To Mallory, returning home that evening felt like walking out on stage and not knowing any of her lines. What was she supposed to say? She’d calmed down quite a lot, but she still struggled to make sense of everything she was feeling. She had a lot of questions and wanted to get the chance to talk to her parents—her mom especially—without either of them getting overly emotional or shutting down. Was that even possible? She had no clue.
James pulled up to the curb, going at a snail’s pace until he had to put the car in park and accept that they reached theirdestination. Mallory spotted her mom sitting on the front steps, but Callie didn’t seem to notice them yet.
“I guess I won’t be able to put off this conversation for even a minute,” she said, sinking deeper into her seat. “Brilliant.”
“I’m sure if you told your mom you need some time, she’d let you go inside and sleep on it. She has to understand that today has been a lot for you.”
Mallory considered this for a moment and then shook her head. “She would, but it’s okay. I think it’ll be good for us to clear the air, at least a little bit. It’s best not to let things fester, and we’ve kinda been doing that a lot lately...” She sighed. “After today’s events, I’ll probably be up all night long thinking anyway...”
“I know what you mean.” He gave her a gentle smile. “I think my mind’s going to be racing after what happened tonight as well. I’m not sure I’ll be getting any sleep.”
Mallory smirked and tucked some hair behind her ear. She felt like a teenager again, worried that her crush was going to find out she liked him, but also desperately wanting to know if he liked her back. Thankfully, with James, she didn’t have to wonder.
“You should at least getsomeshut eye,” she said. “Or else you’ll be a hazard at the stove tomorrow when you’re making dinner.”
“Hmm. You’re right. I guess I should’ve thought about that before I let you kiss me.”
“You kissed me!”
He laughed. “Yeah, but you kissed me back. I’m not sure how you can expect me to come down from the high so quickly.”
She gave him a playful shove, resisting the urge to kiss him right in front of the house. The only reason she didn’t was because she saw her mom looking their way at that point. She didn’t have the energy to talk about this development on topof everything else. “Just be careful,” she said. “Don’t burn your aunt’s house down.”
“I’ll do my best.” He leaned forward and looked out the passenger side window. “Alright, well, you should probably go,” he said with noticeable regret in his voice. “I’m pretty sure your mom has clocked us. I don’t want her to think of me as anything other than a respectable gentleman, who is bringing her daughter back home at a reasonable hour.”
“Yes, of course. We wouldn’t want her getting the wrong idea. Heaven, forbid she found out her nearly forty-year-old-daughter kissed a man!”
James shook his head. “We can’t have that. I have a reputation as a computer nerd with no prospects.”
“Ha! Yeah right!” She snorted. “You’re way too good looking for that to still be your reputation.”
“Is that so?” He raised a brow, and she had a feeling her face was red.
Mallory chuckled. “And that’s my cue.” She opened the door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. She breathed in the post-rain air and smiled—at least the night hadn’t beenall bad. “Will you call me tomorrow? I know you’re going to be celebrating with your aunt most of the day but—”
“I’ll find some time, for sure,” he said. “And I might just take your mom up on that offer to come over for dessert afterwards.”
“Well, let’s see how things go tonight first,” she said. “At this rate, I have no idea what Thanksgiving at the Ward house is going to look like tomorrow.”
“Gotcha. Just let me know.”
She waved. “Will do. Goodnight, James.”
“Goodnight, Mallory.”
Chapter 6
Sitting on the top step, Callie remained silent and moved over so her daughter could sit beside her. Mallory saw this for the kind gesture it was and accepted it. The two said nothing for a bit, their knees knocking each other’s once or twice. If it had been any other night, if Callie and David hadn’t dropped such a huge truth bomb on their family, Mallory knew her mom would be asking all sorts of questions about James. She’d be wanting to know everything that happened between the two of them and why Mallory hadn’t invited the man inside.
But that night—there were more important matters to discuss, and neither Callie nor Mallory knew where to start.
Finally, Mallory broke the tense silence. “So, what happened after I left?” she asked, not ready yet to dive into any of her own emotions.
“Nothing too dramatic, all things considered,” Callie said. “I decided to let your father and Sasha have some time alone, so Taylor and Ariel and I went into the kitchen to start on dinner and talk more. They had a lot of questions, as I’m sure you do, but I think we’re in a good place. For the most part. I don’t know, I’m trying to keep in mind that this is probably going to be a long process and that things aren’t going to resolve themselves with just a single conversation. We never intended to tell you guys like this, coming on the heels of learning the truth about Sasha. It was way too much for anyone to deal with at once.”
Mallory nodded. “I won’t argue with that.” Then something occurred to her. “Hey, wait—if dad didn’t know that he had another kid, that means you didn’t either, right?”
Callie shook her head. “I had no clue. Granted, there were a few times over the past two months that I thought the connection between your dad and Sasha was unusually strong, but that’s as close as I ever came to suspecting that they were related. Having children with other people had never been part of the plan; we both agreed that we were very happy with the family we had. It never even occurred to me to think that David might’ve gotten someone else pregnant. Apparently, it never occurred to him either.”
