Page 19 of Promising You
“Where are we going?”
“I’m taking you to that place I told you about at the top of a hotel. We have a table right by the window. You can see the whole city lit up.”
“When do we get to see the tree?”
My excitement always brings a smile to his face. “We’ll go see the tree after dinner. We can go every night if you want.”
I always tell Garret I don’t care about Christmas, or any other holiday, but he knows it’s a lie. That’s why he brought me here this week. He says we’re here for New Year’s, but I know he wanted me to see all the holiday lights before they take them down. And I’m dying to see the Rockefeller tree.
“Could we have a snack before dinner? I’m starving.”
“Sure. What do you want?” He starts opening cabinets. A bag of potato chips falls out and lands on the floor. “Well, look at that. Your favorite food. What are the odds?”
As I pick up the bag, I notice something stuck between the stove and the cabinet. I reach in and pull it out.
“What’s that?” Garret asks.
“It looks like one of those security badges people use to get in a building.”
Garret sighs and holds his hand out. “Let me see that.”
I hand it to him. He holds it up, staring at the photo. “I knew it was her.”
“What are you talking about?”
“This woman was at the company conference in Houston. The one my dad made me go to.”
“Yeah. So?”
“Remember how I said my dad was having an affair? I didn’t know who the woman was but I was guessing it was her.” He tosses the ID on the counter. “And obviously it is or she wouldn’t have been here.”
“Maybe she was meeting your dad here to go over business stuff.”
“He has an office just down the street. He wouldn’t have business meetings here.”
“Do you know anything about her?”
“She works for an investment firm in DC. That’s all I know.” Garret places the ID badge in one of the kitchen drawers. “When we leave here on Thursday, remind me to set this out on the table so he can see it. I want my dad to know that I know who his mistress is.”
“Why? Are you going to blackmail your dad again?”
“If he starts interfering with us again, then yeah.”
“Maybe your dad should just divorce Katherine. It doesn’t seem like they get along very well.” I consider telling Garret about the fight I overheard but then change my mind.
“He won’t divorce her, because if he does he knows Katherine will try to take Lilly away from him. And he doesn’t want Lilly caught up in a custody battle.” Garret takes the bag of potato chips from me. “Aren’t you gonna eat these?”
“I changed my mind. It’s already 6. I might as well wait for dinner.”
* * *
An hourlater the driver picks us up. Garret has on a suit and tie and I’m wearing my one and only black dress. Katherine gave me a red dress for Christmas which I actually like, but I didn’t want to wear it because it would remind me of her. And the dress Garret bought me for the fundraiser last fall is too formal for dinner. So the black dress is my only option, but seeing it next to Garret’s designer suit, my dress looks really plain and cheap. And I only have one winter coat and it’s sporty not dressy. It doesn’t match the dress at all.
The driver stops on the street in front of the hotel where we’re having dinner. “I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t drop you off at the entrance with all this traffic, unless you want to wait 10 or 15 minutes for it to move.”
“No, this is fine,” Garret says. We get out of the car and join the crowds of people on the sidewalk.
The hotel entrance is about a half a block away. As we’re heading down there, Garret stops suddenly.
