Page 16 of Promising You
The car service arrives promptly at 9. We get in the back seat of a black luxury sedan with dark tinted windows. Why do all car services use the same type of car? It’s just like in the movies. Do rich people only ride in black luxury sedans with tinted windows?
“What did the doctor say?” I ask Garret as we drive away.
“He said it’s healing really fast. After he gave me a shot for the pain he gave me another shot to help speed new tissue growth. He said it should feel a lot better in a week or so.” He wraps his hand around mine. “Just in time for me to come see you in Des Moines.”
“Where is your doctor from? Does he have an office in town?”
“No, he’s more of a consultant-type of doctor. He works with private clients.” Garret gazes out the side window.
“I’ve never heard of a doctor like that. Is he your family doctor?”
Garret shifts in his seat. “I don’t want to talk about doctors right now. Let’s talk about where you want to go for lunch.”
He starts telling me about some of the restaurants we could try in New York, but my mind is still on his doctor. He’s not a normal doctor, and neither are the other three men who took Garret away after he was shot. Well, they’re probably real doctors but they know about the cover-up of Sinclair’s death, which means they’re somehow part of whatever it was that happened that day. They saw everything.
I really want to know what’s going on with these doctors, but whenever the topic comes up Garret changes the subject, like he did just now.
* * *
We getto Mr. Kensington’s apartment midmorning. It’s on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, which Garret says is the rich, fancy part of town. A doorman greets us in the lobby. Well, he greets Garret. He doesn’t seem that interested in me. They spend a few minutes talking before we head upstairs.
The apartment has an open floor plan with the kitchen and living room all together in one space. It has a very masculine feel, decorated with dark wood furniture, a black leather couch, and leather chairs. The kitchen cabinets are a dark brown, almost black color, and are surrounded by stainless steel appliances.
Garret takes me down the hall and shows me two bedrooms, one big and one small.
“Do you and Lilly share a room when you come here?” I ask him.
“This isn’t really a family apartment. It’s just for my dad when he’s here for work. Sometimes Katherine stays here, but she prefers to stay in a hotel where she has people waiting on her. The second bedroom was for me. My dad thought the two of us would have father-son weekends in the city. Go to a ball game or a museum. But that never happened. As you can tell, we’re not exactly close.”
Knowing that Katherine was the reason for that only makes me hate her more. Garret and his dad would actually get along if it weren’t for her. And Garret probably wouldn’t have drank away his teen years.
“This place is smaller than I thought it would be,” I say as we walk back to the living room.
“My dad doesn’t need much space. He’s not here that much. Besides, Manhattan real estate costs a fortune. This place was $5 million and that was 7 years ago.”
I almost choke when he says it. “Dollars? Five million dollars?”
“That’s normal for this neighborhood.” He picks up a remote control on the living room table and clicks a button that opens the blinds on the windows.
“That’s a lot of money. That’s gotta be more than your house cost.”
“Uh. No. The house cost a lot more than that.” He sets the remote down and goes into the kitchen.
I’m not sure how much “a lot more” is and I don’t ask. I can’t even comprehend numbers that big. And to think that they have five more houses and two more apartments. Where do they get all this money?
CHAPTERFIVE
“Doyou want some water or a soda?” Garret opens the large stainless steel refrigerator which is stocked with food and drinks.
“Why do you have all that stuff in there? Did your dad stay here recently?”
“I had it stocked for us. We have a service where you just order what you want and they stock the apartment for you. Not just food, but anything. Do you need anything? Because I can call them right now.”
“No, I don’t need anything.” I take a soda from the fridge. “Why did you hire people to buy this stuff? Couldn’t we just go buy it ourselves?”
“We could, but why waste time doing that when we could just use the service?”
“Garret, I think you’ve been around your family too much. You’re starting to act like them.”
