Callie said nothing, so David leaned forward and cleared his throat, taking a moment to look at each of his kids beforespeaking. “Your mother and I are no longer married. We haven’t been for some time.”
Up until that point, Mallory thought the idea of her father cheating was impossible, but she was wrong. This was crazier. Again, she laughed, having no idea what else to do in the face of this ridiculousness.
“What?” Ariel said, shaking her head. “I don’t understand.”
“Nobody understands,” Mallory added. “Because it doesn’t make sense.”
“Just, let us explain,” David said and everyone fell silent again. “Shortly after Mallory left home, your mom and I started to realize that our marriage wasn’t what it used to be. At some point over the years, we’d turned into co-parents and not partners. We were great when it came to raising you kids together, but we lost that spark.” He glanced lovingly at Callie, who gave him a small, reassuring nod.
“We still loved each other,” she said, taking over the next part of the conversation. “We still love each other to this day, but we weren’tin love. And we felt that maybe we deserved to go out and find that kind of love again. So, we decided to separate. We didn’t sign anything official at first, just because it seemed to complicate things for no reason, but eventually we did get a divorce.”
“Youseparated?” Taylor spat the word out like he’d never heard it before.
“In one sense,” David explained. “We obviously kept living together, but—”
“Wait.” Mallory shook her head and waved her hands in exasperation. “Just—hold on a second. This doesn’t add up. You two—you didn’t get divorced! You’ve been together this whole time!”
“Yes and no,” Callie replied. “We decided to stay in the house together not only because it was a place where we wereboth happy, but economically, it didn’t make sense for one of us to try and find a rental in Ferndale. At that point, the prices in this part of California had shot through the roof, and the house was paid off, so there was no reason for us to stop living together. We haven’t been married for some time now, but we decided to keep living together. It just made things easier.”
“It also meant that you kids could come back to the home, and everything would still be normal and comfortable,” David added.
“You mean we would come home, and you guys would keep up the facade,” Taylor said in a low, bitter tone. “Staying in the house together helped you guys keep this a secret all these years.”
David’s shoulders sank and he sighed. “Yes. You’re right. That was definitely a factor, we won’t pretend it wasn’t.”
Mallory raised her hands again, attempting to stop this racing train from going any further over the tracks. “Stop! Everyone just stop!” She stood up and started to pace frantically, desperate to understand what was going on. “This—this is nuts. Why would you lie about all this? Why would you just separate without even trying to stay together?”
“We did try, honey,” Callie explained. “We even went to couples therapy. But we just weren’t happy, and that became even more obvious when you kids were gone, and it was just the two of us.”
Mallory balked at her parents. She gripped her aching head, suddenly calling into question every single memory she had of them from the last twenty years. It was so overwhelming that her knees buckled, and she fell back into her seat. She opened her mouth and then closed it again twice—she didn’t know what to say.
“Does this mean…” Ariel finally spoke and glanced at David, her voice cracking a little. “Does this mean you actually could be Sasha’s dad?” At this, Sasha leaned forward in her seat.
As her pulse quickened, Mallory realized that she might never feel the same way about her parents again—that she might never trust them for the rest of her life.
“Did—did you guys have other relationships?” Ariel added when nobody answered the question.
Callie turned to David, as if passing this question his way.
“Yes,” he said after a few seconds. “We both had a few brief affairs early on, but I’ve never had a serious relationship. Neither of us has. I really threw myself into traveling as I got older, and that took up a lot of my time. Although, to be honest, I have been seeing a nice lady named Sia. She’s a sweetheart and—”
“And you got some woman pregnant twenty-one years ago?” Mallory interrupted, making sure her parents didn’t evade the most pressing subject at hand. She didn’t care who they may or may not be dating, she was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that she might have a half-sister. “How could you let this happen?”
But before her father could respond, the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it,” Callie said, leaping to her feet.
“No.” Mallory stood and motioned for her mom to sit back down. “Let me get it. I need a break from allthisanyway.” And with that, she turned on her heels sharply and marched toward the front door.
Chapter 3
When she opened the door, she found Joshua standing outside with a box of vegetables in hand and a winning smile. Mallory was so taken aback to see him that she didn’t even say hello.
“Can I help you with something?” she asked, blinking in confusion.
His smile faltered a little and he furrowed his brow. “I’m sorry, is now a bad time?”
Mallory didn’t know how to answer that question, so she simply gestured to the box in his hands and arched a brow. She knew she was being a bit rude, but that was truly the only way she could conduct herself, considering her current circumstances.
