Susan Mallery: When We Found Home

“It is hot,” Callie said. “No problem. I enjoyed reading about Alistair and his troubles.”

“Again,” the little girl said, gently tapping the book.

“Ryder, no. Leave the nice lady alone.”

“It’s fine,” Callie told her. She flipped back to the front of the book and began again. “‘Alistair Mouse loved his house.’”

This was nice, she thought as she continued with the story. A few minutes of normal with people she would never see again. A chance to be like everyone else.

She read the story two more times, then had to go move her laundry into a dryer. By then Ryder, her brothers and her mother had gone outside where it was slightly cooler and the boys could run on the grass. Callie watched and wondered about them. Where did they come from and why were they here now? Ryder’s mother must have gotten pregnant pretty young—her oldest looked to be seven or eight. So she’d been, what, seventeen?

Unexpected tears burned in Callie’s eyes. Force of habit had her blinking them away before they could be spotted. Tears were a weakness she wasn’t allowed. She’d learned that lesson pretty quick. Only the strong survived.

She and Ryder’s mother were probably the same age or at least within a year of each other, yet Callie felt decades older. Once she’d wanted normal things—to have a good man in her life, get married, have kids, some kind of a career. It had all been so vague back when she’d been eighteen, but it had never occurred to her it wouldn’t happen. That in a single, stupid night she would destroy her future and set herself up for a life of having to explain herself over and over again.

She got her clothes out of the dryer and quickly folded them into her tote before starting the walk back to her small room. Each step on the sidewalk sounded like a never-ending refrain. Convicted felon. Convicted felon. She’d served her time, had, in theory, paid her debt to society, but she was marked forever.

She couldn’t rent a decent apartment because no one wanted a convicted felon in their building. She couldn’t work at a kid’s party as part of the serving staff because no one wanted a convicted felon near their children. She couldn’t get a job in a restaurant, despite having learned all about the food service industry while serving her time, because no one wanted a convicted felon near their customers. She’d earned her GED and had started on her associates degree while behind bars and that didn’t matter, either.

One stupid, foolish, thoughtless act—robbing a liquor store with her loser boyfriend—and her eighteen-year-old self had destroyed her future.

Callie gave herself the entire walk home to mentally beat up on herself but once she walked into her room, she drew in a breath and changed the subject. She’d learned that, too. That a downward spiral was nearly impossible to stop, so she had to make sure she stayed positive as much as she could. She had a plan. It was going to take a while, but she had a plan.

She was saving every penny she could while working two jobs. When she had the money, she would buy a small condo that would be hers—no matter what. Right now having a home was priority one. She hadn’t figured out exactly what she wanted to do, career wise, but she was open to possibilities. As for the great guy and a couple of kids, well, that was unlikely. She was wary of men and not very trusting of anyone who was willing to accept her past, so she was mostly alone, which was fine. One day it would all be better. It had to be. It just had to be.

chapter three

Mornings at the coffee stand were crazy busy, with only occasional lulls. Delaney worked efficiently, her gaze drawn again and again to the building’s large glass doors. Okay, yes, she and Malcolm had flirted on Friday. Big whoop. There was no reason to think he would acknowledge her in any way when he arrived this morning. There’d been an entire weekend between then and now. He could have totally forgotten her or gotten engaged. For all she knew, he was married.

No, she thought. He wasn’t an icky guy. She had a feeling he was single—he just didn’t strike her as the type to two-time. Although she could be totally wrong about that. From when she was sixteen until two years ago, there had only been one man in her life, so she was hardly anything close to a good judge of male character, but still. She didn’t think Malcolm was involved with anyone or—

She glanced up from her place at the cash register and saw him walking through the building’s large lobby. For a second she thought he wasn’t going to acknowledge her, but then he turned in her direction and winked. A silly gesture that took a nanosecond and meant nothing yet had happiness and anticipation and bubbly excitement flooding through her. Oh, man, she had it bad, and for someone she barely knew.

She smiled at him before returning her attention to the next customer. Three people back, she spotted one of her favorite customers.

“Luzia,” she called and nodded toward the preteen in a school uniform.

Luzia took Delaney’s place at the cash register. “Is she your sister or something?”

“No. Just a friend.”

“You take your break with her every day.”

“I know. It’s fun.”

Two months ago Keira had walked up to the counter and demanded a double espresso. Delaney had laughed and offered hot chocolate instead. There had been a few minutes of quiet so they’d talked. Delaney had learned that Keira was twelve, new to the area, starting at the exclusive private school across the street and didn’t have any family, save a brother and grandfather.

Over the past few weeks, she and Keira had formed a friendship of sorts. Keira opened up about her disdain for the school uniforms: “Seriously? Plaid? What? Are we in a porn movie?” and her dislike of her, as she called him, “asshole brother.”

Delaney couldn’t help thinking that underneath all that attitude was a scared little girl desperate to be loved. Not that she had any kids of her own, so maybe she was totally off base. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that despite having family, Keira was way too alone in the world.

Delaney finished making a large hot chocolate with extra whipped cream, grabbed a black coffee for herself, then went around to one of the small tables at the side of the coffee stand where Keira was already seated.

“Thank you,” Keira said, taking the drink from her. “How was your weekend?”

“Good. I mostly studied. What did you do?”

“Nothing. I stayed in my room and read and watched movies.”

Which is pretty much what Keira did every weekend, Delaney thought anxiously. The preteen needed more in her life.

“What about friends? You’re making them at school. You told me. Didn’t you want to do anything with them?”

Keira, a pretty girl with big blue eyes and freckles, looked at her. “You do realize that would mean someone driving me somewhere. It’s not going to happen. I’m not sure if my grandfather is still allowed to drive. Don’t they take away your license when you get to be really, really old? I guess I could ask Carmen. She might help me.”

“The housekeeper?”

Keira nodded. “She’s nice and she cooks great. As for my ass—”

Delaney cleared her throat. “We agreed you weren’t going to call him that anymore.”

“But he really is one. I can prove it.”

Delaney looked at her without speaking.

Keira groaned. “Fine. Fine. Can I call him my A-brother?”

“As in A+?”

Keira laughed. “Not that. Never that. A+. That’s funny. How’s biology?”

“Good. Scary, but good. I got a B on my first test.”

“That’s great! You were afraid you wouldn’t even pass.”

“I know. College is harder than I remember from the first time.”