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CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

GARRET

I wake up and Jade’s not in bed. The blinds are closed but I can see light peeking through the edges.

“Jade?”

There’s no answer. I turn to check the time and see a note sitting on the nightstand. It’s from Jade.

Went to the library. Forgot I had to meet with my lab partner today. I’ll be back after my meeting. Eat something. Then go back to sleep. Love you!

It’s ten. I’m supposed to be at class. Guess I’m not going. I get out of bed and stumble to the bathroom. I feel like I have a hangover, but it’s just that groggy feeling you get after sleeping for 15 hours or however long it’s been. It’s strange how sleep can sometimes make you tired.

I see my reflection in the mirror and, shit, I’m a mess. My hair’s sticking up everywhere and I almost have a full beard. For me it only takes one day without shaving to get a beard going. I take my razor from my travel bag, which Jade left on the counter. I didn’t even unpack yesterday. Jade must’ve done it because the suitcase is put away. I didn’t hear her unpacking. The only thing I remember from last night is having sex. And then I fell asleep again. I didn’t even hear her leave this morning.

Jade left. And she’s alone. Shit!

I drop my razor in the sink and race back to the bedroom to get dressed, then stop, realizing she’s okay. He can’t hurt her. This is over.

I relax and go back in the bathroom and turn on the shower. It’s over. This is over. I keep repeating the words as I stand under the hot water.

I finish my shower, get dressed, and check my phone. I see a string of messages but I call Jade first to make sure she’s okay.

“Hey, you’re awake.” She sounds happy, probably trying to cheer me up.

“Yeah. Where are you?”

“I’m still at the library. I’m done with my meeting but I had to look up some stuff. Do you want me to come home? I can do this later.”

“Just stay there and finish. You want to meet for lunch?”

“Okay. Can we go to the coffee shop? Maybe meet at noon?”

“Sure. I’ll see you then.”

“Garret, how are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. I feel better now that I slept and took a shower.”

“You grew a beard overnight.” She laughs a little.

“Yeah. I’ll shave. See you soon.”

“Wait. Garret?”

“Yeah.”

“You heard, right?”

“Heard what?”

“About your grandfather.”

When she says it I realize I forgot to check the news this morning. I didn’t even think to check. I just assumed he passed away overnight. But if he had, Jade wouldn’t have left this morning. She’d want to be with me. And she’d sound sad. She doesn’t sound sad.

“What happened?”

“Your grandfather made it through the night.” She sounds happy, hopeful.

I’m neither of those. Truthfully, I’m disappointed. Fuck, that’s messed up. He’s my grandfather, but shit, he’s pure evil and I wanted him gone.

“Garret, did you hear me?”

“Yeah. So they said he’s getting better?”

“I’m not sure. He’s still in a coma. You should call your dad.”

“I will. I’ll do it right now. I’ll see you at lunch.”

After we hang up, I turn the TV on and search for any updates. I find one on a financial channel.

“…condition remained the same overnight. His wife, Eleanor, has asked that her husband be transferred to a medical facility closer to their home in Connecticut.” The camera pans to the other news anchor. “The stock market took a nosedive yesterday as reports of—”

I click the TV off and call my dad.

“Yes, Garret.” He sounds like he’s in a hurry.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s not a good time to talk. I’m in crisis mode here. One of our plants had a fire last night and this morning one of our distributors wants to—”

“Not about the company. What’s going on with Grandfather?”

He sighs. “My mother is moving him to a different facility.”

“Wait. Back up a minute. So he’s better? He’s recovering?”

“His condition hasn’t changed. And it doesn’t look like it will.”

“By different facility, you mean the clinic?”

“Yes. Not the one you were at, but a different one. It’s in the Hamptons. It has the latest equipment. A top notch staff.”

“What does this mean? You think they can help him?”

“I don’t think so. I’d be surprised if he made it through the week.”

“You said he wouldn’t make it through the night , but he did.”

“Garret, I really can’t talk right now. I have at least 10 people waiting outside my office. We’ll talk later.” He hangs up.

So it sounds like my grandfather’s still going to die, but now it’s happening later this week. Dammit. I just wanted this to be over. And it will be. In a few more days. Until then, I need to start acting normal so Jade will stop wondering what’s wrong with me. I need to start eating and sleeping and going to class. And when my grandfather dies, I need to play along and act sad.

At noon I meet Jade at the coffee shop for lunch. She’s sitting at one of the small round tables but she gets up when she sees me. She has on jeans and a light pink sweater that reminds me of the pink flowers we had at our wedding. Her hair is pulled up in a ponytail with a few loose strands falling down around her face. I see her every day, but sometimes I have these moments where I see her and realize how lucky I am that this beautiful woman is my wife. That she’s all mine.

“Hi.” She gives me a hug and I smell the fresh, flowery scent of her hair. I hold on to her for just a moment longer when she tries to pull away.

“You look beautiful.” I kiss her head, then slowly let her go.

“Thanks.” She gives me a funny look as she glances down at herself. She obviously disagrees, which I don’t understand, but maybe if I keep telling her, she’ll eventually realize that she really is beautiful.

“So did you call your dad?” she asks as we sit down at the table.

“Yeah. He said my grandfather’s condition hasn’t changed.” I put my arm around her. “Let’s not talk about this. I need a break from it. Talk about something else.”

“Well, it’s not a fun topic, but Sean called yesterday. And then I called Harper.”

“I don’t like the sound of this. Did something bad happen?”

“Kind of.” She tells me about Sean moving to LA for that job he was offered back in September. Then she says Harper wants Sean back and doesn’t care if her parents disown her.

“But you told her to leave him alone, right?”

“Yeah, but I don’t know if she will. She really wants him back.”

I’m not surprised she’s trying to get Sean back. I kind of thought she would. She doesn’t know the real story behind why her parents threatened to disown her if she didn’t break up with Sean. And I knew if she thought about it, she’d realize that her parents’ disapproval of him was not enough of a reason for her to lose the person she loves.

Sara comes up to the table. “Sorry I haven’t been over here. It’s been super busy.” She turns to me. “Garret, I’m really sorry about your grandfather. Jade told me before you got here.”

“I’m surprised you hadn’t already heard about it. It’s all over the news.”

“I don’t have time to watch the news. I barely have time to take a shower.” She gets her order pad out. “Do you guys know what you want?”

We give her our order, then she leaves and I look back at Jade. “You have to tell Harper to let Sean go.”

“I did. And I’ll keep telling her that. It’s just hard because she really misses him and doesn’t want to accept that it’s over. Maybe when she starts classes again she won’t have time to think about him.” Jade threads our hands together. “I tried that last spring. I tried to keep busy so I wouldn’t think about you, but it didn’t work. You were all I could think about.”

“At least you had stuff to keep you busy. I was stuck in a house in the woods every weekend. I thought about you constantly.”

She gazes down at our hands. “Someday I want you to tell me what you did all those weeks we weren’t together. I don’t want to know right now. It’s still too fresh in my mind. But years from now, when I know for sure you’ll never be taken from me, I want you to tell me.”

“Jade, I’m not going anywhere. Nobody’s going to take me.”

She nods. “I’ll believe that someday. I’m just not there yet.”

If she only knew how close we were to being separated again. This time for good.

I can’t tell her what almost happened. I don’t want her ever knowing what my grandfather had planned. He’ll be dead soon, and once he is, I don’t want to think about this ever again.

Our food arrives and as we’re eating, Grace calls to check on me. She worries about me as much as she worries about Jade. She’s such a nice lady. She’s more like a grandmother to me than my own grandmother.

I called my grandmother several times yesterday and again today and she hasn’t returned my calls. I haven’t talked to her since the Fourth of July. I know she’s been avoiding me because my grandfather forbid her from talking to me. But now he can’t control her so I don’t know why she hasn’t called me back.

Sometimes I get so freaking tired of my family and all their drama. I don’t know why we can’t just act normal and get along. Why does everything have to be so damn difficult? I just want to live my life and be happy, without them interfering. So today, that’s what I’m going to do. I’ve been miserable ever since my grandfather showed up last week. But today, I’m going to be happy.

When we’re finished eating lunch, I put my arm around Jade and say, “You know what we should do?”

“What?”

“We should get a Christmas tree.”

“But it’s still November.”

“Yeah? So? December’s only three days away. And when my mom was alive we always put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving. Well, my mom did most of the work while my dad and I watched football, but I’d help her with the ornaments.” I slide Jade’s chair closer to mine and kiss her cheek. “Come on. I need this. It’ll make me feel better.”

She smiles. “Then let’s get one. We’ll go right after class. Do they sell them already?”

“They’ve had the fake ones out since before Halloween. I don’t know about the real ones. You want a real one?”

“Maybe we should get a fake one. If we get a real one it might be all dried out by Christmas.”

“We’ll get a fake one now and when it’s closer to Christmas we’ll get a real one.”

“Two trees? Really?” She gets that excited look I love so much. She’s a millionaire and yet she still gets excited over the littlest things.

I kiss her. “Yes. Two trees. Or maybe three.”

She laughs. “Two is good.”

I grab my backpack and stand up. “I need to go. Come home right after class and we’ll go shopping.”

As I leave, I look back and see a huge smile on her face. I’m going to make this the best Christmas she’s ever had. It’ll be the best one for me, too, because I no longer have to worry. There’s no deadline. Jade is safe.