Always Us (The Jade Series #8) (2 page)

“It was in your bedroom.” Ryan starts laughing.

“And you didn’t tell me?” I huff. “It touched all my stuff! It was probably in my clothes. I could’ve got rabies.”

“You can’t get rabies from a bat touching your clothes,” Ryan says. “Besides, we washed everything before you got home. We figured it was better if you didn’t know.”

“I have to go inside.” I check the area by my feet, making sure there aren’t any snakes around. I’m still clinging to Garret. “I can’t be out here.”

“You need to get out in nature more, Jade,” Garret says as we walk to the door. “I grew up playing in the woods. Snakes won’t bother you if you leave them alone.”

Ryan walks past us with the suitcase. “Huh. So pretty boy’s not afraid of snakes. Interesting.”

“Last time, Ryan.” Garret jabs his shoulder. “Last time.”

He laughs. “Check out the house, then let’s go for a drive.”

When you walk in the house, there’s a small entryway that leads to a big, open space with the living room on the left and the kitchen on the right. Dividing the two rooms is a narrow stone-covered wall that has a see-through fireplace in it. The floors are a reddish-brown cherry wood and the walls are a dark beige color. The back of the house is mostly windows with a view of the woods.

This is exactly where I pictured Frank living. He loves the outdoors so this is perfect for him. He can sit and look out at the trees and the birds and the changing seasons. At the old house, the views were ugly power lines and other houses.

“This is a great house, Frank,” Garret says as he walks into the living room. There’s a flat-screen TV mounted on the wall with built-in bookcases on each side. “I see you upgraded the TV.”

“I talked him into the 60-inch screen,” Ryan says. “He wanted a 36-inch, which is way too small for this big of a room.

“Did you break down and get a satellite dish?” Garret asks Frank.

“Yes. I didn’t want it, but Ryan insisted we have it.”

Ryan hangs his arm off Frank’s shoulder. “We need it for sports, Dad. You can’t get all the games on regular TV.”

“Yeah, you gotta have the sports channels,” Garret says.

“Let me show you the kitchen.” Frank leads us to the other side of the room, past the fireplace.

“I love this wall divider,” I tell him. “We should do that with our house, Garret.”

“Are you guys building a house?” Ryan asks.

“Not yet, but eventually. We have the land.” As soon as I say it, I want to take it back but it’s too late.

“You bought some land?” Frank asks.

“Um, yeah.” I haven’t told Frank or Ryan about the land we got from Grace. And I can’t tell Ryan that Grace gave it to us since he doesn’t know she’s my grandmother.

“Grace sold it to us,” Garret says casually. Sometimes it concerns me how good he is at lying. “She had it up for sale and Jade and I decided to buy it. Since she’s a close friend of the family, she gave us a deal.”

Frank’s eyes are on me. I’m sure he assumes Grace gave us the land for free, but he’s probably wondering why I didn’t tell him. The reason I didn’t is because I try to avoid talking about the Sinclair side of the family with Frank. He still gets angry whenever he thinks about what Royce did to my mom.

“Where’s the land?” Ryan asks me.

“It’s about an north of Santa Barbara, right along the coast.”

“So you’re staying in California after college?” Ryan seems disappointed, but he knew I didn’t want to move back to Iowa.

“Yeah, we really like it out there. And I love living on the ocean.”

Frank smiles. “Well, it sounds like a beautiful location. We’ll have to come out and visit when you get the house built. You think it’ll be after you graduate?”

I look at Garret. “We don’t know yet. It’s only an hour from where we live now so we might build it sooner than that so we can live there in the summers. And you’re definitely coming to visit.”

Garret pulls me into his side. “You guys are welcome any time. We’ll make sure it has plenty of guest rooms.”

“That’s going to be a big house,” Ryan says to me.

“What do you mean?”

“You want guest rooms, but you also need rooms for all your kids.” He snickers as he reaches in the cupboard for some glasses. “You’ll need at least eight bedrooms to accommodate the guests, along with you and Garret and your four kids.” He snickers again.

Garret rubs my arm. He thinks I’m upset because of the kid comment, but Ryan teases me about this all the time because I tell him I don’t want kids. And for whatever reason, his kid comments never bother me.

“Ryan, don’t—”

I interrupt Garret. “Four? We were planning on having five or six. Right, Garret?” I smile at him.

He looks totally confused. “Um, sure. As many as you want.”

“Six grandkids?” Frank smiles. “It’s a good thing I bought a big dining room table.” Frank motions to a room off the kitchen. “That’s where we’ll be having dinner tomorrow.”

I go and peek around the corner at the dining room. There’s a long table that seats 10. The table has an orange runner down the center topped with small white pumpkins and greenery.

“Did you decorate the table?” I almost laugh imagining Frank doing that.

“No, Chloe did it,” Ryan says. “You guys want something to drink?”

“Just water.” Garret and I both say it, then I say, “We’re both thirsty from the plane.”

We take a seat at the kitchen island as Ryan hands us our glasses of water. The kitchen is big and open. It has stainless steel appliances, dark cabinets, and the counters are covered in granite that has a brown, black, and beige swirl pattern.

We talk some more and then Frank shows us the bedrooms, which are on the other side of the house. The room Garret and I are staying in has its own bathroom and a walk-in closet.

I’m impressed with how well Frank did picking stuff out. The wall colors, the lighting fixtures, the flooring. It all looks good together and it fits his style, not too contemporary but more of a traditional look. Frank told me his girlfriend, Karen, helped him pick stuff out.

Ryan’s phone rings. “It’s Chloe. I’ll be right back.” He goes in his bedroom to talk to her while the rest of us go back to the kitchen.

“So Karen’s coming over tonight.” Frank says it casually, but his lips are creeping up just mentioning her.

“Good. I’ll finally get to meet her.” I gulp my glass of water down.

“She wanted to meet you before the race tomorrow. She’ll be here at seven for dinner. Ryan’s going to throw some steaks on the grill and Karen’s bringing over a salad.”

“Are you going to the race?” I ask him.

“Yes. Karen will meet us there. Ryan is staying here with Chloe. She’s coming over early in the morning to start the turkey. Are you going to the race with us, Garret?”

“Yeah, I’m going.” He gets up and refills my water glass from the fridge dispenser. “I’ve never seen Jade race before.”

“I’m not going to race. I’ll just keep pace with Karen.”

Garret gives me my water. “I’m gonna go unpack.”

“Right now? Why don’t you do that later?”

“I want to clean up a little. Change my shirt.”

“Okay.” I watch him walk away. He’s still acting strange. It’s subtle and Frank doesn’t notice, but I do.

Frank starts telling me more about Karen. His face lights up as he talks about her.
 

I can’t wait to meet this woman. I still can’t believe Frank has a girlfriend.

GARRET

I go in the bedroom and shut the door. I need just a few minutes to myself. I need to get my mind focused on tomorrow and this weekend. I want this Thanksgiving to be a good one for Jade, so I need to put on a smile, act happy, and pretend nothing’s wrong. I did that for most of my teen years so this should be easy. Of course, back then I had alcohol to help me out. And I didn’t have this huge secret to hide.

But so far, I’m doing pretty well. I’ve managed to act halfway normal since my grandfather’s visit a few days ago. I’ve shoved that whole conversation in the back of my mind and when it makes its way to the front again, I tell myself it never happened, then shove any memory of it back in its place. If I don’t, Jade will know something’s wrong. She picks up on stuff, even the tiniest things, so I need to be aware of my tone, my expressions—anything that might give me away.
 

 
I hate hiding this from Jade but my dad practically ordered me not to tell her, and he’s probably right. She doesn’t need to know, at least not yet, and maybe not ever. How exactly would I tell her something like that anyway?
My grandfather plans to kill you, Jade.
Yeah, I can’t even
think
those words, let alone say them.
 

My dad said he’d deal with my grandfather and I believe him. I just need to give him time to do that. I’m worried he’ll sacrifice himself somehow to get my grandfather to back down. Like agree to do whatever his father tells him to do in exchange for him leaving Jade and me alone. My grandfather could make my dad run for public office, something he would hate doing. He has no interest in being a politician and never has. But my grandfather always wanted his son to be in politics because of the power and prestige that comes with those positions. So when my dad didn’t go down that route, my grandfather wanted
me
to, which is why he was thrilled when I was chosen to be president, then furious when I destroyed my image, thus ending my future political career. So maybe my grandfather will force my dad to run for office, like maybe run for governor, or for Congress. The organization would make sure he’d win.
 

I don’t want to see my dad’s life ruined like that, but my grandfather has us backed into a corner. He’s made this ultimatum. Divorce Jade or he’ll kill her.
 

I haven’t slept much since he gave me that ultimatum. A couple hours a night, max. The rest of the time I’m wide awake, watching Jade sleep, worrying about her safety, and trying to come up with ways to get out of this. Trying to figure out how to make my grandfather accept Jade, even though I know he never will. I even considered working for the company. Maybe if I agreed to take over Kensington Chemical someday, my grandfather would leave Jade alone. If he did, I would do it. I would dread going to work every day, but I’d do it if it meant he’d leave her alone.
 

Problem is, he won’t agree it. He hates Jade and he hates that I’m with her, and he’s determined to break us apart. Which means I have to rely on my dad. He’s the only one who can fix this. I just hope that he can.

“Hey.” Jade comes into the bedroom. I’m unpacking the suitcase and hanging clothes in the closet. She comes over and gives me a hug. “You want to take a nap? You look tired.”

“I’m okay. We should go hang out with Frank and Ryan.”

“Ryan went to pick up Chloe. They’re getting stuff for tomorrow. And Frank is resting in his room. Do you think Frank’s okay? It worries me that he’s so tired.”

“I’m sure he’s fine. He said he didn’t sleep well last night.”

“But why isn’t he sleeping well? That could mean something, Garret.”

“Don’t read so much into it.” I kiss her forehead. “He just didn’t sleep well. That’s all.”

I don’t know what Jade will do if Frank ever gets really sick. Last year when he was in intensive care, Jade was a mess. She couldn’t handle seeing him like that. I tried to be there for her, supporting her, helping her get through it, and I think she was glad I was there. It was hard to tell back then. She hid so much of herself that I was always left guessing what she needed from me. She’s better now, but I still have to guess sometimes.

“Come on.” She leads me to the bed. “Just take a short nap. I know you haven’t been sleeping much the past few nights.”

Shit. How did she know that?

“I’ll take a nap, but only if you sleep next to me.”

She smiles. “I will.”

We lie on our sides, her back against my chest, and I hold her there, not wanting to ever let go. As hard as I try to shove that conversation with my grandfather out of my head, I keep hearing his words and rage erupts inside me, making my muscles tense up, my jaw clench.

“That’s a little too tight, Garret,” Jade says. “What is with you and these super tight hugs? You keep doing it. You’ve been doing it since Monday.”

I relax my arms. “I don’t know. I guess I don’t know my own strength.” I use my cocky tone to steer her off course from any suspicions she has that something’s wrong.

“You
are
really strong.” She turns her head back and kisses me, then rubs her neck. “My neck still hurts.”

“You want me to massage it again?” I laugh as I say it. “If I do, you better keep quiet this time or Frank will think we’re doing something in here.”

She laughs. “I promise I’ll be quiet this time.”

“Don’t do it on my account. Feel free to practice your porn lines again. I don’t mind. You’re the one who gets all embarrassed.”

She reaches back and swats at my leg. “Which is why I’ll be quiet.”

She leans forward a little and I massage her neck.

“Garret?”

“Yes, Jade.”

“I’m so happy being here. Having a real Thanksgiving with you and Frank and Ryan. And it’s so great seeing them living in a house that’s new and doesn’t have a leaky roof and peeling paint. All of it just makes me happy.”

I lean over her shoulder and kiss her cheek. “Good. I love seeing you happy.”

And that’s why I can’t tell her what’s going on. All her happiness would disappear if she knew the truth. Jade hasn’t had much happiness in her life and now that she finally does, I’m not going to take it away from her.

“Did you mean it when you said we would have lots of guest rooms in our house?” she asks.

“Of course I did. We’ll need lots of rooms for when people come visit us.”

She flips to face me, her face beaming. “That’s what I want. I want both our families to come to our house for the holidays and summer barbecues and birthdays.”

It’s sweet how Jade gets so excited about family. This family thing is all new to her and she loves having them around.

I kiss her. “We’ll make sure there’s plenty of room for everyone. Maybe we’ll build a guest house. We have all that land. Might as well use it.”