Page 110 of Promising You
“I love it, but it’s way too much.”
Katherine comes out, dressed in a white suit, her dark red lips struggling to form a smile. “Jade, I’m so glad you’re okay.”
There’s not even a hint of sincerity in her tone. It sounds like Garret’s dad gave her a script to follow.
“We were all so worried about you.” She steps right in front of me, her eyes full of anger and resentment as they look directly at mine, barely blinking. “Thank you for finding my daughter. Words can’t express my gratitude.” She puts her hands on my shoulders and loosely hugs me, making my whole body tense up.
“Can Jade have dinner with us?” Lilly asks her mom.
“No, Lilly. She needs to get back to school.”
“Okay.” Lilly hugs me again, not as tight this time. “Bye, Jade. I hope you get better.”
“Thanks, Lilly.”
She goes inside with Katherine.
I turn to Garret’s dad. “Thank you for the car, but you really didn’t need to do that.”
“We’ll keep it in the garage until you’re able to drive. And if you need anything, please let us know. Garret, you have the physician’s number?”
“Yeah, he gave it to me before we left.”
“Good. Well, I’ll let you two get back to campus.” Mr. Kensington goes inside.
I stand there in the driveway, staring at the car, still not believing it’s mine.
“You want to take a look inside?” Garret asks.
“Are you kidding? Of course I do.” I slowly make my way over there. “I’m guessing you picked it out?”
“Hey, I tried to get you to tell me what kind of car you wanted and you gave me nothing. Not even an idea.”
“A BMW, Garret? You couldn’t have picked something cheaper?”
“They’re good cars. And I know you like mine.”
“Yeah, but it’s too much. Why did they do this?”
“To thank you for finding Lilly. My dad would’ve done even more, but I told him the car was enough. I knew you’d get mad if he did more than that.”
“What else did he want to do?”
“Write you a check. He knows you never have spending money.”
“How much was he going to write it for?”
“Ten thousand.”
I almost trip on my crutches. “He was going to give me ten thousand dollars? In addition to the car?”
He shrugs. “It’s not that much, Jade. You did save his daughter.”
“That’s like a million dollars to me! I’m glad you told him no. I couldn’t accept that. The car is more than enough. How much did this cost, anyway?”
“I’m not telling you. If I did, you’d never drive it.”
He opens the door and helps me inside. I breathe in the new car smell as I feel the buttery soft leather seats. I wrap my hands around the steering wheel, imagining myself driving it.
