Page 91 of Finding Us

“I’d like to live out here in California. I don’t know what town or city but somewhere along the coast.”

I feel my lips turn up before I can even speak.

Garret must know what that means because he says, “Let me guess. You want to live in California, too?”

“Yes, but I didn’t know that’s whatyouwanted. Why didn’t you say anything before?”

“Because we’re 19. Either one of us could change our mind by the time we’re ready to get a house.”

“I don’t think I’ll change my mind. I love living out here. I love the weather and the ocean. It’s perfect.”

“Then I guess that’s decided. That was easy.”

I laugh. “It was. We can go to bed now.” I yawn and scoot back into his chest.

He fastens his arm around me. “Jade.”

“What?”

“I love that you want to do this.”

“Do what?”

“Give away part of the money. Do something good with it. Most people would just want to spend it on themselves, especially when they’ve never had money before.”

“Like I said earlier, I don’t need a lot of stuff to be happy. Just you. And maybe some donuts. And pancakes. And potato chips.”

I hear him laughing. “Yeah. I know, Jade. And I’ll make sure you always have those things.”

“Oh, and Christmas lights. That’s it. I swear.”

“Got it.” He kisses the back of my head. “Goodnight, Mrs. Kensington.”

I smile again at my new name, then fall right to sleep.

When I wake up, the sun is shining, casting a soft glow inside the tent. I reach over to hug Garret, but he’s not there. I sit up and see that he’s not even in the tent. I pull the blanket around my naked body and crawl over to the opening of the tent, unzipping it.

“Garret? Are you out here?”

I don’t see him on the beach either. Where did he go? I crawl back inside and over to the bag of clothes Harper left for me.

“What are you doing?”

I turn around to see Garret standing there, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, holding two cups and a paper sack.

“I was getting dressed so I could go look for you. Where did you go?”

“I was getting breakfast.” He sets the sack down and hands me one of the cups of coffee.

“You went into town and left me alone in here? Naked?”

“No. I was only a few feet away, just around the alcove. Harper met me back there. She delivered our breakfast.”

“That was nice of her. Did you guys have that planned?” I sip my coffee.

“Yeah, but I wasn’t sure what time she should come over. I woke up at 9 and you were still sleeping so I went ahead and had her pick this up.”

“What’s in the sack?”

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