on her love life—or lack thereof.
When she looked up, however, and surveyed the shocked faces of those at the table, she saw something she hadn’t expected. Her mom and dad weren’t looking at her anymore. They were staring at each other with pale expressions—as if they might get sick.