Page 32 of Always Us

“Have you spoken with him since this happened?”

Ava doesn’t answer as she shuts the door and starts her car. The video ends and they cut back to the newswoman at the desk. “People close to the family say that Garret has been estranged from his grandfather since last spring. It’s not known if the two of them have reconciled, although our sources tell us Garret has not yet been to the hospital to see his grandfather. We’ll take a short break and when we get back we’ll be…”

Garret clicks the TV off. “Where do they get this shit?”

I take the remote from him and lead him to the couch to sit down.

“I don’t know.” I really don’t, and it kind of scares me that they know all that. It’s like someone’s watching us or something.

“And they ask Ava about me? Seriously? Why are they even talking about me? They should be talking about my grandfather, not me.”

I give him a hug because I don’t know what else to do. I can’t tell what he’s thinking or how he’s feeling, and he’s not ready to tell me.

I sit back and look at him. His eyes are heavy and his face looks tired. “Garret, maybe you should try to sleep a little.”

He doesn’t answer. He’s gazing behind me at the TV that’s no longer on. I get off the couch and take his hand and pull on him to stand up. “Come on. Let’s just lie down for a few minutes.”

He gets up, not saying anything, and we go in the bedroom and take off our shoes. We lie down on the bed and he pulls me against his chest. He’s holding me a little too tightly, which he’s been doing all week and I’ve been kidding him about it. But today, I don’t say anything. After a few minutes, he loosens his hold on me and his breathing changes as he falls asleep. I try not to move because I want him to sleep. He needs to. He hasn’t slept much all week and I don’t know why. Whenever I ask him about it, he denies it and says he’s been sleeping.

His breathing becomes slower and heavier as he falls into a deeper sleep, his arm now relaxed around me. I’m not tired since I slept on the plane, but I remain there next to him so he doesn’t wake up.

An hour later, I’m still wide awake, thinking about Garret’s family. I wonder how Pearce is doing. He didn’t get along with Holton, but Holton is still his father so I’m sure this is hard on him. I think about Lilly, too, and how she’ll feel when Holton’s gone. I hope someone’s there for her, comforting her. I know Katherine won’t do it. She’ll tell Lilly not to cry or act sad. And Pearce will be too busy planning the funeral to deal with Lilly.

My phone rings from the living room. Shit. It’s going to wake Garret up. It rings again and keeps ringing, then finally stops. It’s probably Frank. I forgot to call him to tell him we made it home. I lift Garret’s arm off me and slide to the edge of the bed and get up. He’s still sound asleep.

I sneak out of the bedroom and gently shut the door. I check the phone and see that it was Sean who called, not Frank. I text Frank and let him know I’m home, then call Sean back.

“Sean, it’s Jade.”

“Hey. I saw the news and I wanted to check on Garret. How is he?”

“He’s okay. He’s sleeping right now.”

“When he wakes up, tell him I’m really sorry about last night. I drank too much and was being an ass.”

“Don’t worry about it. We know you’re going through a rough time right now.”

“Did you talk to Harper?”

“Yeah. I told her you’re okay. She was really worried about you, Sean.”

“I know. I just—” He stops and I know he wants to tell me what’s really going on and how he was threatened, but he can’t. “I just couldn’t call her back. She made it clear that we’re over, so I can’t keep talking to her. It only makes this harder.”

It’s true, but I know Sean would still be calling her if he hadn’t been threatened like that. He wouldn’t care how much it hurts to hear her voice. He loves her too much to never talk to her again. So I know this is killing him, being forced to stay away from her.

“Has she called you again since last night?” I ask.

“Yeah. She left me a goodbye message on my phone. She cried through most of it so I couldn’t hear her that well. But she said she wouldn’t call again.” Sean’s voice cracks and he clears his throat. “Anyway, I should let you go. Tell Garret to call me when he’s ready to.”

“Sean, you don’t have to hang up. We can talk if you want.” I feel like he needs to talk to someone. Garret is his best friend, and although Sean has other friends, I don’t think he talks to them about this kind of stuff.

“I’m moving,” he blurts out.

“To a new apartment?”

“I’m moving to LA.”

“What? When did you decide this?”

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