Page 73 of Finding Us

“Jade, you want anything?” Garret’s standing behind my chair.

“I’ll take a soda.” I tilt my head back for a kiss.

He kisses my forehead instead of my lips, then goes inside to get the drinks.

“Ryan! Look what you’ve done. Now he won’t even kiss me.”

“He kissed you. I just saw him.”

I roll my eyes.

While Garret’s inside getting the drinks, his dad arrives with Lilly and Grace. Lilly runs up to the deck, then stops when she sees the strangers sitting there.

“It’s okay, Lilly.” I go over and take her hand, leading her to the table. “This is Frank. And this is Ryan.”

They both say hello to her but she doesn’t say hi back. Instead she steps closer to me, hugging my side. She’s not good with strangers since her parents never let her out of the house.

“Is he your dad?” she asks, pointing at Frank.

“Yes.” I keep my eyes on Frank as I say it. “He’s my dad.” I’ve never said that out loud before. Frank gets a huge grin on his face.

“And Ryan is my brother,” I tell her.

She relaxes her arms a little. “Garret’smybrother,” she tells Ryan.

Ryan smiles at her. “Yeah, he told me all about you.”

“My brother’s a really fast swimmer.” She lets me go and talks to Ryan. “He was on a swim team and everything.”

Garret comes out with the drinks and sets them on the table. Then he picks up Lilly. “What did you do this morning?”

“Grace took me to the park and I climbed on the bars.”

“’Cause you’re a monkey?” He tickles her.

“I’m not a monkey.” She giggles and squirms until he puts her down.

Pearce helps Grace up the steps to the deck.

“Hello, everyone,” Pearce says. “You must be Frank.” He holds his hand out to Frank. “Pearce Kensington. Nice to finally meet you.”

Frank stands up and shakes his hand. “Nice to meet you as well.”

“And you must be Ryan.” Pearce extends his hand to him and they shake.

Ryan seems nervous. Itiskind of nerve-wracking to meet a billionaire who’s somewhat well-known. Plus, Pearce is intimidating with his deep voice and large stature.

“And this is Grace Sinclair.” Pearce steps aside and Grace shakes hands with Frank and Ryan.

“Nice to meet you both,” she says.

“And you as well,” Frank says as he gives her his chair.

“I’ll go get some more chairs.” Garret leaves and comes back with some folding chairs we borrowed from Harper. She and Sean come over as well and we do the introductions again. Harper’s parents show up around 5, making for a very crowded deck.

Sean and Garret set up a long table on the beach and we eat dinner out there. Sean made the entire meal after spending all day yesterday prepping food for the wedding. It’s so sweet of him to do all this for us.

Later that night, Garret makes a bonfire on the beach and we bring our chairs out and sit around it. Harper shows Lilly how to make s’mores. Lilly’s never had one before.

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