Page 102 of Finding Us

I smile because I love the new Pearce. And I love that he’s not letting Katherine have all the control anymore, especially when it comes to Lilly.

“Did you hear your dad just now?” I say quietly to Garret.

He doesn’t answer. He seems lost in thought.

“Garret? What’s wrong?”

“What?” His focus returns to me. “Nothing. Let’s eat.”

After lunch Garret and Sean set up a volleyball net in the sand and the guys play volleyball, except for Frank and Pearce. They sit on the deck and talk. It’s the first time the two of them have had a chance to talk for longer than a few minutes on the phone, so I leave them alone and hang out with Harper and Grace. Kelly and Lilly are running back and forth on the beach. Kelly bought Lilly a bright yellow kite and is showing her how it works because Lilly’s never had one.

“She’s so cute,” Harper says, as we watch Lilly try to run with the kite. “And so sweet. I just love her.”

The volleyball lands next to Harper’s chair and Sean races to get it, stopping to give Harper a kiss on the cheek.

“I want one of those,” Harper says, her eyes gazing out at the beach.

“One of what?” Sean laughs. “A volleyball? We’re kind of using it right now but you’re welcome to join the game.”

“No, one of those.” She points to Lilly.

All the color drains from Sean’s face. “Um, yeah, I’m not ready for one of those. Ask me again in a few years.”

She smiles and kisses him. “Okay. At least you didn’t say no.”

Sean takes off, tossing the volleyball to Ryan as he runs back to his place in the sand.

Grace takes a sip of her iced tea. “Lilly said she’ll be seven in a few weeks.”

Harper turns to me. “Why didn’t you tell me her birthday was coming up? I would’ve got her something.”

“You just met her. You don’t have to get her anything.”

“But I want to. I love buying little girl stuff.”

Grace pats Harper’s arm. “Then you’ll probably have little boys someday. That’s how it seems to work.”

She scrunches her face up. “Really? Because I don’t think I could handle boys.”

“You just have to send them outside to run around, burn off all that energy. Boys have a lot of energy.”

“Did you have boys?”

“Yes, two of them. No girls. But I have lots of granddaughters.”

For a moment I panic, thinking Grace is going to tell Harper that I’m her granddaughter. But instead she turns the topic back to Lilly.

“So, Jade, will you and Garret be going back to Connecticut for Lilly’s party?”

“No. Katherine doesn’t want us there.” I don’t need to explain. Both Grace and Harper know that Katherine’s a bitch.

“That’s too bad,” Grace says. “I’m sure Lilly would like you to be there.”

“Garret’s never missed her birthday so Lilly’s not going to be happy when she finds out.”

Harper jumps to the edge of her seat, her face lit up. “Let’s have a party here! We’ll give her an early birthday party.”

“We can’t. She leaves tomorrow for Anaheim, remember? Pearce is taking her to Disneyland.”

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