Page 91 of Always Us

“Bye, Charles.” Jade waves at him, then says to Katherine, “Those cheese appetizers are the best. You should try one.”

As we walk back down the hall to the main part of the house, I put my arm around Jade. “Look at you, trying to rile up Katherine.”

“I just think she should serve those appetizers. I’m sure she wasn’t listening. She won’t even talk to me.”

“You’re better off not having her talk to you.”

“Garret, look. Harper’s parents are here.”

I follow Jade’s gaze to the side of the living room where Kiefer is talking to my dad. Kelly is next to him. Kiefer sees us and motions us to come over.

“There you are.” My dad puts his hand on my shoulder. “I was looking for you. In a few minutes I’m going to say a few words about your grandfather and I wanted you to stand up there with me.”

Is he serious? I don’t even want to be here. I can’t believe my dad can even find anything good to say about his father.

My dad is much better than me at putting on an act, pretending to be something he’s not. Tonight he’s playing the role of the grieving son who loved his father and is hosting this event to pay tribute to this wonderful man. Fucking ridiculous. Why not just tell the truth? Tell everyone how he killed my mom and tried to kill Jade. That’s the man he was and that’s how he should be remembered.

“Yeah, okay,” I say, agreeing to stand next to him. But I’m not happy about it. I’m only doing this for my dad.

“Garret, we’re very sorry about your grandfather.” Kelly sounds sincere when she says it. I think she’s a nice person, so I don’t know why she’s going along with her husband’s plan to join the organization. She has to know it’ll destroy her family. It already has. Harper’s not even talking to her parents anymore.

Kiefer gives his condolences as well, then both of them say hello to Jade.

“How is Harper doing?” Jade asks. “Is her shoulder better? I haven’t talked to her for days.”

There goes Jade, stirring up trouble. She keeps hoping she can fix this thing with Harper and Sean, and now she wants to fix Harper’s relationship with her parents. I know she means well, but she can’t keep interfering like this.

“It’s a long recovery for that type of injury,” Kelly says. “But she’s getting better each day.”

“That’s good.” Jade’s eyes keep darting over to Kiefer. He seems uncomfortable. He keeps swishing his liquor around in his glass, the ice cubes clinking against the sides.

“If you’ll excuse us,” my dad says, “I’m going to go say a few words.”

Kiefer nods at him. “Of course. Go ahead.”

My dad’s hand remains on my shoulder as we go and stand by the easel that holds the photo of my grandfather.

My dad lowers his voice and speaks by my ear. “You know how this works. Be serious when I’m serious and smile when I smile.”

“Yeah, I got it.”

“Do you want to say anything?”

I huff. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“We do what we need to do, Garret.”

“Well, I’m not doing that. This is all you.”

“May I have your attention, please?” My dad’s voice quiets the chattering in the room and it becomes silent. “Thank you all for coming. It’s been a very sad and difficult week for myself and my family and we appreciate you taking the time to be with us here tonight as we celebrate my father’s life and his many accomplishments.”

I almost roll my eyes. I actually felt myself starting to but forced myself to stop. My dad rambles on about how great my grandfather was and all the wonderful things he did. I tune it out. I can’t listen to the lies. Instead I peer out at the crowd of people gathered in front of me. I spot Grace and William in the back. Victoria isn’t with them. She’s standing next to a man I recognize from one of the financial news shows I watch. He works on Wall Street but that’s all I know about him. Victoria’s likely trying to assess his worth to decide if she should date him.

Kiefer and Kelly are standing next to Jade. Kiefer is rubbing his chin, then he rubs the rest of his face. Then he takes a swig of his alcohol. And another after that. He’s very fidgety tonight. Not the laid-back, relaxed Kiefer I’m used to.

I scan the rest of the room. I don’t know half of these people. Lilly isn’t around, which is good. She doesn’t need to hear my dad’s speech. It would just make her sadder.

“…and we can take comfort in knowing that he is now in a more peaceful place.” My dad finally stops talking.

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