Chapter 9
Seated at the kitchen island, Taylor, Erica, and Ariel were all eating breakfast and laughing about something Micah had said earlier.
Mallory came into the room halfway through the story, but from what she was able to glean, her nephew had been arguing with his younger sister about what whether fish have brains.
For some reason, Becca didn’t think they did, and the debate ended with him saying that if fish didn’t have brains, Nemo’s dad never would’ve found him.
“The look on Becca’s face,” Erica said, hand to her chest even as she continued laughing. “It was like he’d told her that the world was about to end.”
“That’s her favorite movie,” Ariel said. “I think we’ve probably watched it about a million times. I tried to get them into The Little Mermaid, since I like to pretend that’s what I was named after, but they don’t like the older animation.”
“Poor Becca,” Mallory chimed in as she poured herself some coffee. “She’s getting to that age where they start learning things they don’t want to know. Like when I asked Taylor to stay up with me so we could catch Santa putting presents under the tree on Christmas Eve.”
“Did you catch your dad?” Erica guessed.
“Yeah, but that’s not even the worst part,” Mallory said. “Taylor already knew Santa didn’t exist at that point, so he kept me awake just so I’d be disappointed!”
Erica turned to her husband in shock. “Taylor!”
“What?” He laughed. “She said she wanted to meet Santa! I figured it was time for her to learn the truth anyway. I’m sure you’re thinking she was, what, like eight in that story? She was twelve.”
“But I still believed!” Mallory doubled down. “That’s what matters.”
“You still believed at twelve?” Ariel made a face. “Even I figured it out at ten.”
“Okay, whatever. I was just trying to make a point, but I should’ve known you two would’ve found a way to turn it all around.” She smirked and shook her head, happy to be surrounded by her siblings and their playful banter. “Where’s everyone else?”
“My kids are at the store with mom,” Ariel said. “But I don’t know where dad is. I just assumed Sasha was at work.”
“Dad’s probably sleeping in,” Taylor announced. “He was out with some of his travel buddies last night and I think they might’ve had a few too many beers. One of them had to drive him home and everything.”
“Wait a minute, he told you he went out with his travel buddies?” Mallory frowned over her mug. “That’s weird.”
“Is it?” Talyor asked.
“Only because he told me he’d been at the office. He said you and Erica were using his car and so he had to get a ride home from one of his coworkers.”
Taylor shared a look with his wife and then shook his head. “No. We weren’t using his car.”
“And he never mentioned anything about going into work,” Ariel added.
“You know, I had a feeling he was lying to me when I talked to him last night.” Mallory walked over to the island and set down her mug so she could lean her arms against the cool marble.
“I was walking home when I saw him get dropped off, and when I asked where he’d been, he got all anxious.
Then he said he’d been at the office, which I thought was strange since he was supposed to be off this whole week.
Plus, he was dressed way too nicely for going into a mostly empty office the week of Thanksgiving. ”
“But why would he lie?” Ariel asked. “What could he have been doing last night that he wouldn’t want us to know about? Did he develop a gambling habit or something?”
“He could’ve been on a date.”
It wasn’t only the suggestion that made Mallory’s skin crawl—it was the fact that it’d come from a non-member of the family. Sasha had apparently been listening in on their conversation and emerged from the hallway with Dot on her hip. “Sorry, didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”
Mallory had a hard time believing this. “Our dad wasn’t on a date,” she said, giving Sasha a narrow-eyed look. “He would never cheat on our mom.”
“Yeah, sorry Sasha, but you have no idea what you’re talking about,” Taylor said. “And frankly, by saying something like that, you’re crossing a line.”
The young woman shrugged. “I didn’t mean to offend. And I wasn’t even suggesting that he was cheating. I thought maybe your parents had an open marriage or something.”
Ariel scoffed. “What? Why’d you think that?”
“There are just a few things I’ve seen and heard that made me think they weren’t your average, traditional married couple.
” Sasha switched Dot to her other hip and stared at all of them like a deer in the headlights.
“Seriously, if I’d known this was how you guys would take it, I never would’ve said that thing about him being on a date. ”
“How else would someone take a comment like that?” Mallory demanded. “You don’t know anything about our parents, and yet, you’re passing judgment on our father out of nowhere?”
“I’m not judging anyone! I just thought that maybe your dad found out your mom was seeing someone else, so he started dating someone too.”
“What?” Ariel gasped. “Now you’re saying our mom is a cheater?!”
“No! I mean—that would depend on what kind of arrangement your parents have. It’s just—I saw her flirting with some guy at the farmer’s market and—”
“Okay, I’ve heard enough.” Taylor put his hands up and got off the kitchen stool.
“You’re completely insane if you think my parents aren’t madly in love with each other.
And loyal! God, they’re the most loyal people I’ve ever known.
You’re—” He stuck a finger in Sasha’s direction, but when the young woman stepped back with a pathetic yelp, he dropped his hand and stormed out of the kitchen.
Erica waited a few seconds and then slid off her own chair.
“I’m gonna go check on him,” she said nervously. “He just needs to cool off a bit.”
Once they were both gone, Sasha turned to the Ward sisters with a pleading look in her eyes.
“I’m sorry, really. There was a lot of cheating and stepping out in my family.
Not that I think it’s okay, it was just so commonplace when I was growing up, that I sometimes forget some people are loyal to each other.
I always assume the worst, I guess…” She grabbed a mug, poured some coffee, and then hurried out of the kitchen without another word.
Ariel and Mallory stayed quiet for a few more seconds, still struggling to take in what had happened.
“Okay, what was that about?” Ariel broke the silence. “Why on earth would she just butt into the conversation like that? And accuse our parents of cheating? Who does that?”
“Someone who wants to keep everyone’s attention trained elsewhere. This is what I’ve been talking about, Ariel! She’s hiding something, and instead of just coming clean about who she is and what she wants, she’s going trying to keep us distracted by saying cryptic things and spreading lies!”
Ariel shook her head angrily. “Well, it’s not going to work on me anymore. Count me in on this whole investigation business. We need to find out who this woman is, and we need to find out now.”
*
After the scene in the kitchen, Sasha handed Dot over to David and left for work.
Mallory could tell she was doing whatever she could to avoid talking to any of the Ward children that morning.
She was probably afraid that Taylor’s patience would wear out and he’d give her a piece of his mind.
It was a good instinct for her to get away.
When Mallory and Ariel went out onto the back deck to join their Taylor and Erica, he was still fuming.
Only now, he was fuming mostly to himself. He was swiping furiously on his phone while Erica used Callie’s binoculars to birdwatch.
“I tried to calm him down,” she said when Taylor’s sisters came through the sliding back door. “But he’s determined to be in a bad mood.”
“I’m not in a bad mood,” Taylor grumbled. “I’m just done twiddling my thumbs. If she’s going to make trouble like that, then I no longer feel the need to be nice.”
“What are you doing?” Mallory asked, taking a seat between Taylor and Erica.
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m doing research.
My connections are taking too long to get back to me, so I’m going to send a few emails and see if anyone else can help.
I want to catch people before they leave the office for Thanksgiving.
” He stood and pressed his phone to his ear. “Hold on, I have to make a call.”
He walked over to the other side of the deck where Mallory couldn’t hear him.
Ariel took Taylor’s seat and sighed. “Is it possible that we’re overcomplicating his?
Have we even tried to find out information by using local networks?
Everyone in Ferndale knows everyone, so someone around here must have some information. ”
“But I don’t think she’s from here,” Mallory said. “The shelter is in a town nearby, or so mom told me. It’s not in Ferndale.”
“Damn.” Ariel clicked her tongue. “I was thinking we could just go into town and start asking around. It’d be a lot easier than waiting for someone at the records department to go through thousands of files, right?”
“They’ll find the information eventually,” Erica said in a calm voice.
“But I think Taylor is being a little unrealistic if he thinks that he can get anyone to find something before Thanksgiving. Even if people are still in the office today, they’re not prioritizing stuff like this. It’ll take weeks.”
“Weeks?” Mallory deflated into her chair. “Who knows what kind of bad stuff can happen in that time? If Sasha’s got something up her sleeve, she could act whenever!”
Erica shrugged. “Maybe you should try talking to your parents about this? If they knew she was talking about their marriage behind their back, it’d be enough for them to start questioning her. Then maybe your mom would be willing to call the social worker or something.”