Page 90 of Always Us

“Hi,” Jade says, but Victoria pretends not to hear her.

“Thank you for coming, Victoria.” I walk away before I do what I want to do, which is to call her out on her rudeness.

I’m trying to stay calm and get through this night without any drama. Yeah, like that’ll happen. Wishful thinking.

“You okay?” I ask Jade as I lead her down the hall to the kitchen.

“Yes. But let’s try to avoid her the rest of the night.”

Being around Victoria made Jade as nervous as she was around my grandmother. It makes sense. Both of their husbands tried to kill her. Shit. What the hell was I thinking? I shouldn’t have brought Jade here. This is way too stressful for her.

I take her to the kitchen because I know she’ll relax if she sees a friendly face.

“Charles,” I say to get his attention. He’s at the sink, washing a pan. “Someone wanted to see you.”

He turns around and smiles. “Jade. Garret. Welcome home.” He dries his hands on a dishtowel and comes around the island to shake my hand. “Congratulations on the marriage.” He turns to Jade and hugs her. “Is this guy treating you well?”

“Extremely well.” Jade smiles. She loves Charles. “And Garret does all the cooking.”

“Not even close to as good as you could do, Charles, but I try.”

Charles winks at Jade. “I taught him everything he knows. Don’t let him tell you otherwise.”

“I give you credit all the time,” I tell him.

“He does,” Jade agrees. “And he uses your recipes, too. He cooks almost every night.”

Jade takes a seat on one of the stools by the island. So I guess we’re staying a while. She’d stay here all night if I let her.

“I tried cooking, but it didn’t work out so well,” she says. “I ruined Garret’s birthday dinner.”

I stand behind her and rub her shoulders. “You didn’t ruin it.”

“I ruined it,” she says to Charles.

He laughs. “Not everything turns out. That’s just part of cooking.”

Jade points to a tray of cheese-filled tarts that’s sitting on the counter. “Those look really good.”

“They’re all yours.” Charles goes back around the island and slides the tray over to her. “Katherine decided she didn’t like them so I was getting ready to throw them out.”

Jade tastes one. “These are delicious. You can’t throw these out. Garret, try one.”

She hands me one and I taste it. “Yeah, they’re good. Why didn’t Katherine like them?”

“She didn’t like the way they looked on the tray,” Charles says. “It was an appearance issue, not a taste issue.”

“That’s crazy,” Jade says. She doesn’t understand how it works when you’re rich. She grew up with barely enough food to eat, and here my wicked stepmother throws perfectly good food away because it isn’t pretty enough.

I agree it’s a waste, but it’s how I grew up. For years I watched people toss shit aside because it wasn’t pretty enough or good enough or didn’t fit with the rest. And yeah, I’m talking about more than just appetizers.

“Charles, we’re running out of shrimp.” Katherine comes storming into the kitchen. She stops when she sees us. “What are you doing in here, Garret? You need to go out there and mingle with the guests.”

“It’s not a party, Katherine.”

“It is a social gathering and you need to represent the Kensingtons to the best of your ability. And besides that, your father is looking for you.”

“Let’s go.” I help Jade off the stool. “We’ll see you later, Charles.”

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