Page 198 of Promising You
“Carson got all this off the Internet?”
“That’s what he made it sound like, but I think his uncle sends him stuff, too. His uncle’s a reporter in Chicago and he’s the one who got Carson interested in this conspiracy stuff. Anyway, Carson said some reporter ended up dead right before he was about to break the story about election fraud. Carson’s convinced that someone from your dad’s secret organization killed the reporter and covered it up. He didn’t say your dad did it, but he implied that your dad does stuff like that—has people killed if they know too much. And that soon you’ll be doing it, too.”
“What did you say when he told you all this?” Garret brings my empty plate to the sink, then takes a plastic container from the counter, opens the lid, and slides it over to me.
“I told him he shouldn’t believe what he reads on the Internet.” The container has homemade cookies inside. I take two chocolate ones and slide the container back.
“Did he believe you?”
“No. But he’ll never believe me. He’s convinced this stuff is going on.” I take a bite of the cookie. So good. Charles makes great cookies.
“That’s a problem, Jade. If he’s that obsessed with me or my family, he could find out what we’re up to with this plan of yours and ruin the whole thing.” Garret goes to put the lid on the container and I reach over and grab one more cookie.
“I’ll deal with him. Maybe we’ll have to make up a conspiracy to post online to keep him occupied. Get him off track.”
“Who knew you were so devious? This is a whole new side of you I’ve never seen.” He smiles as he holds the lid over the cookie container. “You good now?”
“Hmm, maybe one more.” I grab another cookie.
The coffee machine beeps and Garret pours himself a cup.
“I could use some of that,” I say. He gives his full cup to me and pours another one. “So I guess our summer in California is off.”
He comes over and stands in front of me. “It’s not off. Even if I can’t go, you’re still going. I already paid for the place. Harper and Sean will be there, so it’s not like you’ll be alone.”
“I can’t go there with all this going on. Or if it doesn’t work, then—”
“Jade, whatever happens with this, you can’t stop living your life.”
“There’s no way I can go live in California without—”
He presses his lips to mine, then pulls away just slightly. “No matter what happens, you’re going to live on the beach this summer. You’ve been looking forward to this ever since we first talked about it and you’re not going to miss out because of me.”
Just the thought of being there without him makes my eyes watery, but I don’t want to cry so I try to lighten the mood. “You’ve seen Harper and Sean together. They can’t keep their hands off each other. I can’t watch that all summer.”
He tucks my hair behind my ear. “Then bring some books and read on the beach. Or take a nap under an umbrella and listen to the waves.”
I force out a half-smile, refusing to cry. “Maybe you’ll still be able to go.”
“I don’t think so. Our plan may take a while to have an effect which means the final vote will probably get delayed into the summer. Come on. Let’s go talk to my dad.”
He helps me down off the tall stool. “How’s your knee? With so much going on I forgot to ask.”
“It’s better. I’m ready to go running again.”
He puts his arm around me and leads me out of the kitchen. “You’re not going running. We have enough problems to deal with. We don’t need you tearing your knee open again.”
As we get near Pearce’s office we hear him talking to someone, so we stop just outside his door. Pearce sees us waiting. “Come on in. We were just discussing some things.”
We walk in and Arlin is sitting there. He gets up when he sees me. “Jade honey, it’s good to see you.” He hugs me, which is still strange, but I let him. I’m not okay with him calling me ‘honey’ either, but he’s old and that’s probably what old people do.
“What are you doing here?” I ask him.
“I came to check on you and give you a ride back to school, but Pearce said we needed to discuss some things first. He said something about an idea you had.”
I explain the idea to them. They both listen, not asking any questions.
When I’m done, Pearce looks over at Arlin. “I think it’s worth a try. What do you think?”
