Page 170 of Always Us

Pearce turns the radio down. He must’ve heard Lilly.

“I’m kind of young to have a baby. Usually you wait until you’re a little older. I have to finish college first.”

“And then you’ll have a baby?”

Garret looks back at me and smiles.

“Um, probably. Or maybe a few years after college.”

I see Pearce eyeing me in the rear view mirror. “I have to wait that long to be a grandfather?” He smiles.

This is awkward. I’ve never talked about this with Garret’s family. I just recently talked to Garret about it.

Before I can answer Pearce, Lilly says, “You should have it now. Then I’d have another sister to play with.”

“The baby would be your niece, not your sister,” Garret says. “You’d be an aunt.”

“Like your Aunt Caroline,” Pearce says. “Remember her? She came for Christmas one year.”

Caroline is Katherine’s sister who lives in France. Garret never mentions her. I think he’s only met her that one time at Christmas.

“I didn’t like Aunt Caroline,” Lilly says.

“I’m not a fan of her either,” Pearce says quietly to Garret.

“Max said babies don’t come from storks,” Lilly says.

That’s just great. Garret already doesn’t like Lilly’s friend, Max, also known as bow tie boy. Now Garret will hate him even more, knowing he’s telling Lilly the truth about babies.

Garret turns back to look at Lilly. “Where did he say they came from?”

“He didn’t say. The bell rang and we had to go inside.”

“Don’t listen to him.” Garret faces forward again. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. The stork brings babies. That’s all you need to know.”

“Garret, don’t confuse—”

“Dad, she’s seven. It’s not time yet.”

Lilly holds my hand. “I hope you have 10 babies and they’re all girls and they all wear pink and have long blond hair.”

Garret laughs. “So you basically want 10 copies of yourself.”

“I just want someone to play with,” she says quietly.

I smile at her. “I’ll see what I can do, okay? But 10 is kind of a lot.”

We arrive at the airport, which is just a big square building. It doesn’t really look like an airport. A man comes out and takes our luggage. As we approach the door to the building, it swings open and Victoria storms out, wearing sunglasses and a long black coat with fur around the neckline.

She sees me and abruptly stops right in front of me. “You! How dare you and your whore of a mother destroy my family like this!” She reaches up like she’s going to slap me, but Garret and Pearce both grab her arm before she does it.

“Get away from her!” Garret’s in front of me now, still holding Victoria’s arm.

“Garret, let me handle this,” Pearce says. “Take Jade and Lilly inside.”

Lilly’s behind me, holding on to my coat. I’m sure she’s scared after hearing Victoria yell at me like that and seeing her almost hit me.

Garret picks Lilly up and takes my hand. “Let’s go.”

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