“She’s just hitting the road now. Chris got pulled away by work, so she was slow getting the kids ready all by herself.” Callie frowned up at Mallory. “You look nice. Are you going somewhere?”
Mallory shrugged. “Just into town.”
“Are you… meeting anyone?”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” she said. “Why?”
“No reason.”
“There’s clearly a reason.” Mallory cocked her head to the side. “Why are you acting weird?”
“I’m not acting weird. If anything, you’re the one acting weird. I was just commenting on your outfit. You just look cute. I thought maybe you had plans or something, that’s all.”
“Well, I don’t. I’m just going to run some errands.”
“Okay.” Callie put her hands up in surrender. “Forget I said anything. Oh, is it alright if Hannah stays in the office with you for a couple nights? Ariel isn’t sure about staying in the rental with the kids by herself, so I said they could stay here until Chris got to town.”
“Fine by me. But that’ll be a lot of people. Taylor and Erica get in tonight too, right?”
“Technically tomorrow morning, but yeah.”
Mallory raised her brows. “Sounds a little chaotic. Maybe if Ariel isn’t using her rental for the first few days she’s in town, I’ll go sleep there.”
“Anyone can sleep wherever they want,” Callie said. “I just want you all to be comfortable. Although, it might be kind of fun to have all three of you kids staying together again. It doesn’t happen very often.”
“That’s probably for the best if you ask me. We always manage to get on each other’s nerves when we spend too much time together. It’s like Ariel’s kids. Someone always gets irritated and then the fighting starts, and bam, they’re at each other’s throats.”
Callie shook her head. “You have an awful negative view of these family dynamics.”
“I like to think of it as an accurate view. Anyway, I’m gonna go. Do you need anything from the store?”
“I don’t think so,” Callie said. “Your dad is going shopping in a bit, and I already gave him my list. But I’ll text you if something comes to mind.”
“What about Sasha? Do you think she needs anything? Or Dot?”
Callie smiled. “That’s very sweet of you to offer. But Sasha’s actually at the bookstore all day, training for her new job.”
“Right. I forgot about that.”
“You don’t sound very pleased.”
“I’m notnotpleased,” Mallory said defensively. “I’m just a little surprised. With all her talk about making her resume perfect, I was starting to think that maybe she was never going to actually apply.”
“I think she’s just a perfectionist,” Callie said. “But she’s really excited about starting work with Kate. You should stop in to say hello while you’re in town! She took Dot with her, but I’m going to go pick up the baby in about an hour so she can really train without having to worry about her baby.”
Mallory frowned. “What’s she going to do when she starts working officially? She can’t take Dot with her there on a day when the bookstore is full of people, can she?”
“I’ll watch Dot while she’s at work. Besides this first weekend, her hours aren’t going to be that crazy and I’m happy to hang out with that little bundle of laughs.”
“Hmm.” It was clear Mallory had some thoughts on this arrangement, but she apparently didn’t feel the need to get into all of that right then. “Alright. Well, I won’t be gone too long, so if there’s any more furniture you want to move, wait until I’m back. I caught dad trying to bring up the queen bed frame from the basementon his owna few minutes ago.”
“I told him not to do that!” Callie clicked her tongue. “I said I’d come and help him after I got off the phone with Ariel.”
“I already helped him. With the frame and the mattress. He’s taking apart the twin bed frame right now so it’s easier to store in the basement.”
“I suppose he probably can’t injure himself while he’s doing that,” Callie muttered, but even as she said it, she had her doubts. David was healthy for his age, but he had a tendencyto overdo things, which was how he’d injured his back a few years ago. “On second thought, I’m going to go supervise. Just in case.”
Mallory laughed. “I’m sure he’ll love that. I’m off.”
