Page 199 of Promising You
“It’ll make a lot of people angry.”
“But their plan for Garret doesn’t even start until the fall.”
“Yes, but time and effort is being put forth now in anticipation of that.”
“All the more reason to get this started immediately.”
“We have to change the minds of more than half of the members. That’s never happened before.”
“I know the realities of this, Arlin.” Pearce looks across his desk at Garret and for the first time ever I see real emotion in Garret’s dad. He usually acts so strong and stoic. Even when Garret was shot, he kept his emotions hidden. But now he looks panicked, fearful, and furious that his son’s future is being taken away.
“We’re doing this,” Pearce announces, his eyes still on Garret. “If you don’t want to be involved, Arlin, I understand.”
I look at Arlin, hoping he was serious when he told me he’d do anything to help me.
“If that’s your decision, then tell me what you need and I’ll take care of it,” Arlin says. “In fact, it’s probably best if I manage the operations side of this instead of you. If you get caught, Pearce, well . . . you know what will happen.”
“What?” Garret asks. “What will happen?”
Pearce ignores the question. “Arlin, let’s talk specifics later.”
I glance at Garret who seems just as surprised as me that his dad actually wants to do this. I was prepared for him to list all the reasons why it wouldn’t work. But now I’m thinking maybe it will.
CHAPTERFORTY-SIX
Everyone’squiet for a moment and then Arlin says, “If they let your son go, Pearce, they’ll have to find a different way to punish you for what you did to Royce.”
Pearce nods. “Yes. I’m aware of that.”
“Like what?” Garret asks his dad. “What do you think they’ll do to you?”
“It doesn’t matter. That’s not a concern right now.”
“There will be other consequences as well.” Arlin turns to Garret. “You’re destroying your reputation by doing this. You won’t be able to take over Kensington Chemical. The board would never allow it.”
“Garret hadn’t planned to do that anyway.” When Pearce says it he doesn’t even seem mad about it. I’m starting to see that Pearce really does want his son to be happy. A few months ago I never would’ve believed that.
Arlin continues lecturing Garret. “Finding any type of job will be difficult with these indiscretions in your past. You may even find it hard to get into an MBA program.”
“I know.” Garret acts like he’s already considered that, but I hadn’t even thought about it.
“And you realize that you can’t see Jade while this is going on,” Pearce says. “They might be watching you and being with her would put her in danger. You two will need to pretend to break up and then have limited contact until this is over.”
“So I can’t talk to him?” I ask.
“You can talk to him like you would talk to any other student, but you have to avoid doing anything that would indicate you’re still together. You need to treat Garret like an ex-boyfriend. One who’s seeing other girls and doing things you don’t approve of. This is an acting job. For all of us. I plan to do my part as well.”
“Are you saying I can stay at Moorhurst? You’re not taking my scholarship away?”
“Arlin and I discussed this before you came in and we agreed that sending you home in the middle of the semester would draw suspicion from your classmates, your professors, as well as Frank and Ryan. We think it’s best if you stay at Moorhurst, but pretend that you and Garret are no longer together. And don’t worry about your scholarship. Your tuition, room and board have already been paid through the end of the year. But after this semester, Arlin has asked if he could fund the rest of your education. That’s something the two of you can discuss later.”
I glance at Arlin, then back at Pearce.
“But I thought the organization wanted me to leave. Isn’t that why you were sending me home on Monday?”
“As long as you stay away from Garret, they won’t care that you’re still at Moorhurst. So you need to make it clear to everyone that you’re not dating him and are not even friends with him.”
“Can I tell anyone that we’re not really broken up? Like my friend, Harper?”
