Chapter 7
By the time they left the pub a few hours later, Mallory could no longer deny that she liked James.
Not only was he funny and easy to talk to, but he also possessed an alluring charm.
When he smiled at her, or laughed at one of her jokes, Mallory felt like she was sitting with someone she’d known her entire life.
She felt comfortable with him, which made all the excitement that naturally came with a new crush feel more manageable and less frightening.
In the past, Mallory’s fear of vulnerability had kept her from developing deeper connections with men. However, all these walls and anxieties disappeared when she was with James. It was inexplicable to her why she simply trusted him even though she hardly knew him.
Perhaps the alcohol was skewing her better judgement, but she decided to let herself sink into this newfound feeling.
“I’ll walk you home,” he said when they stepped outside into the early evening. The town was blanketed in a thin layer of snow, but it was no longer falling.
“What about your car?”
“I don’t think I should be getting behind the wheel right now. And I don’t live far from the pub, so I can easily get my car in the morning.”
“If you live around here, then it’ll be really out of your way to walk me home.” She zipped up her puffer coat. “I’ll be fine on my own if you’d rather just go back to your place.”
He smiled at her casually. “No, I’d rather make sure you get home safely, if that’s okay with you?” She blushed, but the redness in her face only deepened when James reached out intertwined his fingers with hers.
“For someone who thinks he’s not good in social situations,” she joked. “You’re pretty smooth.”
James laughed and glanced away. “Not normally. I think I’ve just learned over the years that life is short. When you see something you really want—you should go for it.”
Mallory tucked her chin into her chest so he wouldn’t see the dopey grin on her face. As Mallory led the way to the intersection on the corner, James told her a little more about what had changed in Ferndale since she’d last come home.
“The market changed ownership,” he said.
“And when I say that people were upset, it’s an understatement.
They thought the whole store was going to change and that they weren’t going to be able to get any of their favorite foods.
Even my Aunt Miranda was afraid that prices would soar.
In reality, nothing changed except the color scheme of some signs. ”
“I’m sure some locals still had something to say about that.”
“They did!” James laughed. “Somehow the change in colors came to represent the complete transformation of the town in general. They’ve separated the timeline of Ferndale into the before times when the market still had a lovely green and white sign.
And the after times, which I guess we’re still in now. ”
Mallory looked up at the new sign as they walked past the market. “To be fair, the new colors are bad. Who puts orange and purple together?”
He clicked his tongue. “Yeah, that was definitely a choice…”
They shared a laugh and kept walking. It was quiet.
Nobody else was walking around and Mallory was deeply grateful for the solitude.
Not only did it mean that the two of them could continue talking without interruption, but it also meant nobody would spot them holding hands.
She didn’t want the entire town—and therefore her family—knowing that something was going on between them—not yet anyway.
When they reached her parents’ neighborhood, Mallory slowed her pace a bit. James raised a brow when he glanced at her. “You good?”
“I’m fine,” she said. “I just—” She smiled guiltily and then took her hand back. “If my family sees us holding hands, they’ll make a big deal out of it. With everything going on in the house right now, I’d rather not add to the drama. It’s nothing personal, but—”
“You don’t have to explain. I understand.” He chuckled. “If we were walking up to my aunt’s house holding hands, she’d have a million questions for me. It would end up being all we’d talk about for weeks.”
“Right?” Mallory scoffed. “Isn’t it ironic how my family members and your aunt want us to date and generally get a life, but they are the ones who waste time worrying about other people’s lives? How are we the lame ones?”
“Beats me,” he said.
As they walked down the street, they continued commiserating and laughing about the struggles of overbearing family members and laughing.
When they were just a few houses down from her parents’ house, Mallory spotted a car idling in the driveway.
She stopped abruptly and moved to stand behind a tree in the yard.
“What are you doing?”
“Hiding,” she said plainly. “Come here.” She waved him over and then tugged him behind the big trunk, so they were both obscured. “I want to see who’s at my parents’ house. I’ve never seen that car before. Maybe Sasha has a friend over, or she’s about to get a ride somewhere.”
“Or someone ordered DoorDash,” James suggested.
Mallory rolled her eyes. “Yeah, okay. Maybe. But let’s see.” She peered around the tree trunk just as the door to the passenger seat opened. “Oh! Someone’s getting out! Can you see if they have a food bag?”
“I don’t think so.” James whispered.
The sky was overcast, and the sun had already started to set, so it was hard for Mallory to make out too much detail.
That said, she didn’t need to see all that clearly to recognize the figure that slid out of the car and stood leaning against the open door, laughing at something the driver must’ve said.
Mallory’s eyes widened. “Dad?”
Of course, she wasn’t close enough for her dad to hear her, but Mallory didn’t waste any time and rushed toward her parents’ house.
After her dad shut the car door, the SUV pulled out of the driveway and Mallory couldn’t get a good look at who was behind the wheel.
By the time she and James reached the edge of the driveway, her dad was at the front door.
“Dad!” Mallory called out.
David spun around on his heels and clutched his chest. “Geez, Mal! You scared me. You can’t sneak up on an old man like that, I’ll have a heart attack.”
“Sorry.” Mallory made her way towards her father. “James and I were just coming back after getting some food, and we saw you get dropped off. Where did you go?”
David smiled and waved at James. “Oh, hey there. I was just coming back from the office. I let your brother and Erica borrow my car today, so I needed a ride home.”
Mallory frowned. “I thought you weren’t going into the office at all this week.”
“Right, well.” David pushed his shoulders back like he was suddenly feeling uncomfortable in his own clothes.
Moreover, now that she was looking at his outfit, Mallory noticed that he was dressed very nicely—too nice for just a day at the office.
“Some of my coworkers were coming in to do some last-minute work before the holiday, and I didn’t want to abandon them, so I went in for a couple hours.
” Her dad turned his back on them and unlocked the front door.
“James, are you coming inside? I know Callie would love to see you.”
“Thanks for the offer,” James said. “But I have to be getting back to my aunt.” He smiled at Mallory. “I’ll see you around?”
“Yeah, for sure,” Mallory said. She’d been so distracted by her father’s odd behavior, that she had forgotten about James. If they’d been alone, she would’ve wanted to set a time for them to see each other again, but that would’ve been too obvious. “Thanks for walking me home.”
“No problem. Bye, Mr. Ward!”
“Please, call me David,” Mallory’s dad said. “And get home safe.”
James left and Mallory followed her dad inside, hot on his heels. “Didn’t you say your entire office was closed this week?” she asked as they walked through the door. “I assumed that everyone had been given the entire week off.”
David shook his head, not looking back at her.
“Just because they were given the week off, doesn't mean everyone is going to stay home. We’ve got plenty of workaholics at the office, and there are a few major projects that need to be wrapped up before the end of the year, so I’m sure people are just trying to get ahead of everything. ”
“Oh.” Mallory bit the inside of her cheek. This story didn’t fully add up, but she couldn’t figure out a reason her dad would lie in the first place. Where could he have been that he wouldn’t want her to know about?
Or who could he have been with?
“Are you hungry?” he asked. “I can make us something if you want, since I think we both missed dinner.”
Mallory paused in the hallway, her head spinning with questions.
The brisk air and security of James’s tight grip on her hand had served to veil her drunkenness, but now that she was in a warm house and standing on her own, it started to hit her.
She needed to lie down. “No, that’s okay.
I had a lot of sliders at the pub so I’m not hungry.
I think I’m going to take a shower and call it a night. I’m pretty tired.”
“Sounds good,” he said. “I’ll let everyone know that you’re trying to rest, although I’m not sure that’ll be enough to make the kids be quiet.”
“It’s fine,” Mallory said with a heavy exhale. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be out like a light no matter how chaotic it gets.”