Page 11 of Promising You
Garret shakes his head as he sets his fork down on his plate. “I thought we’d just take the train.”
“You need to take the car service, Garret. You have the number. Just tell them what time to be here.”
“But the train is fine, Dad. Really.”
“I insist that you take the car service.” Mr. Kensington’s commanding tone seems to imply we don’t have a choice.
“Fine. Whatever. We’ll take the car service.”
“And if you’re going to be in Times Square during the New Year’s celebrations, you’ll take one of our security guards with you.”
Garret’s dad is starting to scare me. Is New York City really that bad? He makes it sound like there are people waiting to attack us on every corner. Now I’m wondering if we should even go.
“Dad, we’re not going to be on the street when the ball drops. Jade doesn’t like being around a lot of noise.”
I feel my face heating up. My fear of loud noises is not supposed to be public knowledge.
“It’s really more about the crowds,” I say. “I don’t want to be jammed in with all those people.”
“Still, I think you should take Brian with you, Garret. Just in case you run into any trouble.”
“We’re not taking a security guy with us. Nothing’s going to happen. We’ll be in tourist areas the whole time.”
Mr. Kensington doesn’t push the topic any further. He picks up his fork and starts eating his meal. The table is silent until Lilly starts telling everyone about the game she and I played earlier in the day.
After dinner, Garret and I go in the theater room and watch a movie with Lilly. She’s so happy getting all this attention from her brother and me.
“Do you have to leave?” she asks Garret when the movie’s over.
“It’s just for a few days. I’ll be back on Friday.”
“But Jade’s not coming back.” She comes over and climbs up on my lap. Even after hanging out with Lilly all this time, I’m still not used to the way she just invades my personal space. She’s always grabbing my hand and hugging me and messing with my hair. It’s fine because it’s Lilly, but I don’t think I could take it with some other kid.
“Jade, please don’t go. Please.” She hugs me as tight as her little arms can.
“We can still play tomorrow,” I tell her. “Garret and I don’t leave until Tuesday.”
“When will I see you again?”
“I’m not sure.” I glance at Garret to answer.
“Jade has to go home for a couple weeks. And then school starts. But we’ll stop by some weekend and see you, okay?”
She releases her hold on me and turns to Garret, pouting and slumping her shoulders. “That’s like forever. And you always say you’ll come home and you never do.” She crosses her arms like she’s mad at him.
“I promise I’ll come home more. And I’ll bring Jade with me.”
“No, you won’t. You’re just saying that.” She repositions herself on my lap and hugs me again, resting her head on my shoulder. “I’ll give you all my toys if you stay here, Jade.”
I mouth the words “help me” to Garret. He just smiles and shakes his head, leaving me to come up with a response.
“Lilly, I think you should keep your toys. That way they’ll already be here when I come over to play with you. And I promise I’ll come see you.”
She sits up and looks at me like she’s not sure she believes me. Then she hops off my lap and runs out of the room.
“Thanks a lot, Garret,” I say to him. “Why didn’t you help me out? She’syoursister.”
“She didn’t offermeall her toys. Besides, I wanted to see what you’d say.”
