Page 115 of Finding Us

I nudge him, “Garret, are you ready to go?”

He looks up. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

That night in bed, Garret keeps tossing and turning and it’s keeping me awake.

“Do you want to switch sides?” I ask him. “You don’t seem to like that side.”

“It’s not that. I just can’t sleep. I keep wondering why my mom never told me she had a sister.”

“Like Grace said, it was hard for your mom to talk about.”

“Then why didn’t my dad tell me?”

“Maybe he just didn’t think about it.”

“I wish he’d tell me more about my mom.”

“Why don’t you just ask him?”

“Because when I ask him, he doesn’t give me answers.”

“You should try again. He gave you those photos of her. Maybe he’s more willing to talk about her now.”

“Maybe.” Garret hugs me and gives me a kiss. “I’ll stop moving around so you can sleep. Goodnight. I love you.”

* * *

In the morningwe have breakfast with Grace before we leave. Grace insists we take some flowers home, so she goes out back to cut some while I clean up the breakfast dishes. While she’s out there, the phone rings. I peek my head out the back door. “Grace, your phone’s ringing.”

“Go ahead and answer it. I’ll be right in.”

I pick up the phone in the kitchen. “Hello.”

“Who’s this?” It’s a girl’s voice. It sounds familiar.

I realize who it is and start to panic. I race over to Garret, who’s sitting at the table reading the newspaper. I shove the paper down and point to the phone as I put it on speaker.

“Are you there?” she asks.

“Yes. I’m here. Grace is outside. She’ll be here in a minute.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m um. . .” I look at Garret. I don’t know what to say.

Garret takes the phone. “That was Jade. Hey, Sadie. How’s your summer going?”

“Garret? What are you doing there?”

“My dad and Lilly were staying here for a few days so Jade and I came to see them. My dad took some time off after the wedding to do stuff with Lilly. He took her to Disney and then we had an early birthday party for her here at Grace’s house.”

Garret uses a calm, casual tone. He’s so good under pressure. He heard Sadie’s voice and just talked to her like a normal human being, unlike me who panicked and had no words. Sadie must think I’m a total idiot, unable to even say my own name when she asked who it was.

“I heard about the wedding,” Sadie says. “It was a week ago, right?”

“Yes, it was on the beach.”

“So I guess I should say congratulations.”

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