Always Us (The Jade Series #8)

by Everhart, Allie

  The next morning, Pearce drives us to the private airport where he keeps his jet. I’m not thrilled about getting on a small plane, but all the regular flights were booked with people flying home after Christmas. If we wanted to fly commercial, we’d have to wait until later this week and we can’t. We need to get home. We promised Sean and Harper we’d meet them in LA tomorrow.

  On the drive to the airport, Lilly’s sitting next to me in the back seat. When we’re almost there, she says, “Do you have to go?”

  “Yeah. Garret and I are going to see Sean and Harper tomorrow in LA. We’re spending New Year’s with them.”

  Lilly tugs on my arm. I lean down and she says, “Sean is cute.”

  I laugh. “He is cute, isn’t he?”

  Garret’s in the front seat, but he heard us talking. He whips around and says to Lilly, “Did you just say Sean is cute?”

  She nods, a shy smile on her face.

  “Since when do you think boys are cute?”

  She shrugs. “I don’t know.”

  He sighs and turns back around. I swear, he will not survive if we have girls.

  I feel Lilly staring at me, specifically my stomach. “Are you having a baby?”

  “Baby? No, I’m not having a baby.” I look down at my stomach. I don’t look pregnant, so why would she say that? “Why would you think I’m having a baby?”

  “Mom’s having a baby. Why aren’t you?”

  Pearce turns the radio down. He must’ve heard Lilly.

  “I’m kind of young to have a baby. Usually you wait until you’re a little older. I have to finish college first.”

  “And then you’ll have a baby?”

  Garret looks back at me and smiles.

  “Um, probably. Or maybe a few years after college.”

  I see Pearce eyeing me in the rear view mirror. “I have to wait that long to be a grandfather?” He smiles.

  This is awkward. I’ve never talked about this with Garret’s family. I just recently talked to Garret about it.

  Before I can answer Pearce, Lilly says, “You should have it now. Then I’d have another sister to play with.”

  “The baby would be your niece, not your sister,” Garret says. “You’d be an aunt.”

  “Like your Aunt Caroline,” Pearce says. “Remember her? She came for Christmas one year.”

  Caroline is Katherine’s sister who lives in France. Garret never mentions her. I think he’s only met her that one time at Christmas.

  “I didn’t like Aunt Caroline,” Lilly says.

  “I’m not a fan of her either,” Pearce says quietly to Garret.

  “Max said babies don’t come from storks,” Lilly says.

  That’s just great. Garret already doesn’t like Lilly’s friend, Max, also known as bow tie boy. Now Garret will hate him even more, knowing he’s telling Lilly the truth about babies.

  Garret turns back to look at Lilly. “Where did he say they came from?”

  “He didn’t say. The bell rang and we had to go inside.”

  “Don’t listen to him.” Garret faces forward again. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. The stork brings babies. That’s all you need to know.”

  “Garret, don’t confuse—”

  “Dad, she’s seven. It’s not time yet.”

  Lilly holds my hand. “I hope you have 10 babies and they’re all girls and they all wear pink and have long blond hair.”

  Garret laughs. “So you basically want 10 copies of yourself.”

  “I just want someone to play with,” she says quietly.

  I smile at her. “I’ll see what I can do, okay? But 10 is kind of a lot.”

  We arrive at the airport, which is just a big square building. It doesn’t really look like an airport. A man comes out and takes our luggage. As we approach the door to the building, it swings open and Victoria storms out, wearing sunglasses and a long black coat with fur around the neckline.

  She sees me and abruptly stops right in front of me. “You! How dare you and your whore of a mother destroy my family like this!” She reaches up like she’s going to slap me, but Garret and Pearce both grab her arm before she does it.

  “Get away from her!” Garret’s in front of me now, still holding Victoria’s arm.

  “Garret, let me handle this,” Pearce says. “Take Jade and Lilly inside.”

  Lilly’s behind me, holding on to my coat. I’m sure she’s scared after hearing Victoria yell at me like that and seeing her almost hit me.

  Garret picks Lilly up and takes my hand. “Let’s go.”

  We go inside, but I can still hear Pearce talking. “You come near my family again and I’ll make sure you—”

  I can’t hear the rest of what he says because Garret’s pulling me away from the door. He doesn’t want Lilly hearing any of that.

  We go and sit down on one of the couches. The airport is an open space that has couches and chairs. Some TVs hang down from the ceiling. There are windows all along the back wall where you can see the private planes lined up. Lilly runs off to look out the window while Garret and I remain seated and wait for Pearce. He comes in about a minute later and sits across from us.

  “Why was she here?” Garret asks him.

  “She wanted to use the Sinclair jet, but the pilot told her she’s not allowed on it. William banned her from using it. She’ll have to fly commercial.”

  I laugh, then cover my mouth. “Sorry. I guess it’s not really funny.”

  Garret laughs. “Are you kidding? It’s fucking hilarious. Can you imagine Victoria on a regular plane? I’m sure she’ll fly first class, but still. She’s gonna hate it.”

  Pearce nods toward the windows. “You two need to go. They’re loading your luggage.” We stand up and Pearce gives Garret a hug. “It was good having you home.” He lets Garret go and gives me a hug. “Come back any time. I miss having you two close by.”

  I smile at him. “We miss you, too. Maybe you could come out for spring break.”

  “Yes, I’ll try to clear my schedule.” He walks us over to the windows where Lilly is standing, looking out at the planes. “Honey, say goodbye.”

  She turns around and hugs me. “Please don’t go.”

  I kneel down and hug her back. “We’ll come back soon and see you. And your dad will take you to California, so we’ll see each other a lot.”

  My words don’t seem to help. Her eyes are tearing up. She hugs Garret as he picks her up.

  He kisses her cheek. “Hey, don’t be sad. You can call me whenever you want, okay?”

  She nods. “I love you, Garret.”

  “I love you, too.” He hugs her tight once more, then sets her down.

  “Have a good New Year’s,” Pearce says.

  “Yeah, you too,” Garret says. “Got any plans?”

  Pearce picks up Lilly and says to her, “What do you think? Are you going to celebrate New Year’s with me?”

  She nods. “Okay.”

  He smiles at us. “I guess I have plans.”

  Garret laughs. “Those plans will probably involve a tea party.”

  Pearce laughs as well. “I imagine they will.” He walks us to the door. “Have a good trip.”

  We wave goodbye, then go outside and walk toward the line of planes.

  “It’s that one right over there,” Garret says, pointing out his dad’s plane.

  “I don’t think I can go on that,” I say as we approach it. “It’s really small.”

  Garret holds my hand. “It’s not that small. For a private jet, it’s actually large. You can’t compare it to a commercial jet.”

  We get on and take the seats in the back. There are 10 seats and they’re all much larger than the seats on a normal plane. They look comfortable and luxurious, covered in a soft beige leather.

  “Have you been on this before?” I ask Garret as I buckle my seatbelt.

  He smiles at me. “Jade, I only flew private until I met you.”

  “You’d never been on a regular
plane before?”

  “I had, but it was when I was a kid.”

  He means back when his mom was alive. His mom hated small planes because she thought they were dangerous. And she was right. She ended up dying on one. Shit! What if Garret and I die on this thing?

  I feel my palms sweating as the plane moves.

  “I can’t do this.” I undo my seatbelt. “Let’s get off.”

  “Relax.” He fastens my seatbelt again. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

  I take some deep breaths and squeeze his hand as the plane goes down the runway. My stupid brain keeps imagining it crashing and going up in flames.

  “Think about something else,” Garret says, as if he can read my mind.

  “Like what?”

  He kisses my cheek. “Our house.”

  I’m clutching Garret with one hand and gripping the seat with the other. “We’re not going to have a house because we’re going to die when this thing takes off.”

  “It already took off. It was so smooth you didn’t even notice.”

  I lean over to look out the window. All I see are clouds. Wow, that really was a smooth takeoff.

  “We could die during landing,” I tell him.

  “We can’t die,” he says. “We have to be here for our kids.”

  “We don’t have kids.”

  “Not yet. But we already put in our order, so they’re coming, which means we need to be around for them when they arrive.”

  I don’t know how Garret does it, but he always makes me laugh when I don’t at all feel like laughing. “Are you still thinking the stork brings babies, Garret?”

  “Just because you haven’t seen him doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist.”

  Garret’s so serious, it makes me laugh even more. “And who put this order in? Because I know I didn’t.”

  “I did. You have to get on his list years in advance.”

  “And how many did you order?”

  “Two. That’s what you wanted, right?”

  “Yeah, two’s good. You didn’t tell him to bring them both at once, did you? Because I don’t think I could handle twins.”

  “We could handle it.” He kisses me. “But no, I told him to space them apart.”

  “How much apart?”

  “I didn’t specify. Did you have a timeline in mind?”

  “I haven’t really thought about it. Maybe a couple years apart?”

  “That works. I’ll send him a note and let him know.”

  I laugh again. “You have his address? Where exactly does he live?”

  He shrugs. “Somewhere in Florida. He likes warm weather and hanging out on the beach.”

  “You’re funny.” I smile and rest my head on his shoulder. “I love you.”

  He kisses my head. “I love you, too.”

  And just like that, he’s calmed me down. I was a nervous wreck just a few minutes ago and now I’m relaxed and imagining a big white bird sunbathing on the beach in Florida. I love that he can calm me down like that. It’s like he senses what I need and knows just what to do.

  Garret rests his head back and reclines a little. The armrest between us is up and I let go of his hand and he instantly raises his arm so I can sneak in my spot against his chest. He lowers his arm over me and it relaxes me even more. I close my eyes and imagine those kids the stork is bringing us. Now that I know I want kids, I get really happy when I think about having them.

  I fall asleep, and when I wake up, we’re back in California. Garret’s leaning over, looking out the window.

  “We’re almost there.” He rubs my hand. “See? It wasn’t so bad, was it?”

  “The plane? No, it was good. But isn’t this against the rules? I mean, isn’t taking your dad’s plane like taking his money?”

  “He’s not giving it to us. He’s just letting us use it.”

  “I know, but still.”

  “If it wasn’t okay, he wouldn’t have let us use it. Besides, I get the feeling they won’t be as strict on the rules now that they know who you are.”

  I smile. “I thought we weren’t talking about them anymore.”

  “You’re right. We’re not. Talk about something else.”

  I glance out the window and see nothing but tree tops. “I’m getting nervous.”

  “Don’t be. The landing is as smooth as the takeoff. My dad has really good pilots.”

  I feel the plane starting its descent. I sit back and close my eyes and feel Garret’s lips on mine. He’s distracting me so I relax during the landing. And it works. I get so into his kiss, I barely notice the wheels touching down.

  When the plane comes to a stop, I open my eyes and see Garret smiling at me. “We’re home. You ready to go?”

  “Yeah.” I smile back, realizing that we really are home. This is our home. We’re going to stay here in California and build a house and have a family.

  After all the obstacles that have been thrown at us, I was starting to think that our dream would never happen. But now I feel like it finally will. Garret and I are going to have what we always wanted. A life together. Without any more interference.

  “Jade, are you coming?” Garret’s standing in the aisle of the plane, looking down at me in my seat.

  I stand up and hug him. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.” He kisses me. “Let’s go home.”

  Home. Garret and I have a home. Together. And I finally feel like nobody’s going to take it away from us.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  38

  GARRET

  Wednesday morning, Jade and I drive to LA and check into the hotel we got downtown. I wore a baseball cap and sunglasses and so far nobody’s recognized me. I don’t think anyone will, but Jade’s all worried about it.

  We meet up with Sean and Harper at Sean’s apartment. It’s a small one bedroom, not much different than the one he had in Connecticut. As soon as we get there, Harper takes Jade out to the patio and tells Sean and me to stay away so they can have girl talk. Whenever she says that, it always makes me wonder what this ‘girl talk’ is exactly. I’m guessing they’re talking about Sean and me.

  “So how’s it going?” I ask Sean, taking a seat on his couch.

  “Couldn’t be any better.” He’s got this huge grin on his face, showing off his dimples. “I got my girl back. And now she’s living with me.”

  “What’s going on with her and her parents?”

  “She’s talking to her mom and her sisters, but not her dad. She’s waiting for him to call, but so far, she hasn’t heard anything. Her mom and sisters moved back to the house and Kiefer moved out. I think Kelly’s going to divorce him.”

  “Have you seen her family since you guys got back together?”

  “Yeah, we went to her house last night and picked up some of her stuff. Kelly was really nice to me. She apologized for how she acted before, so I guess it’s just Harper’s dad who hates me.”

  Sean never did tell me that he was threatened and attacked in the park that day. But he must assume Kiefer was behind it, which is the only explanation that would make sense, since Sean doesn’t know about the organization.

  “So are you and Harper back to the place you were before you broke up?”

  His grin gets even wider. “Better than that. I finally feel like we’re in the same place. Like we want the same thing.”

  “That’s great.”

  “Hey, for New Year’s Eve, do you care if we go to my restaurant for dinner? I know we didn’t talk about it, but I really want to take you guys there.”

  “Sure, that’s fine. Whatever you want.”

  “Good, because I already reserved one of their best tables. It’s a really upscale place. It’s hard to get reservations.”

  “Then I’m surprised your boss let you have the table. He must really like you.”

  “Yeah. Something like that.” He’s still got that huge freaking grin on his face.

  I’m happy for him. He’s back to his old self and b
ack with the girl he loves.

  We turn the TV on and watch sports news until Harper and Jade finally come inside. Whenever they get together it’s like they were never apart. The miles between them the past few months didn’t change their friendship at all.

  The next day we go to the Santa Monica Pier, walk around Griffith Park, and check out some other tourist spots. Nobody’s recognized me, so maybe my fame is over. Or it could be the baseball cap, which Jade keeps insisting I wear.

  On Friday, New Year’s Eve, Jade and I spend the morning on our own, then meet up with Sean and Harper in the afternoon and hang out at their apartment until dinner.

  Sean’s been acting strange since we got here. Usually, he and I just sit and talk or watch TV while Jade and Harper do their thing, but today he can’t sit still. He keeps getting up, walking around, going to the kitchen and back. It’s like he’s had too much caffeine.

  During dinner, he’s still acting that way. We’re at the restaurant he works at, seated at a table that’s set off on its own with lighted greenery all around it. It’s a fancy place and I’m sure it’s really expensive. I don’t know how expensive because they don’t list the prices on the menu. That doesn’t bother me, but it drives Jade crazy. She can’t understand why even rich people wouldn’t want to know what they’re paying for their meal. But the food was excellent so it’s worth whatever it costs.

  When the waiter gives us the dessert menus, Sean says, “Forget the menus. I made a special dessert for everyone. I need to go in the kitchen and finish it.”

  Harper looks at him funny. “When did you make dessert? We’ve been together all day.”

  “I made it yesterday when I came into work for a few hours.” He gets up from the table.

  “What kind of dessert is it?” Harper asks.

  He kisses her. “You’ll see. I’ll be right back.”

  Jade sets her dessert menu down. “You’d think the chef who’s working tonight could just finish the dessert for Sean.”

  Harper shrugs. “Sean’s all about presentation. He probably wants to make sure it looks right on the plate.”