Page 47 of Always Us

“He’d take us to the tree farm and chop it down and get it set up in the stand. Then my mom would do the lights and I’d help her with the ornaments. My dad doesn’t like doing that stuff.”

“Did your grandfather? I mean, was he into Christmas?”

Garret stops stringing the lights.

“I’m sorry, Garret. I shouldn’t have asked.”

He starts weaving lights into another branch. “He’s never been into Christmas. My grandmother isn’t really either. She has her staff decorate the house for her and everything’s very formal. The tree at their house looks just like the one at my dad’s house. White lights and glass ornaments.”

Garret’s now at the very top of the tree. He tucks the end of the light strand behind a branch and stands back. “Done. Hit the lights and we’ll see how it looks.”

I turn off the overhead lights.

Garret puts his foot on the switch that turns on the power strip, but doesn’t turn it on. “You want to do a drumroll like on Christmas Vacation?”

I laugh. “No, that’s okay. Go ahead.”

He turns the switch and the room fills with a warm glow. The tree is amazing. Garret’s trick for stringing the lights worked great. Lights sparkle from both the inside and the outside of the tree.

“That’s the blinking version,” he says. “I could put it on steady if you want.”

“Leave it on the blinking. I like how it looks all sparkly.”

He comes over and hugs me, my back against his chest, and we gaze at the lights. The Christmas music is still playing, making the scene even more magical. This night is one of those memories I’ll tuck away and take out again when I want to relive it. Because I’ll definitely want to relive it. It’s perfect.

“I love you, Garret.” I lean my head back, checking out the top of the tree.

“I love you, too.” He kisses my forehead.

And we remain there, listening to the music and watching the twinkling lights. Later, when we go to bed, we leave the tree on so we can see the warm glow of the lights from the bedroom. It’s calming and I fall right to sleep.

The next day I get up early because I have chem class at eight. I only have two classes on Tuesdays, but they’re spread out in the morning and afternoon, so I end up staying on campus all day, doing homework between classes, either at the library or at the coffee shop.

Garret usually sleeps in because he doesn’t have class until ten, but today he got up with me. When I get out of the shower, I go in the bedroom and see him checking his phone.

“Any update?” I ask him. Every morning and all day long, he checks his messages to see if there are any updates about his grandfather.

“He’s the same. No change.”

Yesterday, Holton was moved to the clinic, the special medical facility that only rich, important people have access to. Garret said the clinic has several locations but he didn’t tell me which one his grandfather is at, and I didn’t ask.

Garret’s acting strange about this whole thing and I’ve decided not to force him to talk about it. He’s not ready to. He needs time to work this out in his head. He has a complicated relationship with his grandfather and I think he’s struggling to figure out how he feels right now.

“Did you hear from your grandmother?” I ask him.

“No.” He keeps his eyes on his phone. “She has too much going on. She doesn’t have time to call me.”

I’m dressed now and I go over to the bed and kiss his cheek. “I have to go.”

He kisses me back. “Have a good day.” He focuses back on his phone.

I rub my hand along his scruffy cheek. “Garret, I know I keep asking you this, but are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

I wait for him to look up, and when he does, he says, “Jade, stop worrying about me. I’m fine. I really am. I know what’s going to happen and I’m prepared for it. It’s okay. He’s old. It’s not like I thought he’d live forever.” He kisses me. “Go to class. I love you.”

I hug him. “I love you, too.”

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