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CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

GARRET

I woke up early this morning and snuck out of bed and went to the bakery. I got two dozen donuts, which is way too many, but I wanted Jade to have her donut smorgasbord and you need at least two dozen for that. Then I stopped at the grocery store and got her a dozen pink roses and three giant helium balloons that say ‘Happy Birthday.’ I also got a bag of regular balloons. I just finished blowing them up and I feel like I’m going to pass out. I blew up 20 of them, since she’s 20 today.

Yesterday between classes, I went to the store and bought birthday-themed paper plates and napkins. They only had ones that are meant for kids so I got some bright pink, princess-themed plates. Jade’s so anti-princess that I thought it would be funny. And just to top it off, I bought her a plastic tiara with fake jewels on it.

Once everything’s set up, I sneak back into bed and give her a kiss. “Happy Birthday.”

She opens her eyes and smiles. “Are you my present?”

“I can be, but you have real presents in the other room.”

“Really?”

She’s so excited. She’s even more excited than Lilly gets on her birthday.

“Yes, really. Do you want to go check them out?”

“Can we take a shower first?”

“Whatever you want. It’s your day.”

The shower includes sex, of course, and as we’re getting dressed, Jade says, “Now that’s the way to kick off a birthday.”

“You ready for more?” I see her smiling and say, “I didn’t mean sex. I meant more birthday fun. Although we can certainly have more sex, if that’s you want.”

She laughs. “I do want more, but not right now. I need some breakfast.”

“It’s all set up for you.” I stand behind her and cover her eyes with my hands.

“What are you doing?”

“Surprising you. Just walk forward toward the kitchen. I’ll tell you when to stop.”

She takes some steps, with me right behind her, my hands still over her eyes. I almost laugh as I take in the scene; pink and white balloons everywhere, the helium balloons floating above the roses, the giant tray of donuts next to the princess plates. I even hung pink streamers over the kitchen island. The whole thing looks kind of ridiculous but I wanted it to be funny. The real party will be tonight.

“Okay. Open your eyes.” I take my hands off her face and pull her back into my chest, kissing the top of her head. “Happy Birthday!”

I’m laughing, but she’s really quiet as she looks at everything. And then I feel her shaking a little. I spin her around and see that she’s crying. “What’s wrong? You don’t like it? I know it’s kid-like but it was supposed to be—”

“I love it.” She smiles, tears running down her face. “Thank you.” She hugs me.

“You’re welcome.” I don’t understand why she’s crying. It’s just some donuts and decorations. “You okay?” I pull back to look at her.

She wipes her face and nods. “Yes. Sorry, I didn’t mean to cry. It’s just that, as a kid, I always wanted a birthday party with special plates and matching napkins and balloons. I imagined it just like this. Pink and everything.”

She’s never told me this. She said as a kid, she never even thought about her birthday because her mom just treated it like any other day.

Jade steps up to the counter and picks up one of the princess plates. “Every birthday, I’d wake up thinking that maybe just once I’d come out of my room and my mom would have a balloon or a cake waiting for me. I didn’t need presents. I didn’t even need a cake. Just one balloon would’ve made me happy. Just so I’d know she remembered.”

I go up to her, taking the plate from her hand and putting my arms around her waist. “Jade, I didn’t know—”

“I know you didn’t. That’s why I was so surprised when I saw all this. I felt like I was a little girl again, except this time I actually got a balloon.” She laughs as she looks around at the room. “A lot more than one. How many are there?”

“Twenty.” I kiss her. “One for each year that you didn’t get one and one for today, when you finally did.”

She looks like she’s going to cry again. She squeezes her eyes shut and takes a breath. “Okay, no more crying.”

I hug her. Sometimes she’s so good at hiding the pain from her past that I forget how much of it is still inside her. Little things like a simple balloon can spark a memory and take her back to the dark places in her childhood she tries to pretend don’t exist.

It makes me want to do so much more for her. It makes me want to give her the biggest birthday party ever. But that’s not what Jade would want. Just something small, like what I’ve done here this morning, is all it takes to make her happy. I know this about her, but it still amazes me how the smallest things can put a huge smile on her face.

I lift her chin up and kiss her tear-stained cheek. “I love you, birthday girl.”

“I love you, too.” She eyes the donuts. “Can we have breakfast?”

“Yes. Enjoy your smorgasbord. I got one of each kind they had. You want anything else? I could make some eggs.”

“Eggs? No way. I’m pigging out on donuts.” She takes a sprinkled donut and sets it on one of the paper plates. “Princess plates.” She laughs. “My favorite.”

I give her a kiss. “I take care of my little princess.”

She rolls her eyes but smiles.

“Oh, and that’s not all.” I take the tiara off the counter and hand it to her. “You have to wear this. It goes with the theme.”

She always says princesses set a bad example for little girls but I guess she thinks it’s okay to be one herself because she takes the tiara and says, “I’m totally wearing it.” She positions it on her head. “How’s it look?”

“It looks good.” I take my phone out. “I gotta get a picture of this. Lilly will love it.”

“No photos.” She hides behind the balloons. “I don’t want anyone knowing about this.”

“About your hidden desire to be a princess?”

“Yes. I mean, no. I don’t have a hidden desire to be—”

I kiss her. “Go with it, Jade. Be a princess for a day, or at least just for breakfast.”

“Okay. Go ahead.” She smiles for the camera and I take a few shots.

“Grab some donuts and let’s eat outside. It’s really nice out today.”

“Roses!” She runs over to the kitchen table where the roses are sitting in a vase next to some presents.

“Yeah, I thought you saw them earlier.”

“No, I didn’t even look over here.” She hugs me. “Thank you. They’re beautiful. They’re the same color as the ones we had at our wedding.”

“That’s why I picked them.” My phone starts ringing and Lilly’s picture lights up the screen. It’s the photo of her from the wedding. She’s wearing her flower girl dress and tilting her head as she smiles. It’s my favorite picture of her from that day.

My dad got Lilly a new phone so now she calls me whenever she wants. I didn’t ask him how he got Katherine to agree to it but I’m guessing my blackmail had something to do with it. She’d never want those videos to be released.

I hand the phone to Jade. “Your sister, and fellow princess, is calling you.”

Jade laughs and puts the phone on speaker. “Hi, Lilly. It’s Jade.”

“Happy birthday! Did you like my present?”

“Um.” Jade’s looking at me, confused.

“She didn’t open it yet,” I tell Lilly as I hand Jade the small box.

“Hi, Garret!” Lilly yells it. “I had my swim lesson yesterday.”

“What did you work on?”

“Going faster! I’m getting really fast.”

Lilly’s been taking lessons a few times a week for months now. The teacher comes to the house. My dad said Lilly takes it very seriously and practices all the time in the indoor pool. I love that she’s getting into swimming like that. It’s good for her and I know she does it because she’s trying to be like me.

Katherine doesn’t approve of Lilly’s swim lessons. She thinks little girls should take ballet lessons, not be interested in sports. And I know Katherine hates that Lilly wants to follow in my footsteps and be on a swim team someday.

“Lilly, I love your present.” Jade opened the box. Inside is a picture Lilly drew. My dad had it framed. The picture is of Jade and Lilly at the wedding. Jade’s in her wedding dress, holding her flowers and standing in front of the ocean. Lilly’s next to her, holding her flower basket. She colored her fingernails bright pink. Katherine didn’t know about the painted nails thing so I’m sure she yelled at my dad about it when she saw the picture.

“That’s the day you became my sister.”

“I know,” Jade says. “That was a really good day.”

“Are you having a birthday party?”

Jade looks at me. “We’re going out to dinner, so it’s kind of like a party.”

Does she really think we’re only having dinner? Wow. I guess I’m good at hiding stuff.

“We’re having a princess breakfast right now,” I tell Lilly. “Jade even has a tiara. I’ll send you a picture.”

“You get to be a princess?” Lilly asks.

“Just for breakfast,” Jade says.

“Honey, say goodbye.” I hear my dad’s voice in the background. “You have to get to school.”

“I have to go. Bye, Jade. Bye, Garret. I miss you.”

“Bye.” Jade and I say it at the same time.

Lilly is doing much better at school. She’s making friends and having more play dates. She doesn’t hang out with crazy Jackie anymore but she does still do stuff with that Max kid, or bow-tie boy as I like to call him. If he ever makes a move on my sister, I’m going to strangle him with that bow tie.

“She only has a half day today,” my dad says. “Just the afternoon. Anyway, Happy Birthday, Jade.”

“Thank you.”

“Did Garret give you the gift I sent?”

“I didn’t, but I will right now.” I pick up the envelope and hand it to her.

Jade opens it and inside there’s a card, signed by my dad and Lilly, and a gift card for Jade’s favorite sporting goods store. The store has tons of running gear, which is Jade’s favorite thing to buy.

“Thank you! I love this store! This will last me forever.”

The card has $1000 on it. That’s nothing to my dad, but to Jade it’s like a million. Even though she has money now, she still acts like she doesn’t.

“You’re welcome. I hope you enjoy it. Garret, are you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“I need to speak with you about something.”

“Can we do it later? We’re kind of in the middle of a birthday breakfast here.”

“Of course. But be sure to call me later.”

“Okay. Bye, Dad.”

Jade thanks him again for the card before hanging up.

“Did you see this?” She holds the gift card up. “It’s for $1000! I can get whatever I want. New running shoes. New shorts. Those cute tank tops that have the sports bra built in.”

“Jade, you have money now. You could buy that stuff anyway.”

“I know, but it’s different when it’s a gift from someone. That was really nice of your dad.”

“Now that he knows how much you liked it, expect to get a lot more of those. If he knows you like something, he tends to go overboard. You’ll probably get one every month now, so you should go online today and start buying stuff.”

“This is the best birthday ever!”

“This is just the beginning.” I give her a smug smile.

“What do you mean? What else do you have planned?”

Surprises drive Jade crazy. Now that I’ve hinted about a possible surprise, she’ll ask me questions all day trying to find out what it is.

“I don’t have anything planned.” I lead her over to the donuts.

“Yes, you do. I can tell. So what is it?”

I hand her a princess plate. “Let’s eat breakfast. Then I need to get to class.”

I’m only going to my morning class. Jade’s skipping hers and I’m skipping my afternoon class because Frank and Ryan will be arriving around noon. I won’t be here when they arrive. I’m picking up Grace at the airport. Harper and Sean fly in this afternoon and will meet us at the restaurant tonight.

After Jade and I finish breakfast, I get up to leave. “I’ll be back around 12:30 and then we’ll all go out for lunch.”

“Why are you getting home so late? Your class ends at 11:30.”

“I have things to do.”

“What kinds of—”

“Don’t even ask because I’m not going to tell you.”

She follows me back inside. “Thanks for breakfast. Those donuts were really good.”

I grab my backpack and keys, then give her a kiss. “Bye, Princess.” I laugh as I walk out the door.

“Hey! Don’t call me that.”

“You’re wearing a tiara. I call it like I see it.”

“It’s a hair accessory!” she says as I get in the car.

She stands at the door and watches me leave, the tiara still on her head. I didn’t even think she’d try it on, but she not only tried it on, she’s had it on all morning. Freaking hilarious.

I get my phone out and call my dad. “Hey, Dad. What did you want to talk about?”

“Hold on. I’m just leaving Lilly’s school.” I hear him talking to someone, then the sound of the car door closing. “Okay, I’m back.”

“Thanks for getting that gift card for Jade. She loved it.”

“Good. Maybe I’ll send her one every month.”

I laugh. “That’s funny. I told her you might do that. She thought I was kidding. She would be shocked if you actually did it.”

“I just made a note to tell my assistant. Don’t tell Jade. We’ll make it a surprise.”

“So what did you want to talk about?”

“I wanted to know if you’ve seen or heard anything from that police officer who came to your door after the robbery.”

“No. Now that the robber’s dead, I’m just trying to forget the whole thing.”

“I’m still concerned by the fact that I wasn’t able to locate the police report. And as for that officer who came to your door, I’ve been trying to get information on him, but he’s so young that there isn’t much—”

“Young? What are you talking about?”

“He’s 23.”

“Uh, no. I guarantee the guy who came to our door was not 23.”

“Officer Trent Daniels. That’s his name, right?”

“Yeah, but he wasn’t 23. He was more like 55 or 60.”

“Officer Daniels is 23. He’s been on the force less than a year.”

“Then who the hell came to my door?”

My dad sighs. “Someone who was impersonating an officer.”

“Why the hell would some guy show up at my house pretending to be a cop?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll get my guys working on this right away. If that man comes to your door again, don’t answer it. And be careful. Keep Jade safe.”

“I will.”

“I know it’s a lot of responsibility, Garret. Are you handling it okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

“If you’re not, you let me know. We’ll talk soon. Goodbye, Garret.”

My dad was referring to the responsibility that comes with being a Kensington, specifically my responsibility to keep both Jade and myself safe. I’m out of the organization, but because of what they make my dad and grandfather do, I have to deal with the fallout. My dad has enemies, which means I could have enemies and Jade could, too. It comes with being part of this family. My dad’s careful when he does stuff, so the chances of someone linking something back to him and wanting revenge are unlikely, but it’s always a possibility.

That’s the bad side to being a Kensington. I’ll always have to be on alert, always looking out for danger, doing everything I can to keep us safe. And I accept that. But I don’t want Jade knowing this is what I have to do. I don’t want her even thinking about it. It’s my responsibility, not hers.

The past couple weeks, I’ve been so busy with school and Jade and dealing with my shoulder that I haven’t really worried about our safety. Plus, since we have the security system and the burglar is dead, I felt like Jade and I were safe. But then something like this happens, with the fake cop, and I’m reminded I can’t let my guard down.