Page 9 of Promising You
I walk over and stand in front of him. “What’s the deal with your dad? Is he involved in something illegal?”
Garret keeps his eyes on his phone. “I really don’t know what he’s involved in.”
“He’s your dad. How could you not know?”
“I’ve seen things, but I don’t know what they mean. And in the past when I’ve asked him he wouldn’t tell me, so I stopped asking.”
“Have you seen him cover up stuff before?”
Garret looks up from his phone. “Why are you so interested in this? It doesn’t matter what he does. I’m nothing like him and I’ll never do whatever it is that he does. So you don’t need to worry about it.”
“If he’s committing crimes, then I don’t want to be around him. I don’t want to be staying at his house.”
“I never said he was doing anything illegal, Jade.”
“He shot someone and didn’t tell the police. That seems illegal to me.”
“The guy was going to kill us!” Garret raises his voice, then lowers it again. “What did you expect my dad to do?”
“Yeah, he did what he had to do, but then he covered it up. How did he do that?”
“He has friends, okay? Let’s just leave it at that.” He looks down at his phone again and swipes the screen. “There’s a movie starting in a hour. You want to go?”
“What did you mean when you said your dad will be punished?”
“I don’t know the whole story. I just overheard my dad talking in his office and it sounded like he’s in some serious shit. And then I heard him telling Katherine it was too dangerous to travel. I don’t know if that’s why she’s mad at him or what.”
“Are you and I in danger?”
“I don’t think so. If we were, he would tell us.” He shoves the phone in his pocket. “Let’s go. You’ve got 10 minutes to get ready.”
He knows 10 minutes isn’t long enough, but he also knows I pride myself on getting ready fast and there’s no way in hell I won’t meet that deadline. He looks down at his watch, taunting me. I sprint down the hall to my room.
We have dinner at an Italian restaurant in town, then see a movie. Garret seems distant the whole time. I think he’s still upset about what happened with Lilly. Not upset with her or me, but with himself for not watching her close enough.
There’s definitely more going on with Garret’s family that he either doesn’t know or isn’t telling me. And I’m not surprised his dad’s in trouble. You can’t just kill a possible presidential candidate and get away with it. Can you?
CHAPTERTHREE
The next morningI call Ryan to tell him I’m coming home.
“Ryan, guess what?” I skip the hello when I hear him answer. He knows who it is.
“Is this a trick question or something? If so, I don’t know the answer.”
“I’m coming home next Saturday. For two whole weeks.”
“That’s great. How’d you manage that?”
“Garret got me a plane ticket.”
“That was nice of him, but I should really pay him back. He already paid to fly you out here once. I’ve been working overtime and have some money saved. Ask him how much I owe him and I’ll write him a check.”
“No, you need that money for school and Frank’s medical bills. I’ve already told Garret I’ll pay him back someday, so don’t worry about it. How’s Frank doing?”
“Better. Did I tell you about the new doctor who started working at the hospital last week?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
