Always Us (The Jade Series #8)

by Everhart, Allie

  “More like three feet. Or six.”

  I pull on him to sit down with me. He has a blanket spread out over the ground with the picnic basket and cooler holding it down. The other blankets I brought are stacked up next to us. I take one and put it over my legs because the breeze is chilly on my bare skin. I probably should’ve worn jeans instead of shorts.

  “Garret, what are you going to do when we have kids? They’ll want to run to the edge just like me.”

  He doesn’t react to the kid comment. I make these comments all the time now. I have for the past month so he’s used it. He doesn’t read anything into it because he assumes I’m just saying it hypothetically.

  “If we had kids,” he says, “I’d have to build a ten foot fence. Actually, a fence isn’t sturdy enough. I’d need a solid wall.”

  I laugh. “That would ruin the view, which is the whole purpose of living here.”

  “I don’t care. I’m not gonna risk having our kid fall off the edge of a cliff. There would have to be a solid wall all along there.” He points to the edge, moving his hand left to right.

  I sit cross-legged and hold his hand and look at him. “Then I guess you better add that to the house plan.”

  He doesn’t react. I’m sure he thinks I’m just talking hypothetically again.

  “It can wait. We don’t need to build it when we build the house. Like you said, we don’t want to ruin the view.”

  “We need to put something there. Maybe not a solid wall, but something to keep our kids safe.” I hold his other hand and wait for him to look me in the eye. “Because we’re having kids, Garret. Not now, but someday.”

  He looks like he doesn’t believe me, like he thinks I’m joking. But when he sees the serious expression on my face, he says, “Jade, what are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that I made a decision. I want us to have kids. Well, I’d like to start with just one and see how it goes.”

  His cautiously smiles. “Are you serious?”

  I nod. “Yeah. I’ve thought about this a lot. And I’ve decided this is what I want.” I smile. “I think you want that too, right?”

  A huge smile fills his face. “You know I do. Get over here.” He pulls me into his arms.

  “I know I still have issues to work through and I’m not saying I’ll be a perfect mom, but I’ll be the best mom I possibly can.”

  “You’ll be a great mom, Jade. I know you will.”

  “I’m still scared. But you’ll help, right? I mean, you won’t be one of those dads who’s never around, right?”

  “Of course not. I promise, I will do as much as I can to help.”

  “Good, because I’m going to need it. I’m already feeling overwhelmed just thinking about having kids, even though it’s still a ways off in the future.”

  He pulls back a little to look at me. “How far in the future? Do you have a timeline in mind?”

  “Well, I thought we should talk about that together. But I don’t want to be too old. I was thinking maybe when we’re 25? Is that too soon?”

  “No, it’s perfect.” His huge smile remains. “That’s what I was thinking too. We’ll be done with school, our careers will be somewhat started, and the house will be built by then.”

  “But I think we should start trying when we’re 24 so that we have it when we’re 25. It could take a while to get pregnant and then you have to wait nine months, so we may not even have one until we’re 26.”

  He brings me in for a kiss. “Then we’ll start working on it the night of my 24th birthday.”

  I smile. “I didn’t mean we had to do that, but—”

  “I know what you meant.” He kisses me again and lays me down on the blanket, his hand slipping under my shirt.

  I break from the kiss and laugh. “We’re not starting right now, Garret. I said 24, not 20.”

  “I’m just practicing,” he says, still kissing me. “Gotta keep my skills up in this area.”

  I laugh again and push him back. “We’ll practice later. I’m not done talking yet.”

  He props himself next to me on his side. “Go ahead.”

  “I can’t promise you three kids. I know you want three, but I can only agree to one, at least for now.”

  “We don’t have to have three. I’ll be happy with whatever we have.” His hand brushes over my cheek. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.” I smile up at him. “We’re going to be parents someday.”

  He glances back at the cliff. “I’m definitely gonna have to put up a ten foot wall.”

  “No, you’re not.” I yank him over me and kiss him and keep kissing him, stopping just briefly to say, “We can practice now if you want.”

  “Finally.” He grabs the blankets and covers us up and we have outdoor sex. I was hoping for the Halloween sex but he was in too much of a hurry to grab the candy. And so was I. But we can do it later. We have all afternoon.

  This is celebration sex. We’re celebrating that I finally made a decision. A decision that’s made Garret very happy. And more importantly, a decision that makes us both happy.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  29

  GARRET

  Jade just told me she wants to have kids, which kind of shocked me. It’s not that I didn’t think that would be her answer. I knew it was a possibility after she made that comment about wanting kids when we were at Frank’s house. But she said she needed more time to think about it, so I thought she’d need a year or two. I didn’t think she’d decide this soon. I hope this really is what she wants and she’s not going to change her mind later. But I don’t think she will. I know she’s given this a lot of thought and talked to her counselor about it.

  All I can say is she’s made me a very happy man with that decision. And if she only wants one kid, that’s fine with me. It’s better to have one than none. Her timing is perfect, too. I thought she’d want to wait until she was 30 or even later than that, so when she said 25, I was relieved. To me, that’s the perfect age. Before I met Jade I would’ve said that’s way too young, but I’ve matured a lot the past year and by 25, Jade and I will have been married six years, so it seems like a good time to have a baby. That gives us plenty of time to just be a couple. Just the two of us, doing things like we’re doing today, spending the afternoon hanging out on our own private land.

  “Garret, when should we build the house?” Jade’s gazing up at the sky, a blanket wrapped around her naked body.

  We just had outdoor sex, one of my favorite kinds. Who am I kidding? They’re all my favorite kinds. But doing it outside in the cool fresh air is up there at the top of my favorites list.

  “I thought you wanted to build it this spring.” I sit up and grab a bottle of water from the cooler, a blanket covering my lower half. “We should probably put clothes on in case someone drives by.”

  I start getting dressed, but Jade remains under the blanket. “I’d only build it this spring if we planned to live here this summer. But we don’t have to do that. We could find another beach house to rent. We talked about doing that anyway.”

  “That was when we thought Sean and Harper would be living next door. But now they’re not together, so would you still want to rent a place?”

  “I think so. I’d like more time to plan the house. I don’t want to rush into building it and then wish we’d done something different. And now that we’ve added a kid to the equation, we need to plan for another room.”

  “It’s just one room, Jade. It’s not that big a deal.” I hand her my water and she sits up just enough to take a sip, then hands it back to me.

  “We should plan for more than one, even if we’re not sure yet. It’s too hard to add bedrooms later.”

  “How many rooms would you like?” I set my water down.

  “We should probably have three, for the three kids you might end up talking me into.”

  Holy shit. She’s actually considering three? How’d we go from one to three? She seemed pretty adamant about only
having one kid, but hey, if she’s open to three, all the better. I’ve always wanted three. I don’t really know why.

  “Then three for the kids and a big master bedroom for us. What about the guests?”

  “I’m not sure. What do you think?”

  “A couple guest rooms should be plenty.”

  “That’s only enough for Frank and Ryan. What if your dad was here, too? We wouldn’t have room.”

  “My dad can stay at a hotel.”

  “No, that’s no good. I want him here with us.” She sounds so determined it makes me laugh. “What’s so funny?”

  “You. Worrying about having room for everyone. They don’t have to all stay at our house, Jade.”

  “But I like having everyone around. And I don’t want your dad to not feel welcome.”

  She’s so sweet. I don’t know how she ever forgave my dad for the way he treated her last year, but she has, and now she cares about him and worries about him almost as much as she worries about me.

  “Then we’ll add another guest room for my dad. That’s six bedrooms plus the master. That’s plenty. If we add any more, the house will get too big and we agreed we didn’t want a huge house.”

  “But what about Grace? What if all the rooms are full? She’ll have no place to stay.”

  I laugh and lean down to kiss her. “Jade, chances are these people will never all be at our house at the same time. And if they are, then my dad can sleep on the couch. Or he can sleep in the same room as his grandkid. We’ll put an extra bed in there. Same with Lilly. She can bunk with one of her nieces or nephews.”

  Jade bolts up. “I forgot about Lilly! We don’t have enough rooms.”

  “Seven rooms. That’s it. No more.” I toss her bra and shirt at her. “Now get dressed in case someone drives by.”

  She starts putting her clothes on under the blanket. “As long as we’re out this way, we should drive down to Santa Barbara and see Grace. I know we just saw her, but we’ve only been to her house once since she moved here.”

  “Call her up and see if she’s around. Tell her we could be there later today.”

  Jade finishes getting dressed, then calls Grace and makes plans to have dinner with her. I set up our lunch while she’s talking.

  When she’s done on the phone, she says, “Too bad Grace doesn’t live closer to here. When we finally move here, I want to have her over a lot, especially since she loves this location so much.”

  I hand Jade her sandwich and grab us each a soda. “You know what we should do?”

  “What?” She takes the soda from me.

  “Never mind. She’d never go for it.” I take the potato chip bag and set it between us.

  “Go for what? Tell me what you were going to say.”

  “A while back we talked about building a guest house here and I was just thinking it might be good to have Grace live in it, so she wouldn’t be living alone. I mean, she’d have her own place so technically she’d be living alone, but she’d have us right next door in the main house.” I take a bite of my sandwich.

  Jade grabs my arm. “Garret, are you serious? Would you really do that?”

  “Sure, why not? Grace gave us the land and she said she always wanted to live here. She could make a flower garden with that map she drew up.”

  “That’s a great idea! I could have my grandma right next door.” Jade drops her sandwich and reaches over and hugs me. “I love you! You’re the best husband ever!”

  I set my sandwich down and hug her back. “Guess I should’ve suggested this sooner. But do you think Grace would go for it? She likes being independent.”

  “Which is why the guest house idea is perfect. She’ll have her own separate living space. She can spend time alone or she can hang out with us. But if she needs us, we’ll be right next door. I know she’s in good health now, but in a few years, she may not be. She needs to have family close by.” Jade sits back on her knees. “Before I say anything to her, are you sure you’re okay with this?”

  “Jade, I suggested it, so yes. Grace is more like a grandmother to me than my own grandmother. I’d be happy to have her live here with us.”

  Jade hugs me again. “I’ll say it again. You’re the best husband ever! I love you.”

  “I love you, too. Let’s finish lunch.” I whisper by her ear, “And then let’s have dessert.”

  We do exactly that, except we wait an hour before having that dessert. We just lie there and enjoy the sun and then move on to dessert, which is code for Halloween sex. It’s not as hot out today as it was last time, so I put the chocolate bar on her bare stomach and then warm it with my mouth before licking it off. She likes that. A lot. I think we need to have Halloween sex more often. We’ll do it at home next time and I’ll have her wear her cheerleader costume.

  Later, we drive down to Grace’s house. We probably should’ve given her more notice before coming over, but I knew she wouldn’t say no. She loves having us visit.

  She takes us to dinner, and as we’re having dessert, Jade brings up the idea we discussed. “So, Grace, I wanted to ask you something. You don’t have to answer right away but I hope your answer is yes.”

  Grace was eating her ice cream, but she sets her spoon down. “Go ahead, dear.”

  Jade looks at me, then back at Grace. “As you know, Garret and I are going to build a house on that land you gave us and we’ve been talking about what the house would look like, how many bedrooms it would have—stuff like that. Anyway, we decided to also build a separate smaller house next to the main house.”

  “Like a guest house?”

  “Yes. Except the person living there wouldn’t just be a guest. It would be more of a permanent residence if this person agrees to it.” Jade smiles. “We want you to live there, Grace. We want to build you your own house next to ours. You can plant a flower garden, a vegetable garden, whatever you want.”

  She pats Jade’s hand. “Oh, honey, I can’t live there. I have my own house. Several houses.”

  “Those can be your vacation homes. You can visit them whenever you want. Grace, you said that you and Arlin always wanted to live on that land.”

  “Well, yes, but that was different. That was when Arlin was alive. We had our dream for what we’d do with that land, and now that dream belongs to you and Garret. It’s part of your new life together. If I lived there, I’d just be in the way.”

  “You wouldn’t be in the way,” Jade says. “If anything, I’ll be the one getting in your way. If you live that close, you know I’ll be stopping over all the time.”

  “We have four acres, Grace,” I say. “We have plenty of room. If you want more privacy, we’ll put the guest house farther over on the property. It doesn’t have to be right next to ours.”

  “It’s very kind of both of you to offer this to me, but I don’t feel right about it. I gave that land to the two of you. I don’t want to take up space on it. You should use it however you see fit.”

  “This is how we want to use it,” Jade says. “We’re still going to build the guest house, so if you don’t want to live there, it’ll just have to sit empty. But you at least have to come stay for a few weeks throughout the year or spend the summers with us.”

  Grace smiles, then sips her coffee. “Give me some time to think about it. You’re not building right away, are you?”

  “No, probably in a year or two.”

  “Then I have plenty of time to decide.” She goes back to eating her ice cream.

  “There’s another reason I’d like you to live there. It’s kind of a selfish one but I’ll say it anyway.” Jade hesitates. I can tell she’s nervous so I reach over and hold her hand. “I was hoping maybe you could help out when Garret and I have a baby.”

  Grace’s eyes widen. “Jade, are you—”

  “I’m not pregnant. But maybe in a few years.” Jade glances at me and smiles, then looks back at Grace. “And I’ll need help when the baby comes. Since you’re a mom, I was hoping you could teach me some t
hings.”

  “Of course I will.” She rubs Jade’s arm. “I’ll stay as long as you need me to.”

  “I’m going to need you for a really long time. I’m not very good with babies.”

  “She thinks she’s not, but she is,” I say to Grace. “She’s really good with Sara’s baby.”

  Jade turns to me. “No, I’m not. You’re the one who’s good with him.” She turns back to Grace. “You should see Garret with Caleb. He always makes Caleb laugh. The kid never cries when Garret’s around.”

  Grace smiles at us. “You two will make wonderful parents. And you will be a wonderful mother, Jade.”

  Jade looks down at her plate. I know she’s uncomfortable talking about this, so I’m surprised she even brought it up. But if she’s telling other people about us having kids, then I know she’s committed to this, which makes me even happier.

  We head home after dinner because it’s getting late and we have a long drive back. Grace seemed better than the last time we saw her, but she still seems lonely. I hope she decides to live on our property. It’d be good for her and it would mean a lot to Jade to have her there. I’d like it, too. Grace is becoming more and more like a grandmother to me. She’s so different than my own grandmother. She’s warm and caring and actually listens when I talk. And I can tell her stuff and not have her judge or criticize me the way my own grandmother does.

  When we get home, I check the house like I always do. I look for signs of a break-in, like an open window, misplaced furniture, a pillow that isn’t where we left it, and any other signs that someone might’ve been in the house. I don’t need to do this anymore, but I still do. I probably always will.

  Tuesday morning I go to my first final. Jade stayed home because her first final isn’t until this afternoon. When I left, she was putting up more Christmas lights. Our whole place is covered in them. Every window, the bedroom ceiling, the two Christmas trees, the potted plants, the top of the dresser. Jade puts them everywhere and I love it. It gives the place a warm festive glow, and best of all, it makes Jade happy.