Page 10

CHAPTER TEN

The next day the four of us hang out on the patio by the pool. Charles, the family cook, grills steaks for lunch and we eat outside. Then Pearce plays with Lilly in the pool while Garret and I stare at them like we’re watching someone else’s family. This is so strange. But it’s also good because Pearce’s actions have wiped the sad look off Lilly’s face, at least for today.

In the afternoon, Garret has a talk with his dad about Lilly. When I ask him about it later, he says his dad already knew how Lilly was feeling and that he’s been working to make things better for her. He’s refusing to fight with Katherine anymore, at least at home. And he’s looking at private schools to enroll Lilly in that have tight security to keep her safe. Katherine agreed it was a good idea. Apparently even she’s noticed how depressed her daughter is and finally agrees that Lilly needs to get out of her room and make some friends.

“But your dad and Katherine aren’t back together, right?”

“No. They sleep in separate rooms. Lilly knows that, and she’s starting to accept it now, according to my dad. It’s hearing them fight that upsets her.”

“Is your dad still seeing that woman?”

“Yes, and Katherine has someone new. That’s where she is this weekend. She’s not at a spa. She’s with her boyfriend.”

“So they’re both dating other people? That’s weird.”

He shrugs. “It seems to be working for them. If they can’t get divorced and this makes them happy, then I guess it somehow makes sense. They’ll just see other people on the side.”

I still find it odd but I don’t really care what they do. I’m just glad Pearce is finally standing up to Katherine and being a better father to Lilly and Garret.

Sunday we all prepare for Katherine to return, but she calls and says she’s staying wherever she is for a few more days. I smile when I hear the news. My Fourth of July just got a million times better and it’s not even here yet.

Pearce spends all of Sunday with us instead of going into the office like he normally would. We swim, watch movies, and eat leftover pizza.

On Monday, the Fourth of July, Charles makes hamburgers, potato salad, baked beans, and all the other traditional picnic foods and we eat outside by the pool.

Three guys show up after lunch to set up the fireworks way back on the property. Garret said they’ll come back tonight to set them off.

We lounge by the pool all afternoon, enjoying the warm sunny day. Then we have more picnic food for dinner, although I’m still kind of full from lunch. I tend to overeat when Charles cooks.

Around 8 a voice comes through the intercom on the patio. “Mr. Kensington, your parents have arrived. They just drove through the gate.”

Pearce gets up. “Thank you. I’ll meet them at the door.”

His parents are here for the fireworks show. I met them last Christmas. They were extremely formal and didn’t say much. In fact, I don’t think they even talked to me.

As Pearce goes in the house, I notice the rising tension in the air. It started when we heard the intercom message. Garret stands up, smoothing his white polo shirt and pulling his shoulders back, like he’s preparing to be inspected. He looks nervous and it’s making me nervous.

The sliding glass door opens and Garret’s grandmother, Eleanor, appears followed by his grandfather, Holton. Holton’s wearing beige pants, a white button-up shirt, a tie, and a navy sport coat. That’s his version of casual. He usually only wears suits. Eleanor has on a short-sleeve navy blue dress and heels.

Holton’s tall, like Garret and Pearce, but thinner than them because he’s old and doesn’t have the muscle tone anymore. But he stands very straight and commands attention when he walks in a room. I’m guessing he’s in his mid-seventies but he doesn’t have a ton of wrinkles. He has a full head of gray hair and has the same strong jawline as Pearce and Garret and the same piercing blue eyes. He looks good for his age. The Kensington men definitely age well. They all look handsome.

Eleanor’s a few inches taller than me and very thin. She wears her hair really short but it’s layered and styled like one of those pixie cuts and she colors it a shade of light blond that’s almost white. It’s a very sophisticated look and she has a pretty face so the short hair works on her. I would never look good with hair that short.

“Glad you could make it,” Pearce says, extending his hand to Holton.

How weird is that? He’s shaking hands with his own father?

Holton gives him a quick handshake. “Yes, well, your mother enjoys the fireworks show.”

Pearce gives Eleanor a distant hug and kisses her cheek. “Hello, Mother.”

She smiles. “Hello, Pearce. I hope you’re doing well. It’s been a while since we’ve seen you.”

Been a while? They live like 20 minutes from here. How long has it been? I wonder if Pearce and his parents are fighting about something. From the vibe I’m getting, I’m guessing Pearce is only fighting with his dad. Eleanor seems okay but Holton is shooting angry looks at Pearce.

“We’ll have you and Katherine over for dinner next week.” Holton says it like it’s an order, not a choice. “Next Friday night.”

Pearce straightens up, his jaw clenched. “Yes, fine. Just let us know what time.”

“It’s too bad Katherine couldn’t be here tonight.” Holton smirks, as if he purposely said it to annoy Pearce.

For some reason, Holton likes Katherine. I noticed this last Christmas when Eleanor and Holton came over. Holton was super nice to Katherine. I didn’t understand it then, but now I’m thinking maybe Holton was the one who picked Katherine to marry his son. It was an arranged marriage and I’m sure Holton had a say in who Pearce’s wife would be.

“Grandma!” Lilly runs out of the house and up to Eleanor, holding her arms up.

Eleanor picks her up. “There’s my little sweetie. Where were you?”

“In the kitchen helping Charles frost the cookies. We made fireworks cookies!”

“I’ll have to try one.” Eleanor sets her down. ”I brought you something.”

“You did?” Lilly jumps up and down.

Eleanor reaches in her purse and pulls out a small, sparkly wand that lights up. “It’s a princess wand. Just like you told me you wanted.”

Lilly’s eyes get big and she hugs Eleanor. “Thank you, Grandma!” She looks at her dad. “Can I play with it right now?”

“Yes, honey. Go ahead.”

She takes the wand and runs off, twirling it in the air.

Holton huffs. “Pearce, what is wrong with you? Your daughter shouldn’t be working alongside the hired help.”

“She was just frosting cookies. She wasn’t—”

“That cook of yours knows a Kensington shouldn’t be doing his work. It’s complete insubordination. Katherine would never allow such behavior and neither should you. You should fire that man. He disobeys orders and his cooking is atrocious.”

Pearce tightens his hand into a fist, then releases it. He’s so tense I’m worried he’s going to explode at any moment. But instead he smiles and turns to Garret and me. Holton has completely ignored us since he arrived. Eleanor smiled at us, but she didn’t say hello.

“I have a surprise for you both,” Pearce says. “As you can see, Garret and Jade have joined us for the holiday.”

They didn’t know we were coming? Why didn’t Pearce tell them? Did he think they wouldn’t show up if they knew we’d be here? Or if they knew I’d be here? Are Pearce and his father fighting because of me ? I’m guessing that’s the reason.

Garret’s grandparents don’t know me, but they don’t like me and they don’t want me marrying Garret. In fact they’re refusing to go to the wedding. It’s fine with me because like Pearce said, the people at our wedding should be people who support us and want us to be happy, so Garret’s grandparents shouldn’t be there. But I know Garret wants them there, even if he won’t admit it.

“Hello, Grandfather.” Garret puts his arm out for the formal handshake.

Holton glares at him for what seems like forever because the man doesn’t say anything. There’s just awkward silence. But as I watch Holton’s steely gaze, it’s almost like the awkwardness is intentional. Like Holton’s trying to say something with his silence. Make sure we know that he’s the one in power. And that’s exactly how it feels. Like we’re letting him run the show while we all stand here afraid to speak or do anything.

Holton doesn’t shake Garret’s hand but instead looks him up and down like he’s disgusted with him. It causes a bolt of pain to rip through my chest. I know how much Garret wants his grandfather’s approval. I don’t know why that’s so important to him, but it is and his grandfather knows that. Holton knows exactly what he’s doing and I hate that he’s purposely trying to hurt Garret. He may not approve of Garret marrying me, but that’s not an excuse to act this way to his own grandson.

Garret slowly puts his arm down. This is so uncomfortable. And whenever I’m this uncomfortable I say or do stupid things which usually only makes it worse.

“Hi, Mr. Kensington,” I say, breaking the silence. I offer my own hand and as expected, it only makes things worse.

Holton barely glances at me before turning and storming back into the house, leaving the sliding glass door open.

Garret stands there, looking just as shocked as I am that Holton just walked off like that. Seconds later, Garret wakes from his shock and heads toward the door. “Grandfather! You can’t treat her that—”

“Garret.” Pearce gets a firm grip on Garret’s arm, stopping him.

Garret turns to his dad and nods. Then he comes back over and stands next to me.

Eleanor still hasn’t said a word. She closes the sliding glass door, then comes over and offers her hand to me. “It’s nice to see you, Jade.”

“Nice to see you, too.” I shake her hand, still in shock over the scene I just witnessed.

“Garret.” She waits for him to approach her, then gives him the same distant hug she gave Pearce.

“Hello, Grandmother.” He tries to smile but it’s strained as his eyes search through the glass patio door trying to see where Holton went.

Eleanor looks over at Pearce and he looks at her. They seem to have some kind of secret message going between them. Then Eleanor looks at Garret like she wants to reach out and give him a real hug but can’t. Like she’s not allowed to or something. It’s very weird.

“Are you enjoying your summer, Garret?” Eleanor talks in this formal tone that reminds me of the way people talk in old black-and-white movies.

“Yes.” Garret finally directs his gaze away from the door and back to his grandmother. “Jade and I really like California.”

“Good.” Eleanor’s lips turn up just slightly. “Well, I’m going to see what Lilly is up to.” She takes off toward the grassy area behind the pool where Lilly is twirling around with her princess wand.

That’s it? She hasn’t seen Garret for months and that’s all she has to say to him? She could at least talk to him for a few minutes. Act like she’s happy to see him. What is wrong with these people?

Garret watches her leave. Pearce notices his disappointment and puts his hand on Garret’s shoulder. “The fireworks will be starting soon. Why don’t you and Jade go find a place to watch them?” His face brightens, as if he’s trying to pretend the scene with his parents never happened.

“Yeah, okay.” Garret plays along, his serious expression gone. “Come on, Jade. Let’s go look out back.”

Pearce turns to leave, then says, “Oh, Charles picked up some bug spray when he was at the store earlier. He has it inside if you need it.”

“We could probably use that,” I say to Garret. “I’ll go get it. I’ll be right back.”

I walk quickly through the house, hoping I don’t run into Holton. I still can’t believe he stormed off like that. I wonder if he’ll hide in the house for the rest of the night. Or maybe he’ll just leave.

This really sucks. I feel like everyone would get along if I weren’t here.

When I get to the kitchen, I see Charles arranging the firecracker cookies on a large platter. “Hi, Jade. You need anything?”

“I was looking for the bug spray.”

“It’s in the closet.” He walks down a short hallway to the closet by the back door and pulls out two spray bottles. “I meant to bring these out earlier but I got busy cooking and forgot.”

He hands me the bottles and we walk back in the kitchen.

“Everything all right out there?” Charles asks.

“Um, yeah, it’s fine.”

He smiles, knowingly. “They can be a little intense. Believe me, I know.”

I love Charles. He always knows what to say. It’s like he knows exactly what I’m thinking. I feel like we have this special bond as the two outsiders in this crazy, drama-filled house.

I glance back to make sure nobody’s around. “Intense doesn’t even begin to describe it.”

“Just ignore them and have fun.”

“Yeah, I’ll try.”

“If you see Lilly, tell her I’ll be bringing the cookies out in a few minutes.” He laughs. “She keeps coming in here asking when they’ll be ready.”

“I will. See you out there.”

I feel more relaxed after talking to Charles. He’s so laid back. He doesn’t let stuff bother him, which is the only way he could survive working for Katherine. That woman treats him like crap. I’ve never seen her have a conversation with him or even say hello to him. She just orders him around. At least Pearce is nice to Charles. That’s probably why he keeps working there.

As I’m going down the hall, I hear Holton talking in the dining room. He sounds angry. I peek inside and see him standing in the back of the room with his phone to his ear. I wait outside and listen. I know I shouldn’t eavesdrop but if he wanted privacy, he should’ve shut the door.

“Eleanor forced me to come. She wanted to see Lilly. But if I’d known he was bringing that trashy girl to the house, I wouldn’t have agreed to it. Now I understand why they didn’t have the big party this year. Can you imagine what an embarrassment it would’ve been having her show up at such a gathering? It makes me sick seeing her with Garret. It was bad enough at Christmas but now she thinks she owns him, the little tramp. And Pearce just stands by and allows this to happen. I don’t know what the hell’s gotten into him.” Holton stops talking as he listens to whoever’s on the other end of the phone. Then I hear his voice again. “He’s always lacked good judgment when it comes to things like this. That’s clear now more than ever.” He listens again. “Yes, we’ll talk about it on Monday. Let’s plan on having drinks after the meeting.” He pauses. “Yes. You as well.”

“Did you find it?” Pearce startles me as he approaches me in the hall.

“Yes.” I hold up the bottles of bug spray. “Did you need some?”

“No, the bugs never bother me. They never have.”

“All right. Well, I’m going outside to find Garret.”

Pearce walks toward the kitchen while I head back to the patio. Garret appears behind me just as I’m opening the sliding glass door.

“Where did you come from?”

He laughs. “Nice to see you, too.” He holds up a sleeping bag and a blanket. “I found us a spot to watch the fireworks but I needed to get something to put on the ground.” He takes my hand. “Come on. The show will be starting soon.”

It’s dark now and Pearce lit the tall metal torches sticking out of the grass. There are also white lights strung around the cone-shaped shrubs that are in giant pots around the edge of the patio. It’s really pretty.

As Garret and I make our way around the pool, I spot Holton sitting at the table having some kind of liquor in a short, fat glass. He’s seated next to his wife, who’s holding Lilly on her lap. Lilly’s telling her something, her arms flailing around as she talks.

I feel Holton’s eyes on Garret and me and I start to get nervous again. Then I remember what Charles said and I force myself to relax. I’m not letting Holton get to me. And I’m definitely not letting him ruin this evening that Garret is trying so hard to make special for me.