Loving You (The Jade Series #3) (2 page)

“Okay, but I swear I’m keeping track of all this money you’re spending and I’m going to pay you back someday.”

“As long as we’re on this topic, I might as well tell you that I’m getting you a plane ticket to go see Frank and Ryan before school starts again. I know you didn’t get enough time with them when we were there and now that it’s safe to go home, I want you to go.”

Again, I don’t want Garret paying for my plane ticket, but I really want to see Frank and Ryan and I don’t want to wait until May when school’s out.
 

“Thanks. I really appreciate it.”

He stares at me, confused. “You’re not going to yell at me about the money?”

I shrug. “I’ll just add it to my tab.”

“There is no tab. I told you, we’ll be married by the time you have the money to pay me back. And then it won’t matter because what’s mine is yours.” He smiles smugly.
 

“Okay, enough with the marriage talk. And besides, it’s entirely possible I’ll pay you back long before I’d even consider marrying you. Maybe I’ll win the lottery or some long lost relative will leave me an inheritance or I’ll get a really good job after college or—”

“Damn. You’re not even considering it? I really need to up my game.”
 

“Why are you so anxious to get married?”

“I’m not. I’m just tossing the idea out there. Trying to see if you’re even open to it.”

“I’m open to it. But not at 19.”

“My dad got married when he was 22.”

“You said he was forced to by his parents. It’s not like he wanted to. And look how that ended. Divorce. He was older when he married your mom.”

“Relax. I’m not proposing anytime soon.” He kisses my cheek. “And given your attitude, maybe I never will.” He says it kiddingly, but for some stupid reason I feel disappointed.

“Hey! I don’t have an attitude. Take that back.”

“So now you
want
me to propose?” He shakes his head. “I’m so confused.”

“Well, yes. I mean, no.” I’m completely flustered. “I don’t know. Just stop talking about it.”

“You should at least consider it, Jade. You’re already part of my family. You had Thanksgiving here. You’ve experienced the Kensington family Christmas. And Lilly’s made you her big sister.”

Already part of my family.
His words send a shiver down me. They remind me of his dad’s words, welcoming me to the family. This crazy family that I don’t at all understand.

I kiss him quick as I stand up. “I need to shower. I’ll see you at breakfast.”

He catches my wrist. “Do you need some help in the shower? Because I’m more than happy to help.”
 

Given how hot he looks and how great he smells, it’s a tempting offer but not with his family home.

“I can handle it. But thanks.”

I go back to my room and get ready, then head downstairs to the dining room where Garret, Katherine, and Lilly are having breakfast. I take a seat next to Garret. Charles, the family cook, has set out a warming tray filled with eggs and sausage. There’s also a platter of fruit and pastries. I serve myself some eggs and take a pastry.
 

Nobody is talking. Katherine is reading the newspaper. Lilly is sitting across from me, bobbing up and down in her chair as she eats.
 

Mr. Kensington walks in, wearing a suit, which is odd given that it’s Saturday and the day after Christmas. Lilly bursts out of her chair and runs over to him.
 

“Daddy! I’m going sledding! I’m going sledding!”
 

He picks her up and she plants a kiss on his cheek. “Yes, I heard that. That should be fun for you.” He looks at Garret. “Do we even have a sled?”

Garret nods as he sets his juice glass down. “Jade and I bought one over Thanksgiving break. We went sledding at Bryant Park.”

“You’re not going there today, are you?” Mr. Kensington uses the same disapproving tone that his wife used earlier.

“No, we’re staying here,” Garret says.

“Good. Have a good time, Lilly.” He kisses her, then sets her down. “I have to go to the office, but I’ll see everyone at dinner.”
 

“Bye, Daddy.” Lilly runs back to her seat.

“See ya, Dad,” Garret says.
 

I smile at Mr. Kensington, not sure what to say. Even though he seems to tolerate me now, I still find him very intimidating.
 

Mr. Kensington looks at Katherine. She keeps her head buried in her newspaper, not even acknowledging him. They’re definitely fighting about something. I hope it’s not me. But I get the feeling that it is.

Once Mr. Kensington is gone, Katherine closes her newspaper and folds it back up, setting it on the table. “Lilly, we need to get going. Finish up.” She turns to me. “Does she need anything for this sledding activity?”

I’m not sure what Katherine means. Has the woman never gone sledding? Was she never a child? I basically had no childhood and
I
still went sledding.
 

“Does she have snow pants?” I ask Katherine.
 

“No. She doesn’t. I’ll stop and get her some after dance class.”

“Can I have pink ones?” Lilly asks.

“That’s the only color you wear,” Garret says to her.

She shakes her head back and forth. “Nope. I wear purple, too.”

Garret looks at Katherine to confirm. “It’s true. She recently expanded her wardrobe to include purple.” Katherine gets up from the table. “Let’s go, Lilly.”

Lilly hops down off her chair and the two of them leave. Garret and I stay behind to finish breakfast.

“Hasn’t Lilly ever gone sledding?”

He thinks for a moment. “I guess she hasn’t. We didn’t own a sled before you came along.”

“Thank God I did. I need to loosen you people up. You need some fun around here.” I reach for the juice carafe but Garret gets to it first and pours me some.
 

“So when do you think you want to go to Des Moines? I should probably get the plane ticket today.”

“Ticket? Just singular? You aren’t coming with me?”

He shrugs. “I didn’t think I should. I mean, I totally will if you want me to, but I thought you might want some time alone with Frank and Ryan, without me hanging around.”

“Yeah, okay. I guess that would be good. Maybe I’ll go next Saturday after we get back from New York.”

“How long do you want to stay? For the rest of break?”

“That’s two weeks. That’s kind of a long time.”

“I thought that’s what you wanted. You said you had all these plans to do stuff with Ryan.”

“Yeah. You’re right. Two weeks is good. It just sucks that I won’t see you for that long.” I stare down at my plate, moving my eggs around with my fork.

Garret takes the fork from me and sets it on the table. “Are you saying you’ll miss me? Because if so, I need to mentally record this moment. It may never happen again.”

I smile as I roll my eyes. “Yes. I guess that’s what I’m saying. You put some kind of spell on me and now I miss you when you’re not around.”

“I didn’t do anything,” he says.

I punch his arm. “Yeah you did, and it pisses me off.”

He kisses my cheek. “Well, you’ve done the same thing to me. I’m gonna really miss you, but I know you want to go home.”

“Why don’t you come to Des Moines for a week? That way I’ll have a week alone with Frank and Ryan and a week with you. I don’t need to spend every minute with the two of them. And besides, Frank has to stay home and rest. He’ll probably sleep most of the time. And Ryan will be at work or out with Chloe.”

Garret pushes his chair back and gets up. “Finally. I was waiting for you to invite me. It took you long enough.”

“You’re the one who told me to go by myself!”

“I was being polite, Jade. And then you were supposed to be polite back and invite me to go with you.” He stands behind me and drops a kiss on the top of my head. “I’ll go book the flights.”
 

“Not first class. It’s too expensive,” I say as he walks out. I’m sure he won’t listen.
 

After lunch we take Lilly outside behind the house. The Kensington property includes several acres of land, mostly woods. We walk through the trees until we find a clearing at the top of a small hill. It’s not nearly as big as the hill at Bryant Park but it’s good enough for Lilly. The hill at the park would’ve been too scary for her since she’s never been sledding.
 

Lilly’s bundled up head to toe in pink snow pants, a pink jacket, and a pink hat. I can’t stand the color pink, but it’s cute on her with her rosy cheeks and blond hair.
 

I get on the sled with her and we slide slowly down the tiny hill.
 

“Can we do it again?” Lilly’s jumping up and down like this is the greatest thing she’s ever done.
 

I spend the next half hour going down the hill with her. Garret can’t sled because his chest is still healing from the bullet wound caused by the incident in the study that we’re pretending never happened.
 

“Can I go by myself now?” she asks Garret.

“You’re not afraid?”

She shakes her head no, then positions herself on the sled. He gives her a push down the hill. It takes her forever to pull the sled back up to the top, but when she finally reaches it, she’s ready to go again.
 

“I think she likes the sledding,” I say to Garret.

“Yeah, it’s good for her to get out and do stuff. She spends way too much time in her room.” He leans down and kisses me.
 

I pull back. “Garret. Lilly could be watching.”

“She’s at the bottom of the hill. It’ll take her 10 minutes to get back up here.” He kisses me again, slower this time. The cold air circles around us, making me shiver. I reach up and grab his jacket, pulling him closer.
 

We kiss for several minutes, then Garret breaks from the kiss and looks around. “I thought she’d be back by now.”

We both look down the hill. There’s no sign of Lilly, but the sled is sitting there.

“Lilly?” Garret sounds panicked.
 

“She probably went in the woods. Maybe she saw a squirrel or something.”

I’m trying to reassure him but Garret’s not listening. He starts running down the hill.

“Lilly! Answer me! Where are you?” His voice is frantic now.
 

I don’t know why he’s so worried. We’re on the Kensington property. There’s a tall fence around the entire perimeter. She couldn’t get out. But I guess it’s possible someone could get in, especially back here where they don’t have security guards.

“Lilly!” I yell her name as I follow Garret into the woods. “Any sign of her?”

“No. And why the fuck isn’t she answering me?” He takes off again farther into the woods. “Lilly! This isn’t funny! Where are you?”

I run the other direction, calling her name, but there’s no response. It’s like she just disappeared. I was trying to stay calm, but now I’m panicking like Garret. What if someone got past the fence? What if they took her?
 

I run to the right and spot a flash of pink out the side of my eye. I stop and turn to see Lilly sitting down next to a tree.
 

“Lilly!” I run over to her, kneeling beside her. “What are you doing?”
 

“Look. She’s hurt.” She points to a bird on the ground that has a broken wing.

“Why didn’t you answer me? Or your brother? Didn’t you hear us?” Between the running and the panicking, I’m now completely out of breath.

She looks down at the bird again and reaches her hand out to pet it.
 

I grab her arm. “Don’t touch it. Just leave it alone.”

I stand up and call for Garret. He’s there moments later.
 

He picks Lilly off the ground and stands her up in front of him. “Why didn’t you answer me?”
 

Garret’s voice is loud and stern and he towers over her. I can tell he’s scaring her, even though I know that’s not his intention.

“I did, but nobody came,” she says.
 

Lilly’s voice is so faint that she probably did answer and we didn’t hear her.
 

“You know the rules, Lilly. No running off. Ever.”

“But I saw this bird and she couldn’t fly and then—”

“I don’t care about the bird! You know—”

I grab Garret’s arm, giving him a look to calm down.
 

Lilly looks like she’s about to cry. “I was just trying to help.”

“So is this the bird?” I ask, hoping to refocus her attention.

She nods. “She can’t fly anymore.”
 

Lilly kneels down on the ground again. The bird was twitching a little before, but now it’s motionless and I’m pretty sure it’s dead. I glance over at Garret. I have zero experience with kids and have no idea how to handle this situation.