Page 26 of Finding Us
She puts her head on his shoulder and hugs him. “You can’t ever leave again.”
“Lilly, you know I don’t live here anymore. But I promised you I’d visit and here I am. Just like I said.”
“But everything’s sad now.”
Dammit. She’s seriously going to make me cry.
He kisses the side of her head. “What do you mean? Why are you sad?”
“Because you left me. And everything’s sad when you’re gone.”
Okay, now the tears are coming. I wipe the corners of my eyes before the tears let loose down my face.
“I didn’t leave you.” He rubs her back as she hugs him even tighter. “I just live in a different place now.”
“But it’s so far away. And Dad said you’re not coming back.”
“Because I’m going to a different school. I was away at school last year and you weren’t sad then, were you?”
She shakes her head no.
“It’s no different now. I’ll still be away at school. I’ll just be going to a different school. And I’ll still come back and visit you like I did before.”
“It’s not the same,” she says quietly.
Garret lifts her head off his shoulder and looks at her. “Tell me what to do to make you not so sad.”
“I want you back here.”
“Yeah, but I can’t do that, so what else can I do? Do you want me to call you more? Do you want to do that thing where we talk over the computer so we can see each other?”
She nods at both.
He glances over at me. “You want to talk to Jade more?”
She nods really fast at that one.
“What else?”
“I want Daddy home instead of always at work. And I want him and Mom to stop fighting.”
“I can’t promise you that, Lilly, but I’ll talk to him, okay?” He sets her down. “Guess what?” His tone lightens.
“What?” She sounds a little less sad.
“Dad’s ordering pizza for dinner.”
She looks at him funny. She’s probably never had pizza, or at least not takeout pizza. Garret realizes this and tries to explain. “Dad’s getting the same kind of pizza I ate when I was your age. Let’s go downstairs. It’ll be here really soon.”
“Where’s it coming from?” She’s still confused.
“A guy brings it to the house.”
“Why is he making us a pizza?”
“He’s not. Never mind. Let’s just go eat.”
We head downstairs with Lilly still trying to figure out this pizza thing. The girl is richer than most any other girl her age and she’s never had a takeout pizza. And her dad didn’t even know where to get one. Garret’s family is crazy.
