Page 139 of Lilly

"They might," Garret says. "He's a total flirt. Always blowing kisses at girls."

"I still don't know where he learned that," Jade says.

Reed puts Ethan down and he runs over to my dad. "Grandpa, can we stay with you tonight?"

He smiles. "I suppose you could but you have to ask your parents."

"You can have them," Garret says.

Jade kiddingly swats at him. "Don't say it like that." She smiles at my dad. "You don't have to. You can tell him no."

"We'd love to have them," Rachel says, picking up Ethan.

"We get to stay at Grandma's house?" Hannah asks, jumping up and down in front of Jade.

"I guess so." She looks at my parents. "You sure about this?"

"We're happy to take them," my dad says, as Abi goes over and hugs him.

"Awesome," Garret says. "We get a free night," he says to Jade. "We should go somewhere."

"We totally should." She sounds as excited as Hannah just did. When you have four kids, a night without them is very exciting. "Where should we go?"

Garret thinks a moment, then smiles. "I got some ideas. I'll tell you later."

She smiles back as he kisses her. I don't even want to know what those two are going to do. After all these years of marriage, they're still like newlyweds. If they're not careful, they're going to end up with another kid.

"Let's finish up here so we can go," Garret says, anxious for his night alone with Jade.

"You're not going to stay after we're done?" I ask.

"Yeah, right," he says. "We know you're dying to get rid of us."

It's true. I love my family but I want them to hurry up and leave so I can finally be alone with Reed.

I haven't seen him much since his dad died. He's been too busy trying to deal with the aftermath. My dad was a huge help. He hired people to clean out the apartment and get rid of Dean's stuff. He also hired someone to help with the funeral. Reed was able to have input but the details were taken care of by someone else so he didn't have to worry about it.

Reed's mom is in jail, awaiting a trial. From the evidence, it's obvious she killed Dean, but she refuses to plead guilty so now Reed will have to endure a trial and serve as a witness against his mom. It's more stress that he doesn't need but his mom doesn't care. She'll do anything to try to save herself.

As for my own mom, I haven't heard from her since that day she asked me to go shopping. That was in July so it's been a while. But I've made it clear I don't want to talk to her so maybe she's finally listening. Or maybe she just can't find a use for me anymore so has decided to pretend I don't exist. When she thinks I can benefit her again, she'll call me up.

An hour later, all my stuff is in my dorm and my family heads home.

"We're finally alone," I say, lying on my unmade bed.

Reed stands next to it. "What do you want to do? Get something to eat? Go to the bookstore? Unpack your stuff?"

"Are you kidding? We're finally alone!"

"Meaning what?"

I laugh and reach up to yank on his t-shirt. "Get down here and kiss me."

He smiles as he lays over me. "There's no rush. We have all year."

"You seriously want to wait?"

"Hell no." He breathes the words over my lips, then kisses me as he presses his body into mine. And moments later, clothes have been tossed aside and we're finally together again. Without worrying about parents walking in. Without worrying about them coming home early. Without worrying they'll hear us. There are many perks of going to college, but being alone without parental supervision? That might be the best one.

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