Chapter 5
Despite having shrugged off her sister’s jokes the night before, Mallory found herself thinking about James when she went into town the next day with Ariel’s laptop in her shoulder bag.
She didn’t have a crush on him—that would be ridiculous, considering she’d only spoken to him twice in over twenty years.
Since the computer incident, she’d discovered that he was single and had returned to Ferndale to take care of his ailing aunt, but that was all she knew about him.
So then how could she have a crush on him?
It made no sense, and that was what she’d told Ariel when her sister had tried to trick her into saying something she didn’t mean.
That’s what siblings are for, I suppose, she thought to herself as she opened the door to the new coffee shop on Main Street. Tormenting you.
Inside, the shop was warm, a welcome change from the brisk morning air that had started to bite Mallory’s nose and cheeks.
Breathing in the smell of coffee and cinnamon, she smiled and stepped up to order at the register.
Afterward, she staked out a premium working spot near the little cozy fireplace on the far wall.
Her name was called out shortly after she’d finished unloading her bag.
When she approached the counter and saw the overly full coffee mug, however, she paused.
“Oh.”
The barista frowned. “Is something wrong? You got a vanilla latte, right?”
Mallory nodded. “Yes, I did. I just thought it was going to be in a paper cup… with a lid.”
“But you said you were ordering for here.”
“I know, I know.” Mallory waved a hand in the air.
“I’m not blaming you. It was my mistake.
I just tend to be a little clumsy, and I’m worried that I might spill coffee on my laptop.
It… wouldn’t be the first time.” She winced a little.
“I hate to do this, but is there any way you can pour the drink into a to-go cup?”
“I can,” she said. “But we are out of to-go lids, so I’m not sure how much that’d help.”
Mallory looked around anxiously for another solution.
The shop was selling their own branded reusable cups, but they were $25, and Mallory had already spent more than she was comfortable with on the coffee itself.
She really had to watch her spending since her credit card bill would be due any day now.
“No, that’s okay.” She reached for the mug and carefully brought it to her lips. “I’m just going to take a couple big sips while I’m standing here.”
“Okay, but be careful! It’s—”
The liquid burned Mallory’s lips and mouth as she drank, bringing tears to her eyes right away. She sputtered and coughed, putting the mug back down on the counter as her body tried to forcefully rid itself of boiling coffee.
“Hot…” the barista finished her sentence a few seconds too late.
Mallory squeezed her eyes shut and graciously accepted a cup of water from the barista, drinking it greedily.
Glancing around the coffee shop, she flinched to see who might’ve witnessed her embarrassment.
She felt like crawling under a rock and not coming out until after the new year.
Not only would she dodge any potential humiliation, but she could also relax and let Taylor handle the whole Sasha situation.
That would be nice…
At first, it seemed nobody in the coffee shop was paying any attention to her, but then her eyes fell on a pair of greenish-blue ones, and her heart skipped a beat. It was James. He was standing off to the side and smiled shyly at her.
You’ve got to be joking.
Returning an awkward smile, Mallory grabbed her mug again and scurried to her table.
When she sat down, she let out a heavy sigh and pressed her hand to her forehead.
She had a feeling James was going to come over and say something, and she was right.
A few seconds later, she caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye.
Despite the lingering sense of embarrassment that rattled through her, Mallory tried to center herself and glanced up at him.
“Hey,” she said casually, “how’s it going?”
“I was going to ask you the same question,” he said with a laugh. “Are you okay? It seemed like you were maybe choking a little back there?”
“It was just a little hotter than I thought,” she said. “But I’m fine now.”
“Good.” He slid his hands into his pockets, and it was then that Mallory noticed how nicely he was dressed. He was wearing dark-wash jeans and a wheat-colored sweater. He’d combed his hair back, and his demeanor was much softer and more laid-back than the last time she saw him.
“Are you off work today?” she asked.
“Yup. The whole week actually,” he announced happily. “I asked for it off ages ago, and I have seniority, so I was able to swing it. This will be my first year not having to work the Black Friday shift.”
“Congratulations. Do you have any plans for your week off?”
“Nothing concrete,” he said. “But Thanksgiving has always been my aunt’s favorite holiday, so we’re going to really do it up this year with food.
A couple of her friends are coming over to help me cook—since I’m hopeless in the kitchen—and then we’ll watch some Christmas movies or something.
My aunt really loves this time of year.”
“That’s really nice of you to do all of that for her,” Mallory said.
“I’m not much of a cook either, but if there’s anything I can do to help…
” She wasn’t quite sure where this offer came from, nor did she know if it was even appropriate for her to throw something like that out there, but it wasn’t like she could take it back now.
James beamed. “Thanks. That’s really nice of you. I think I’ve got everything figured out, but I’ll let you know if anything changes.”
“Yeah, please do. I don’t have much going on this week, besides some work I need to get done and I suppose I should spend some time with my family, since it is a holiday after all.”
“Work?” He pointed to the laptop that was sitting closed on the table in front of her. “Do you mind me asking what kind of work you do?”
She had yet to tell him that she was currently “between jobs,” and now she cursed herself for using the word “work” to describe what she was actually doing—snooping.
Mallory cleared her throat awkwardly. “Oh, well… This isn’t like work work.
It’s kind of a long story, but I’m trying to do a little bit of research on women’s shelters and charity organizations in the area. ”
“Oh yeah? Do you work in the nonprofit sector then?”
“No, no, nothing like that.” She shook her head and struggled to find a way to explain what she was doing without sounding crazy. Or worse, totally lacking in compassion. “Do you remember that woman who was with my parents when they returned from the market the other day?”
“The one with the baby?”
“Yes. They’re letting her stay with them for a while. She used to live in a women’s shelter, and they’re sponsoring her through some sort of charity program… I think.”
“You think?”
“Well, that’s the rub,” she went on. “She’s been a little secretive and my parents don’t seem to have any real information about her or the charity program.
It’s all just a bit strange and my siblings and I—well, one of my siblings—and I feel like Sasha might be hiding something.
We just want to make sure that she’s not trying to, like, scam our parents or something.
So, I came here today to do some research…
That’s actually what I was doing on my dad’s laptop when I spilled coffee on it.
Hence, that’s why I tried to drink most of my coffee by the counter before bringing it near another computer. ”
James smiled and nodded. “Ah, and that’s why you burned yourself. Makes sense now.”
“Exactly.” Mallory laughed, somewhat embarrassed but glad that she’d told him the truth.
She might not be ready to admit to her status as a jobless, directionless woman pushing forty, but this was at least one less secret she had to keep.
“But I’m not sure that I’ll find anything.
I tried a few basic searches on my phone the other day, and nothing really came up. ”
“Do you want some help?”
Mallory drew back with surprise. “You—you want to help me? But you're on vacation!”
“Yeah, but believe it or not, this actually sounds kind of fun to me,” he said.
“I won’t pretend like I’m some sort of expert hacker or anything, but I definitely know how to find stuff on the internet.
I could at least help refine your searches a little bit, point you in the right direction when it comes to reputable sources versus scam websites. ”
“I mean, that’d be great! If you really don’t have anything else to do this morning.”
He shook his head. “I was just going to flip through the paper and have a coffee, but this is way more exciting.” He pointed to the chair on the other side of the table. “May I?”
“Sure,” she said, noticing how he causally pushed the sleeves of his sweater up like he was ready to do some manual labor. It was dorky, but in a cute way, and it made her smile. “Be my guest.”
He sat and spun the laptop around so he could open it facing himself. “Alright then. Let’s see what we can find.”
*
Two hours later, James and Mallory had spent more time laughing and reminiscing than doing any research.
It’d become obvious to both of them that they weren’t going to find much about Sasha or the supposed shelter she came from.
They simply didn’t have enough information to narrow down search.
That said, when Mallory told James about her brother’s plan to get a list of charities and go through them one by one, he agreed that was probably the best place to start.
“Without her birthday or where she’s from,” he said. “We’re just getting way too many results, and it’d take us days to parse through them all. Who knew Sasha Sommers was such a common name?”