Page 46 of Promising You
“Did you see her while I was gone?”
“No. We only talked on the phone. And I had no idea she was coming to Connecticut, so I was surprised when you said she wanted to meet.” He pauses. “Jade, I don’t want this thing with Sadie to come between us. I thought I was doing the right thing helping her out like this. The first time she called she sounded so upset and I felt guilty because of, well, you know.”
Thinking about it, I guess it makes sense that Garret felt he had to help her. His dad killed Sadie’s father, Royce Sinclair. The man who is alsomyfather. It’s still hard to believe that Sadie is my half sister and she doesn’t even know it.
Garret continues. “We only talked a few times that week you were gone. The first time was for about an hour and then the other times were short, maybe 10 or 15 minutes. And we haven’t texted that much. You can check my phone if you want. You can read the texts and see when she called and how long we talked. And I swear, Jade, I never went to see her. You can ask my dad. He’ll tell you I was home that whole week you were gone.”
I’m not sure if I should believe him. I could check his phone, like he said, but I don’t want to. I don’t want to be the jealous girlfriend. And I really do want to believe him.
“You can’t keep hiding stuff from me, Garret. You know I have problems trusting people. Even you. And then you hide this from me and I feel like I’ll never be able to trust you.”
“If you don’t want me to talk to her anymore, I won’t.”
“She wants to get back together with you. She’s not going to stop calling you. She won’t give up that easily.”
“She has a boyfriend. She doesn’t want to get back together with me. She just wanted to talk.”
“Why can’t she talk to someone else? I thought you only dated her for two months. You can’t be that great of friends.”
“No, but I understand what she’s going through.”
“Because your mom died?”
“It’s more than that. Whenever I asked anything about my mom’s plane crash, people brushed me off. I never got answers. Sadie’s describing the same thing. She can’t understand why her dad would kill himself, so she keeps asking questions but doesn’t get answers. You and I know what really happened to her dad, but she doesn’t.”
The raindrops pelt harder against the window of the car. They almost sound angry. As I listen to them, I think about Sadie and what she’s going through. To her, Sinclair was probably a loving father. It’s hard for me to imagine that, given what he did to my mother and me. But he lived a double life. Sadie only knew the good Sinclair, so of course she’s upset. Still, I don’t like her confiding in Garret. There’s a history between them and no matter what Garret says, I don’t believe that Sadie only sees him as a friend.
“What do you want me to do?” Garret squeezes my hand to get my attention. “I won’t fight with you about this. It’s not worth it.”
“I feel bad for her, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for you two to keep talking like this. What if you accidentally let something slip out about what really happened to her dad? Plus, she’s my half sister. And your ex. That makes this whole thing really weird.”
“All good points. I should’ve just told her I couldn’t talk to her. She should be talking to Evan about this. Or one of her friends.”
My eyes focus on the water droplets streaming down the window, racing each other to the bottom of the glass. “I’m sorry I accused you like that, but when I saw her face pop up on your phone it was an automatic response.”
“I know, and I totally get that. And what you said earlier was true. If the situation was reversed, I’d react way worse than you just did when you saw Sadie calling me.”
The rain is now coming down even harder and the cold air is starting to turn it into an icy sleet. I zip up my coat and pull my hood over my head. “We should go. We’re gonna get soaked carrying everything inside.”
He shrugs. “So we’ll stay here until it stops.”
“And do what?”
He slides my hood off and reaches behind my head, bringing my face to his. “Steam up the windows?”
A minute ago I was flaming mad at him and now I’m kissing him. I’ve got to learn to get more control around this guy. But not now. His kisses feel way too good.
The sound of the icy rain hitting the windows is so loud that I almost don’t hear Garret’s phone ringing. When it continues to ring on the floor of the car I pull away from him and pick it up. I don’t even want to see who it’s from.
I hand him the phone. He sighs and shakes his head as he answers. “Hi, Sadie.”
He puts the phone on speaker and Sadie’s voice fills the car. “Hey, Garret. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. Are you back yet?”
“Yeah, I’m back, but—”
“I need to see you. Can we meet somewhere? I’m in New Haven visiting Evan.”
Garret looks at me. “And Evan doesn’t care if you meet up with your ex?”
