Page 104 of Finding Us

“Not good. She’s really upset. Garret wants you to go in there.”

Pearce goes inside. A few minutes later Garret comes out.

I’m sitting on the steps. “What happened?”

“He’s talking to her.” Garret sits next to me. “It shouldn’t be this way. I should be able to go to my sister’s birthday party.”

“I’m sorry, Garret.” I slip my hand in his.

“It’s not your fault. It’s my grandfather’s and Katherine’s. It’s like my dad said, the two of them act like spoiled kids. If they don’t get their way, they throw a fit so everyone does what they say just to avoid all the drama they cause.”

“There wouldn’t be all this drama if it weren’t for me.”

“That’s not it, Jade. My grandfather is mad about more than me marrying you. And Katherine hated me long before you came along.”

The door behind us pops open and Lilly comes out with Pearce right behind her.

“Guess what?” She’s smiling, so that’s a good sign.

“What?” Garret asks.

“Daddy’s taking me to Disneyland!”

“That’s great, Lilly.”

She runs off to tell Harper.

“That’s one way to make a kid happy,” Garret says.

“It’s only temporary,” Pearce says. “When we get home, I’m sure she’ll be upset again. But she has to understand that you have your own life now and can’t be at every birthday party or every holiday. She just needs time to accept that.”

We walk over and join everyone around the bonfire. We stay there until the fire burns out just before midnight. Then we say our goodbyes because everyone’s heading home in the morning, except Frank and Ryan, who aren’t leaving until tomorrow night.

Once everyone’s gone, Garret and I go inside and up to our room. I’m so tired I change into a t-shirt to sleep in, then collapse into bed.

Garret’s already there. He pulls me against him and kisses me. “It’s our first night at home as a married couple.”

“I know, and I’d love to have sex with you but I’m too tired right now. Today was a really long day.”

“I’m tired, too. Let’s just go to sleep.”

We lie there a couple minutes and then I bolt up, throwing the covers back. “Garret!”

“What?” He sounds groggy, like he might have been sleeping. “What’s wrong?”

“Did you hear us just now? We just said we’re too tired to have sex. That’s something old married couples say. We’ve only been married for one day! This can’t happen to us yet!”

He laughs as he rubs his eyes. “What are you saying? You want to have sex?”

“We don’t have a choice. We have to!” I rip my t-shirt off. “We can’t be that couple who says they’re too tired to have sex. Not now! Not for a really long time. Maybe never!” I push on him. “Get naked. We’ll make it a quickie and then we’ll go to sleep.”

“You’re crazy, you know that?” He’s still laughing as he shoves the covers all the way back. “And you’re kind of a bossy wife.”

“Whatever. Just hurry up and get naked.”

He takes his pajama pants off, which is all he’s wearing. Then he lies on his side and hauls me into him, his hand gripping my hip as his lips brush against mine. “If we’re doing this, we’re doing it right. My wife deserves more than a quickie.”

I smile. “Works for me.”

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