Page 12 of Promising You
“Obviously she didn’t like what I said. She just ran off.”
“She always runs off like that. Don’t take it personally.” He reaches over and holds my hand. “You’re good with kids, Jade. You’ll make a great mom someday.”
I shudder. “Ugh. No way I’m having kids. Don’t even joke about it.”
“Come on. Don’t you want a mini you?” He smiles. “Or a mini me?”
A smaller version of him would be pretty damn cute.
“No. Absolutely not. Now stop talking about it. Your marriage comments are bad enough.”
Lilly runs back into the room, carrying a doll, a pen, and a piece of paper. She puts the doll in my lap. “You can take Katy home with you so you’ll remember me.” She gives me the piece of paper and pen. “Sign this.”
I read the paper. Garret leans over to read it, too. It says, “I, Jade Taylor, promise to come play with Lilly Kensington.” There’s a line under it where I’m supposed to sign.
“Did Dad write that for you?” Garret asks her.
She nods, keeping her eye on the paper. “Will you sign it, Jade?”
“Um, okay.” I sign the paper and give it back to her. She hugs me quick then runs off again.
“You sure you wanted to sign that?” Garret asks. “Now you’re stuck playing with her for the rest of your life.”
“I’m not too worried about it.” I set the doll down. “Although I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with Katy.”
“Just stick her in your closet at school. Lilly will never know.” He pulls me up from my chair. “Let’s go plan our trip to New York.”
We spend the rest of the night making a list of all the things we want to see and figuring out what we’ll have time to do.
Before heading to bed, Garret invites me to come to his room later for a little late night fun but I turn him down. I don’t like doing it with his parents home. Plus we’ll have plenty of time for that when we’re in New York.
I spend most of Monday doing stuff with Lilly while Garret has more physical therapy. Katherine keeps stopping by to check on Lilly, and each time she does, she reminds me that Lilly can play by herself. She almost seems angry that I’m playing with her daughter. I have no idea why. You’d think she’d be happy about it. I don’t get Katherine at all.
The next morning I wake up at 5 a.m. and can’t get back to sleep. I’m really thirsty, so I decide to sneak down to the kitchen to get a drink. As I’m tiptoeing down the long hallway, I hear Mr. and Mrs. Kensington talking in their room. It sounds like they’re arguing. I know I shouldn’t, but I walk quietly to the end of the hall where their room is and listen.
“If you’d never brought her here we wouldn’t have this problem.” Katherine’s speaking, but it doesn’t sound like her. Her voice is usually monotone, expressing zero emotion. But now her voice is full of emotion—all anger.
“You know the circumstances. We owed Sinclair a favor.” Unlike his wife, Mr. Kensington sounds very calm.
“YOU owed Sinclair. I didn’t. And I told you not to allow that trashy girl into our lives. She’s caused nothing but problems since she arrived.”
“She’s not trashy. She came from a bad home, but that wasn’t her fault. She’s very smart. And very driven. She’s excelling at Moorhurst. And she’s been an excellent influence on Garret. He was completely out of control before she came into his life. Now look at him. He stopped drinking. He’s doing well in school. He’s acting responsible for once. You can’t deny the positive effect she’s had on him.”
“Garret is your concern, Pearce. Not mine.”
Pearce? I guess I never knew Mr. Kensington’s first name.
“How can you act that way after all these years? Like you have no concern at all for Garret? That boy has never done anything to you and yet you continue to reject him. You’ve never even tried to get to know him.”
“And how was I supposed to get to know him? He’s been drunk for most our marriage. And don’t you dare blame me for that! He got that way because of you.”
Mr. Kensington’s voice gets louder. “He GOT that way because I gave all my attention to YOU! You demanded it from the second we got married. Making me take you on trips without him. Forcing me to attend your ridiculous society events every night. I was never here for him. You did everything in your power to keep me from having a relationship with my son!”
There’s a long silence. I stand there frozen in place, afraid they’ll hear me if I move.
Katherine clears her throat. “I don’t want that girl near my daughter. If you insist on letting her come to this house, she is not to see Lilly.”
“Lilly enjoys spending time with Jade. And Jade is very good with her. There’s no need to keep the two of them apart.”
