“Okay, evenyouhave to admit that’s odd,” Mallory snapped, arms folded as she stood in front of the fridge. “Why wouldn’t she tell you it was her birthday last week?”
“You heard her. She doesn’t like to make a fuss! I’m the same way. I hate it when everyone suddenly has their full attention on me just because it’s my birthday.”
“But you’d at leastmentionit. You wouldn’t let an entire day go by without telling the people you’re living with that it’s your birthday, would you?”
Callie shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. I’ve never lived in a house full of people I barely know before, so I can’t exactly say what I’d do. Sasha’s in a very unique situation here, so we can’t expect her to act normally all the time. You don’t go around announcing to everyone when it’syourbirthday, do you?”
“That’s not an accurate comparison! You guys aren’t strangers. Sasha’s been living here for almost a month, and I feel like she’s gotten to know you guys pretty well. Wouldn’t you consider yourself to be Sasha’s good friend at this point?”
Callie thought about it for a second. “I guess so.”
“Then you need to look at the situation throughthatlens,” she said. “Imagine if it were Kate! You were hanging out with her one day and she didn’t say anything about it being her birthday. How would you feel when you found out a week later?”
“That’s a bad example,” Callie said. “I would never forget Kate’s birthday. She’s a Halloween baby.”
“You know what I mean.” Mallory huffed. “Pick a different friend then, one whose birthday isn’t so obvious.”
Callie tried to come up with an alternative friend, but Mallory went on before she could.
“All I’m saying is that it seems really weird for Sasha to purposefully keep this information from you. And did you notice that when dad asked what day her birthday was last week, she completely evaded his question?”
“I guess, now that you mention it…” Callie had noticed that Sasha avoided responding to that inquiry, but she didn’t want toadmit that this point had stood out to her as well. “I’m sure she just didn’t hear him or something.”
Mallory arched her brow.
“What?” Callie said, waving her arms. “What do you want me to say? So, it’s a little strange that she didn’t tell us about her birthday, but I don’t think that’s a reason for us to freak out. It’s not like she lied. She just kept a bit of information to herself. We can’t fault her for that.”
“I sure can!”
“Are you sure you want to though?” Callie raised a brow. “Aren’t we all doing a little bit of secret keeping?”
“No! I’m not.” Mallory glared. “Why are you looking at me like that? I’m not hiding anything.”
Callie crossed her arms and glanced away. “If you say so.”
“It’s not ‘if I say so.’ It’s the truth.”
“Okay, fine. I don’t think any of us should be throwing stones right now. As you already pointed out, I kept Sasha and Dot a secret from you kids for a bit, and”—Callie paused, giving Mallory a chance to admit to any of her own secrets, but her daughter only stared blankly—“you haven’t been entirely forthcoming about what happened to the computer either.”
“What are you talking about? I told you I spilled coffee on it. There’s nothing more to the story than that.”
“What were you doing on your dad’s computer in the first place? Don’t you have a laptop?”
“Actually, I don’t,” she said with a matter-of-fact tone.
“Since when?”
“Since a while ago. I’ve been using a work computer the past year or so, after mine finally died on me. So there, are you happy now? You know my big secret! I don’t have a laptop because I couldn’t afford to get a new one when my old one kicked the bucket. If I go out and admit my shame to Sasha,would I then be allowed to demand thatshetell me the truth in return?”
Callie sighed and leaned against the kitchen island. “Alright, I’m sorry I accused you of hiding something, but there’s no need to bite my head off. I was just trying to make a point that none of us are perfect.”
Mallory took a deep breath, calming her frazzled nerves. “It’s okay. I’m sorry I snapped a little. I just didn’t like being compared to Sasha when it comes to keeping secrets. She’s been incredibly shady and vague, and I don’t think it’s a fair comparison at all. She even tried to say something similar the last time I questioned her, and—”
“Wait, what? What do you mean she said something similar?”
“Oh.” Mallory’s eyes darted away, and she rubbed her arm. “Well, I was trying to learn more about her. And then out of nowhere she suggested thatwewere the ones keeping secrets, not her. I really have no idea where that came from, but now that I’ve heard you make the same argument, I’m thinking it was just an attempt to get the attention off her.”
Callie’s heart sank. Sasha had made it clear that she didn’t say anything toDavidabout what she saw at the farmer’s market, but she hadn’t promised to keep the information from Mallory. “When—when did she say this to you?”
