Page 48 of Lilly

"You're right," I tell him. "I'd do the same thing."

My mom rolls her eyes. "You two are terrible. Reed is a nice young man and he loves Lilly very much. And Lilly loves him."

"They're too young to be in love," my dad says. "I don't want Lilly getting serious with a boy at this age."

"But it was okay for our son?" my mom asks, smiling up at my dad. "You do remember that Garret was married at 19."

"Those were different circumstances. He had to get married. If he hadn't, they might've—" He stops, not wanting to bring up the organization, but what he was going to say is that if I'd waited to marry Jade, there's a chance they would've tried to stop it. Even though they said I was released from my obligation, I didn't trust them and neither did my dad. "It's not the same for Lilly."

"I would've married Jade then anyway," I say. "I loved her, so why wait?"

"Don't tell Lilly that," my dad says. "I don't want her getting any ideas."

"She's in no hurry to get married," my mom says. "But they have talked about it."

"They have?" my dad and I ask in unison.

"It's not that surprising. They've dated for almost a year. Pearce, you should really try to get to know Reed's father. I know we've met him for dinner a few times but you should meet with him one-on-one. Get to know him better."

"I doubt that will change my opinion of him."

"Has he asked you to do more favors for him?" I ask.

"No. Not since that time he asked about Kiefer."

"What ever happened with that? Did he call Kiefer himself?"

"I'm not sure. I haven't spoken to Kiefer in months."

"You should come with us to L.A. on Wednesday," my mom says to my dad. "You could drop Lilly and me off at Kelly's fashion show and then go have lunch with Dean."

"I suppose I could do that," he says with a sigh. "If I must. I'll give him a call and see if he's available."

"You should also call Katherine." My mom's tone turns serious. "I don't want her just showing up here, especially after Lilly told her not to."

"Katherine's coming here?" I ask.

Before they can answer, Hannah comes running in, dripping wet from the pool. She stops in front of my mom. "Grandma, will you come swim with us?"

"Yes, sweetie. I'll be right there."

"Will you come right now?" She pulls on her hand. "We're playing a game and it's girls against boys. If you come, we'll have more girls and beat the boys."

My dad smiles at my mom. "Go ahead. I'm going to stay here and talk to Garret."

I take the towel that's around Hannah's waist and wrap it around her sopping wet hair that's left a big puddle on the floor. "Hannah, you gotta dry off better before coming inside. You don't want people to slip on the wet floor."

"Sorry," she says, sounding sad, her big blue eyes looking up at me.

Abi and Hannah are the sweetest little girls. They're caring and polite but also super sensitive so I have to watch what I say or they take it the wrong way. I made that one comment about drying off and now Hannah thinks I'm mad at her.

"It's okay." I kiss her cheek and hand her the towel. "Go back out to the pool. But don't run on the wet floor. Walk out with Grandma."

She does as I say, holding my mom's hand and stepping carefully across the wet floor. For the most part, Hannah and Abi do whatever Jade and I say. They like pleasing us, so if we tell them to do something, they listen. The boys are the complete opposite. They're always doing things they know they shouldn't, with Ethan instigating the trouble and Miles following along. They're still really young so I'm hoping it's just a phase they'll grow out of.

When my mom and Hannah are gone, my dad and I go over to the table and sit down.

"So what's going on with Katherine?" I ask.

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