Page 150 of Always Us

“Maybe he’s found someone else by now,” Jade says quietly.

I take her hand. “He probably has. I’m sure he’s not interested in her anymore.”

My dad shoots me a look, not wanting me to give Jade false hope. But I’m not going to ruin her holiday with this. And who knows? Maybe Andrew really will lose interest in Harper.

My dad gets up. “It’s getting late. We should head out for dinner.” He goes around us and out the door, leaving Jade and me there.

“You okay?” I ask her.

She shrugs. “I guess.”

I rub her hand. “Jade, he wasn’t trying to be mean. And I don’t think he’s lying. I think he really doesn’t know.” I lean over and kiss her. “Let’s just try to have a good holiday, okay?”

She gives me a weak smile. “Okay.”

Her smile gets bigger when Lilly runs into the room and jumps on her lap. “You wanna have a tea party? Or watch a movie?”

Jade perks up, seeing Lilly so excited. She gives her a hug. “We’re going to dinner and then we’ll watch one.”

Lilly seems to be feeling better now that my dad talked to her. Or maybe she’s just happy having Jade and me here.

My dad pokes his head in the room. “Ready to go?”

Lilly hops off Jade’s lap and runs up to him. “Daddy, can we make Christmas cookies?”

“Not tonight. But maybe tomorrow.”

Jade and I meet them out in the foyer.

Lilly’s twirling around. “We’re going to go sledding and play games and go swimming.”

My dad laughs. “Yes, we’ll do all those things.”

We go out for dinner, then go home and watch a movie. And for the rest of the week, we do just as Lilly said. We swim, watch movies, play video games, make Christmas cookies, and go sledding. My dad works from home all week, but takes lots of breaks to do stuff with us. And he shuts his computer down every night at five so we can spend the evenings together. Even Charles joins in on the activities.

It snowed on Monday and again on Thursday. With the piles of snow outside, and the lights and decorations inside, the house has a real Christmasy feel. I don’t even mind the white lights. Instead of reminding me of Katherine, they remind me of being here with Jade last year. And my dad made sure to have the decorators put colored lights in the game room just for me. There’s a small tree with colored lights in my bedroom as well.

With Lilly as a distraction, Jade gets into the holiday spirit, setting aside her concerns about Harper, or at least acting like she has. But we both still think about it, especially since Kiefer’s been in the news all week.

Last Monday, the news reported that Kiefer is currently being investigated for stealing funds from the movies he’s worked on. The story’s been everywhere; national news, the newspaper, gossip shows, talk shows. It’s a huge scandal. The story is that Kiefer made up fake expenses, then took the money for himself. They say he’s stolen millions over the years. Earlier this week he was fired from the studio, and some are saying he’ll never work in Hollywood again. Right after he was fired, Kiefer released a statement admitting his wrongdoing and saying he’ll give all the money back, which I’m guessing won’t leave him with much.

I asked my dad about this but he wouldn’t tell me anything. But he did nod when I asked him if this was Kiefer’s punishment. Kiefer should be thankful. Instead of being killed, his punishment is this made-up scandal. They ruined his reputation, he lost his job, and now they’ll take his money.

I don’t feel that bad for him. He got himself into this by being greedy and selfish. And in the process, he destroyed his relationship with Harper. He might’ve also destroyed his relationship with Kelly. The rumor is that Kelly and Kiefer are separating and Kiefer’s moving out after the holidays. I don’t know if Kelly knew the whole story about the organization or just part of it, but I know she wasn’t happy with her husband. Last fall, Harper kept saying that her parents weren’t getting along and weren’t spending as much time together. It wouldn’t surprise me if Kiefer and Kelly end up getting divorced.

Harper’s been calling Jade all week but she hasn’t said much about her dad. She used to be really close to him and it’s devastating for her to think of him as a criminal. And Kiefer will never be able to tell her, or anyone else, the truth. He has to accept his punishment as given and be happy the organization didn’t do something even worse to him.

Harper hasn’t spoken to her dad since this happened. She said she’s waiting for him to call her and explain what’s going on, but so far he hasn’t. Her sisters moved into a hotel. They didn’t want to be around their dad. They’re angry with him as well, because of what he did, but also because his scandal could negatively affect their careers, especially Kylie’s. Movie studios won’t want to hire her for acting roles, knowing her dad stole from them.

So that leaves Kiefer and his wife alone at Christmas, assuming Kelly is still there. She might’ve gone to stay at the hotel with Kylie and Caitlyn. I’m sure she’d rather spend the holiday with her daughters than her husband.

Kiefer really screwed up. His whole life is destroyed, which I’m sure is exactly what the organization wanted as punishment for him rejecting their offer. And I assume they’ll still make him work for them. That’s probably part of the deal. He has to do whatever they say or he’ll face additional punishment. He’ll never be free.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

34

GARRET

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