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CHAPTER ELEVEN

JADE

My mind wandered all through psych class. I don’t even know what today’s lecture was about. I kept thinking about pregnancy and babies. And then I thought about going to see that counselor tomorrow and I felt sick to my stomach. At least Garret will be there. If I can’t come up with anything to say, I’ll make him do the talking.

Then I started thinking about that burglary and how it never happened and the fake cop who came to our door. I don’t even want to know what that’s about. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s the organization trying to scare us and make us think we’re not safe. To let us know they’re still in charge and can get to us whenever they want.

The organization is all about faking stuff and making it look real. Fake videos, fake photos, fake stories in the news. Why not a fake crime and a fake cop? It’s exactly what they would do.

I’m sure Garret’s thinking the same thing. He just doesn’t want to say it because he thinks it’ll scare me. But I’m not going to let it. The organization can’t do anything to Garret. It’s over. His reputation was destroyed last spring, so he’ll never be able to be president. They have no use for him now. If the organization is behind this made-up robbery, then it’s just another mind game, like when Roth showed up the week before our wedding.

But if that’s true, then why doesn’t Pearce know about it? As a member, you’d think he would’ve at least heard something about it. Or William might’ve heard something. I know he doesn’t know me that well, but I think if he knew they were trying to scare us, he’d tell me. Or maybe not. I’m still not sure if I can trust him.

I’m at the coffee shop now. I just sat down and Sara sees me and comes over to my table.

“Hey, I was hoping you’d stop by.”

“So? How was your date last Friday?”

“It was okay.” She’s smiling, but doesn’t seem that excited.

“It didn’t go well, did it? Did he walk out on you? Because if he did, give me his number so I can call and yell at him.”

“He didn’t walk out. We spent an hour there. The first half hour was great. We have a lot in common. We like the same music. We have the same taste in movies. We got along really well.”

“And then you told him about Caleb.”

She sighs. “Yes. It’s not like he reacted badly. He was just really surprised.”

“What did he say?”

“After the shock wore off, he asked me about Caleb. But I did what you said and made sure not to overdo it on the Caleb stuff.” She laughs. “Even though Caleb did the cutest thing the other day and I was dying to tell someone. But I didn’t tell him. I just answered his questions and that was it.”

“So what happens now? Are you going to see him again?”

“He suggested we just hang out as friends and see how it goes.”

“That’s good, right?”

“It’s what I need right now, so yeah. As much as I’d love to have a guy in my life who’s more than a friend, my focus needs to be on Caleb. And if I ever do get a boyfriend, he has to understand that. Otherwise it won’t work.”

“Garret and I were friends for months before we started dating. Sometimes I think it’s better to start out as friends. It gives you time to get to know each other before you get more serious. So when are you going out with this guy again?”

“Friday night.”

“Friday night is date night, Sara. You sure you’re just friends?”

“Yes.” She gets up and checks the counter for customers, then sits down again. “It’s not a date. We’re just going to an outdoor movie at the park.”

“That sounds fun. Maybe Garret and I will go. What’s the movie?”

“It’s a comedy. I can’t remember the name of it. Alex said I should bring Caleb but I don’t know if I will.”

“It was nice of him to suggest it.”

“Yeah, it was.” She smiles. “And I don’t think he was just saying it to be polite. He acted like he really wanted me to bring him.”

“I have an idea. Bring Caleb on Friday night, and Garret and I will be there and if you want some alone time with Alex, I’ll watch Caleb for you.”

“Hmm. I don’t know. I don’t want Alex to think I’m pushing him to be more than friends.”

“He won’t. I’ll just come over and ask if I can play with Caleb. He won’t think anything of it.”

“You should talk to Garret first. He might want to do something else on Friday night.”

“Sara, we’re going. And we won’t spy on you. We’ll sit far away.”

“You don’t have to do that. I’m just friends with Alex, remember?”

“Yeah, but you still don’t want Garret and me hanging around. You need time to get to know this guy.”

“This is starting to feel more and more like a date. It’s making me nervous.”

“Relax. It’s not a date. You’re just going to the park and all you have to do is talk. It’s just like when you had coffee with him last week.”

“Yeah, but that was in the afternoon. This is Friday night. Like you said, Friday night is date night. I haven’t been out on a Friday night with a guy since dating Caleb’s dad.”

“Hey, speaking of Caleb’s dad, were you dating him while you were pregnant?”

“No. He dumped me as soon as he found out.”

“So you had to go through your pregnancy all alone?”

“Pretty much. But he let me stay at his apartment until I saved up enough money to get my own. We didn’t do anything though. It was strictly platonic. I slept on his couch.”

“He made a pregnant woman sleep on the couch?”

She shrugs. “It was fine. I didn’t care. It was better than being homeless.”

“Was he around when Caleb was born? Did he go to the hospital with you?”

“No, but my mom was there. She was living with her boyfriend at the time. I called her and asked if she’d come to the hospital and, surprisingly, she showed up. But then right after Caleb was born, she left town and I haven’t heard from her since.”

“So when you were in labor, where was Caleb’s dad? Just sitting at home?”

“It was during spring break. He went on a trip with his friends. ”

“I probably shouldn’t say this since I don’t know him, but I hate that guy.”

She bursts out laughing. “Yeah, I hate him, too. I have to go back to work. You want coffee?”

“No, I’m going home.” I stand up, slinging my backpack over my shoulder. “I just stopped by to say hi and see how your date went.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” She goes over to the table next to me, where some students just sat down.

When I get home, Garret pulls in the driveway right behind me. I meet him by his car.

“Guess what we’re doing Friday night?” I give him a kiss.

“Going to a movie?” He takes my backpack from me, then grabs his from the car and we walk to the door.

“How’d you know?”

“Because that’s what we always do on Friday night.”

I unlock the door and we go inside. “This time we’re going to an outdoor movie at the park. Sara and Alex are going too.”

“So it’s a double date?” Garret drops our backpacks on the floor, then grabs me around the waist and pulls me to the couch, setting me on his lap.

“No, they’re just friends.”

Garret kisses my neck in the spot that always tickles.

I squirm, laughing. “Would you stop? I’m trying to talk to you here.”

He sighs. “Go ahead.”

“When they went out for coffee last week they got along really well, but when she told him about Caleb, he suggested they take things slow and just hang out as friends. She really likes him but she understands why he just wants to be friends, at least for now. Anyway, we aren’t going to sit with them.”

“Why not?”

“Because they need some alone time. And Sara’s bringing Caleb to introduce him to Alex but we’re going to watch him for a little while so they can be alone.”

“You just said they’re not dating. You don’t need alone time if you’re not dating.”

“If they have some alone time, maybe they’ll become more than just friends.”

“Jade, are you trying to play matchmaker? Because maybe Sara doesn’t want that.”

“Oh, she wants it. She definitely wants it.” I realize how that sounds and correct myself. “I don’t mean sex. I mean she wants Alex to be more than just a friend.”

“Are you sure it’s not you who wants that?”

“Okay, so maybe I do, but she wants it, too. I know she does.”

He rolls his eyes, smiling. “I swear, you just can’t help yourself. First Sean and Harper. Now Alex and Sara. You want everyone to be a couple.”

I loop my arms around his neck. “I just want them to be happy and in love, like we are. What’s wrong with that?”

He’s still smiling as he tucks my hair behind my ear. “Nothing’s wrong with it. It’s just funny that the girl who didn’t even want a boyfriend last year is now married and wants everyone else to be.”

“Yeah, well, that’s your fault. You turned me into a hopeless romantic. I don’t know how you did it, but you did and now I can’t help myself.”

He leans in and presses his lips to mine, giving me soft kisses as his hand moves behind my neck, gently massaging it. It feels really good. And I’d love for it to go farther but it can’t. Not today.

I pull away from the kiss. “We need to stop.”

He looks concerned. “It’s too soon after what happened, isn’t it? I’m sorry, Jade. Take as much time as you need.”

“No, it’s not about that. I got my period right before class.”

“Oh. Well, that’s good, right?”

“Yeah, it’s good. The doctor said it might happen. But it means I’m off limits for the next few days, so don’t be kissing me like that.”

“Like what?” He says it over my lips, then kisses me, doing this thing he does with his tongue that always makes me want to have sex with him.

I push on his chest but he doesn’t move as he continues the kiss. When I’m at the point where I’d normally be racing him to the bedroom, he pulls away and says, “You mean like that?”

I look at him, annoyed. “Yes, like that. Dammit, Garret! Why did you do that? Now I’ll be thinking about sex until we can do it again.”

“There are worse things you could think of. I think I did you a favor.”

I roll my eyes at him. “Yeah, thanks.”

“I need to go to the pool. You want to go with me?”

“No, I’ll stay here. How long will you be gone?”

“An hour.”

“I’ll make dinner while you’re gone so we can eat when you get home.”

He gives me this wary look. “You’re making dinner?”

“I thought I’d make pizza. We bought those new crusts last week. I want to see if they’re any good.”

“I could just bring home a pizza.”

I punch him. “Are you trying to say you don’t trust me to make a pizza?”

“Well, after the lasagna incident…” He’s trying not to laugh. He’s referring to his birthday dinner, in which I tried to make lasagna and it turned out so bad we couldn’t even eat it.

I huff. “That was one time. And lasagna is very hard to make. Pizza is easy. I just have to put toppings on the crust and bake it. A child could do that.”

“I don’t know, Jade. Why don’t I just pick one up from that pizza place by campus?” Now he’s laughing and it’s making me laugh.

“Hey! I used to make dinner for Frank and Ryan all the time and they never complained.”

He slides me off his lap and gets up. “I need to go, but good luck with the pizza.”

“You don’t have to eat it, you know.” I yell it since he’s now in the bedroom. “I’ll just make it for myself. You can make your own dinner.”

“I’m kidding.” He reappears with his gym bag, kissing me on his way to the door. “I’m sure dinner will be great. Love you. I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay. Have fun.”

He leaves, but then comes right back in. “Here’s the mail.” He holds up a stack of envelopes. “You got a letter from your high school. What’s that about?”

I jump up from the couch and take it from him. “It’s probably from my algebra teacher. He wants me to speak at this event. I forgot to get back to him.” I open the envelope and inside is a letter from my teacher, reminding me about the event and asking me to call him.

“I didn’t know you were speaking at an event.” Garret closes the door and drops his gym bag. “What’s the event?”

“It’s an afternoon of motivational speakers. It’s for this organization that helps out young women who are struggling to move forward. Most of them came from homes like mine. This group helps them find jobs, or get whatever training they need for work. Stuff like that. My teacher is one of the volunteers. I need to call and tell him I’m not speaking.”

“Why aren’t you speaking?”

“Because I have nothing to say.” I put the letter on the table with the other mail.

“You have all kinds of things to say. Call him and tell him you’ll do it.”

“Are you crazy? I hate public speaking. I get super nervous. And what would I say to these people?”

“Tell them how you got to be where you are. Tell them how you got to be valedictorian. And how working hard got you a scholarship for college.”

“I didn’t get the scholarship for working hard.”

“My dad would’ve given you that scholarship even if Royce wasn’t involved. You impressed him, and he’s very hard to impress.”

“Why would these girls want to listen to anything I had to say?”

“Because you’re inspiring. Despite all the obstacles you had, you were still driven to succeed. You set goals and you met those goals. You stayed away from drugs and alcohol. You’re a good role model. You’re proof that if you work hard enough, you can do whatever you want.”

“You really think I should speak at this thing?”

“Yes.” Garret picks up the letter and hands it to me. “Call him right now and tell him. When’s the event?”

“The Saturday after Thanksgiving, so we’ll already be in Des Moines.”

“Then you have no excuse not to go.”

“I’m still nervous about speaking.”

“I’ll get you through it. You can practice in front of me. Do that thing they tell you where you picture the audience naked.”

“You want me to picture you naked while I practice? If I do that, I won’t practice. We’ll end up having sex.”

“Then we’ll have sex right before you practice so you’ll have no distractions.” He smiles. “Now I’m really looking forward to these practice sessions. When can we start?”

I push him out the door. “Get to the pool.”

While he’s gone, I call my teacher and agree to speak at the event. He asks me all about college and where I’m living. He can’t believe I’m married. But that’s not surprising. Everyone’s shocked by that. He was thrilled when I told him I’d speak at this event. He said I’m the most inspiring student he’s ever taught. At first I thought he was kidding, but he was serious.

I don’t get it. I don’t find myself inspiring at all. Someone like Sara is inspiring. I’m not. But I guess I just can’t see it when it’s me and not someone else.

Now I have to find something to talk about for a half hour. That’s right. I have to speak for an entire half hour! I thought it would be 10 minutes, 20 tops. But no, a full 30 minutes. When he told me, I almost backed out, but I pushed past my fear and agreed to it. It’s all Garret’s fault, making me face my fears. This sucks. I don’t know how I’m ever going to do this. At least I have a whole month to prepare.

After I get off the phone with him, I call Harper.

“Hey, it’s me,” I say when she answers.

“Finally. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. Garret told me about Brook. I’m so sorry about that. She must’ve changed since I knew her. She didn’t used to be like that.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s no big deal. So what’s new with you?”

“I babysat Lilly last Saturday night.”

“I heard. How’d it go?”

“She was as cute as ever. She might even be cuter now that she goes to school. Her stories are hilarious.”

“What did she tell you?”

“She has this friend, Max. He wears a bow tie.”

“Yeah, I know about Max.”

“Lilly showed me his picture. So adorable. Anyway, Lilly said that boys his age smell really bad.” Harper starts laughing. “And so she sniffed him one day and he must’ve smelled bad because she—” Harper’s laughing so hard she can’t finish.

“She what?”

“She sprayed him with air freshener! Oh my God, Jade, when she told me I was laughing so hard I was crying.”

“Lilly did not do that.”

“She did! Why would she even think to do something like that?”

Now I’m laughing just as hard. “Garret told her to. He thinks Max is trying to date Lilly so he told her to spray him with air freshener to keep him away. But I didn’t think she’d actually do it.”

“Well, she did, and she got in big trouble. Katherine wasn’t around so Pearce had to go to her school and talk to the principal. Then Lilly was sent home for the rest of the day. And they confiscated the air freshener.”

We’re both laughing so hard we can’t talk. I can’t even breathe. After a while, we’re able to speak again.

“So what was going on at Garret’s grandparents’ house? Was it a dinner party?”

“Yeah, it was for that guy who’s running for president. Kent Gleason. So there was a ton of security there.”

Garret didn’t tell me the party was for Kent. I wonder if he knew that. I’m guessing he did but he wouldn’t tell me because it involves the organization. I don’t know how I feel about that. On the one hand, I don’t like Garret keeping secrets from me, but on the other hand, I don’t want to know about the organization. I want to pretend they don’t exist.

“Did you meet our future president?” I shouldn’t have said that. She might suspect something. Then again, Harper has no idea our presidents are hand-selected by this secret group.

“I saw him but I didn’t go up and talk to him. I don’t think he’ll end up being president. He’s too short. Aren’t presidents usually tall?”

“Yeah, I think so,” I say, relieved she didn’t take my president comment seriously.

“Before dinner, they had a cocktail hour and I had to stand there waiting while Katherine showed off Lilly to some of the guests. If I’d known I’d be seen like that, I would’ve dressed up. I had on jeans and a sweater and everyone else was in evening gowns and tuxedos. I tried to hide off to the side but then this weird guy came up to me and introduced himself and I couldn’t get him to go away.”

“Who was he?”

“Some old guy. Well, not really old, but old to us. He’s probably like 40. I think his name was Andrew. Anyway, he was flirting with me and he seemed mad when I didn’t flirt back. I told him about Sean but the guy didn’t care that I had a boyfriend. He asked me to go out with him after the party. He said we could take his private jet to Manhattan for the night. And yes, he meant for the entire night, like he assumed I would sleep with him.”

“I wonder why he was there. That doesn’t sound like the type of person Garret’s grandparents would invite to their house.”

“He probably wrote a big check to be there. It was probably one of those fundraiser dinners. Anyway, he was totally obnoxious. I can’t stand guys like that. Always showing off how rich they are, assuming you’ll do whatever they say just because they have money. I met guys like him all the time when I lived in LA. They’re all over the movie business.”

“What did Sean do while you were babysitting?”

“He took an extra shift at work. He’s been working a lot of extra shifts lately. I think he needs the money.”

When she says it, it makes me wonder if Sean’s saving up money to buy Harper an engagement ring. I know he wants to propose to her, which means he needs a ring. But she doesn’t want a ring. She’s not ready for that. Yet Sean still doesn’t know this. And Harper has no clue he wants to marry her.

“So anyway,” Harper says, “there wasn’t really anything to do at Garret’s grandparents’ house, so Lilly and I just watched TV. They only have one TV and it’s in one of the living rooms at the other end of the house.”

“How many living rooms do they have?”

“I don’t know. Maybe three? The place was huge. Even bigger than my parents’ house. And it was decorated in that old, rich-people style. Crystal chandeliers, tapestry rugs, ugly sculptures everywhere.”

“I’ve never been there but that’s how I pictured their house.”

“Why haven’t you been there? It’s not that far from Garret’s house.”

“You know why. His grandparents hate me. That’s why they didn’t come to the wedding. They still won’t talk to Garret.”

“That’s so stupid. I can’t believe they act that way just because he married someone without money.”

I have this urge to tell her I’m a Sinclair and that I have money now, but I can’t. It would cause too many problems.

“I guess my dad’s kind of acting the same way,” Harper says, her voice quieter than before.

“What’s going on with your dad?”

“He barely talks to me anymore. When I call him, he just says hi and puts my mom on the phone or my sisters. Even my mom hardly talks to me. We used to talk an hour a day and now I’m lucky if she talks to me an hour a week.”

“Are they just busy?”

“No. It’s Sean. They told me they don’t want me dating him. And since I am, they’re mad at me.”

“When did this happen?”

“Last week. I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t ready to talk about it. And part of me thought maybe they were just in a bad mood that day and they’d change their minds later. But they didn’t.”

“Why don’t they want you dating him?”

“They said he’s not right for me. They said I should be with someone who’s in college and has goals and will have a real career.”

“Sean has a real career.”

“No, he doesn’t. He has a job. But he’s working on his career and he’s going to be really successful someday. The thing is, it doesn’t matter to me that he didn’t go to college. Not everyone has to go to college. And it’s not like he just sat around and did nothing after high school. He went to culinary school and he’s been working ever since. I like that he’s a chef. It’s creative and he’s really good at it. When I first met him, my mom thought it was cool that I was dating a chef. But now she and my dad are being all judgmental, like Sean’s not good enough for me.”

“Just forget about what they think. Didn’t you just tell me you weren’t going to worry about your parents? That you were going to do what makes you happy?”

“Yes, but it’s hard to have my parents mad at me like this. We’ve always gotten along really well. And now they barely speak to me.” I hear her sniffling.

“I’m sorry, Harper. I wish I had some advice to give you but I’m not sure what to do. What did Sean say about it?”

“I can’t tell him this stuff. It would make him feel bad. He already knows my parents don’t like him.” She sniffles again. “I don’t want to talk about it. I should go. I have a huge test tomorrow and I need to study. I’ll call you later.”

“Okay, bye.”

This whole thing with Harper’s parents doesn’t make sense. First they like him, then they don’t. He didn’t do anything to make them not like him so what’s the deal? They hate him because he doesn’t have money?

It pisses me off the way these rich people think people without money or college degrees are worthless. I’m really getting tired of it. And I’ve just about had it with Garret’s grandparents. I want to call them up and yell at them to get over the fact that he married me and to have a relationship with their grandson again. I’d never actually do that, but it’s tempting.