Lilly: A Kensington Family Novel

by Allie Everhart

  "No, he went to LA to see his mom. Hey, do you guys want to come up here tomorrow? Maybe we could all go to the beach and have a picnic."

  "Sure, we could do that. We'll get up there around eleven. Spend the afternoon. Maybe I'll bring my surfboard."

  "Reed surfs," I say, hoping it'll win him some points with Garret, who loves to surf.

  "Is he any good?"

  "He won some competitions when he was younger."

  "Garret, can you help me?" Jade asks in the background.

  "Yeah, I'm coming."

  "I'll let you go. See ya tomorrow."

  This is why it's great to have my family nearby. If I'm lonely or bored, they're just an hour away, or two hours for my dad and Rachel.

  It's only seven-thirty and I have nothing to do. I turn on the TV and flip through the channels.

  "Lilly?" It's a guy's voice and it's followed by knocking. "Are you in there?"

  I open the door. It's Preston.

  "What are you doing here, Preston?"

  He walks past me into my room. "I wanted to talk to you."

  I remain at the door. "We're done talking. It's Saturday night. Shouldn't you be at a party?"

  "Where's Reed?"

  "He went home this weekend, not that it's any of your business."

  "You're really going to keep dating that guy?"

  "Yes, now go."

  "Lilly, please. You need to give me a second chance. I admit, I screwed up, but I won't do it again." He puts his hand on my shoulder. "Come on. Let's go out tonight and just talk."

  I shove his hand away. "What is your obsession with me? You could have any girl on campus. Why me?"

  "Because you're not like other girls. You aren't obsessed with your looks. You aren't shallow. You're interesting to talk to. And you're a talented artist."

  "You should've realized all that when we were going out. Now it's too late."

  "It's not too late. If you'd just—"

  "When did you see my artwork?"

  "What?" He scrunches up his face in confusion.

  "My artwork. You said I'm a talented artist, but you've never even seen my artwork."

  "That's not true."

  "Describe one of my drawings. Or paintings."

  He thinks. "A tree. You drew a tree."

  "What tree?"

  He throws his hands up. "How the hell should I know? I'm not a tree expert."

  Now the real Preston is coming out. The one who blows up with anger for no reason.

  "I never showed that drawing to you. You just said I was talented to suck up to me. You're a liar, Preston. You say whatever you need to say to get what you want."

  "Fine. So I didn't see your artwork, but I can tell you're talented."

  I sigh. "Are we done yet? Because I have things to do."

  "That guy isn't right for you. He'll cheat on you. Lie to you."

  "No, Preston. That's what you would do. Now if you don't leave, I'm calling campus security."

  "You'll be sorry you didn't listen to me," he says as he walks out.

  I shut the door and lock it and stay in my room the rest of the night.

  On Sunday, Garret and Jade and the kids arrive and we go to the beach. After our picnic lunch, I build sandcastles with the girls while Garret surfs and Jade keeps watch on the twins.

  Around three, Reed texts me and says he's back in town, so I invite him to meet us at the beach and to bring his surfboard. I hadn't planned on introducing Reed to my family today, but they're here so I might as well get it over with. Besides, Garret's more likely to accept Reed if they go surfing together.

  When Reed shows up, Jade and I are sitting on beach chairs while Garret plays with the kids. Reed's still a ways away, walking down the beach in board shorts and a t-shirt.

  I nudge Jade. "That guy's cute, isn't he?"

  "He's more than cute," she says. "He's hot."

  I laugh. "That's Reed." I get up and wave at him. "Over here!"

  Garret hears me and his eyes dart to Reed. Here we go. Let the inquisition begin.

  Jade goes over and shakes Reed's hand. "Hi, I'm Jade."

  "Nice to meet you." He smiles at her. "I'm Reed."

  "Lilly said you're an art major."

  "Yeah. I've wanted to be an artist for as long as I can remember." The breeze blows his hair on his forehead and when he moves it back I notice the thick, black leather band around his wrist, hiding his tattoo. He wears that sometimes, but I wonder if he put it on today because he knew he was meeting my family and wanted to cover up the tattoo.

  "I'm Garret." He appears next to Jade, holding Miles with one arm and shaking Reed's hand with the other.

  "Hi." Reed seems a little nervous, probably because Garret is glaring at him.

  I introduce Reed to Abi and Hanna, but they're too busy building a sandcastle to come over and say hi.

  "Where's your surfboard?" Garret asks him.

  "I left it in the car. I wasn't sure if you'd want to surf or not."

  "Go get it. We can go out for a while."

  "Sounds good. I'll go change into my wetsuit. Meet you back here in a few minutes."

  I walk to the parking lot with Reed. "My brother's going to ask you a million questions while you two are out in the water. That's why he asked you to surf."

  "That's fine." He glances back at the beach. "They can't see us." He draws me into his arms and kisses me. "I missed you."

  I smile. "I missed you too."

  "I've gotta go back to LA next weekend. And maybe the one after that."

  "Why? What happened?" We continue walking to the parking lot.

  "My mom has a new boyfriend and I don't trust him. I think he might be dealing drugs."

  "You shouldn't be around that. Can't your uncle handle it?"

  "He doesn't have time. He's been working extra hours."

  "Reed, you can't keep doing this. She's going to get in trouble and drag you down with her."

  "She's my mom. What am I supposed to do? Let her be homeless? Go to jail?"

  "If that's what it takes to wake her up, then yeah. She'll never sober up if you keep saving her every time she messes up."

  "It's not that easy. You should know that, given your own mom issues."

  While Reed was in LA, I called and told him about my mom inviting me home for Christmas and how she was just using me for her own benefit.

  "My mom isn't hanging out with drug dealers. If she was, I'd stay away from her."

  "You say that, but it's different when it's your life and not someone else's." He takes his wetsuit and surfboard from the Jeep. "I can't just abandon her."

  "I'm sorry it didn't go well," I say, hugging him.

  "I feel better now that I'm with you." He kisses me and I hold onto him, not wanting him to stop. We keep kissing until someone's car alarm goes off, startling us. "We better go."

  We walk back to the beach. Reed goes into the men's restroom to change while I return to Jade and the kids.

  She smiles. "What took you so long?"

  "It didn't take long."

  "Were you two kissing in the parking lot?"

  I laugh. "Stop it. I don't want Garret hearing."

  "He can't hear us. He's out there." She nods toward the water where Garret is bobbing up and down on his surfboard. "Reed seems nice. He's better than that Preston guy we met."

  "Yeah. Way better."

  "Aunt Lilly has a boyfriend," Hannah sings as she runs up to me with Abi following behind.

  "You better not kiss him," Abi says. "Daddy says you can't kiss a boy until you're really old."

  "Like how old?" I ask her.

  She shrugs. "Fifty?"

  I look at Jade. "You need to get your husband to stop telling them this stuff."

  "I gave up on that long ago." She pulls Ethan onto her lap and notices Miles running off toward the water. "Lilly, would you grab him?"

  Before I can get to him, Reed does. He drops his surfboard and scoops Miles up before he reaches the water.r />
  "Thanks," I say, catching up to them.

  "No problem."

  "Daddy!" Miles spots Garret coming out of the water.

  "I'll take him," Garret says as Reed hands him over. "Thanks for catching him. He's always running off like that. And the kid's fast."

  "Yeah, I noticed. Maybe he'll run track someday."

  "I'm hoping he'll be a swimmer like the rest of the family."

  As he says it, I realize I haven't gone swimming since I started college. I need to get to the pool. Even today I'm not swimming. I didn't even wear a swimsuit; just shorts and a tank top.

  "Keep an eye on him." Garret hands me Miles. "Or better yet, tie him to your wrist so he can't run off again."

  "I got him." I kiss Miles' chubby cheek and he hugs me.

  Reed's watching me, smiling.

  "You ready?" Garret asks as he picks up his surfboard.

  "Yeah." Reed grabs his board and follows Garret into the water.

  They surf for the next hour. Reed is better than Garret, taking on larger waves and riding them to shore. I can tell Garret's impressed. He's a decent surfer but not as good as Reed. Then again, he hasn't been surfing as long as Reed has.

  While they were waiting for waves, I noticed the two of them talking. I wonder what Garret said to Reed. I almost don't want to know.

  "You think they're getting along?" I ask Jade as we watch them come out of the water.

  "I think Garret likes him. He's smiling and he doesn't look tense."

  Garret and Reed walk up to us.

  "We should probably get going," Garret says. "Get the kids fed."

  Miles is now asleep on my shoulder and Ethan is sleeping on Jade. Abi and Hannah are playing in the sand.

  "We should eat something before we leave," Jade says. "Why don't we stop and get pizza?" She looks at Reed. "Do you want to join us?"

  "Sure." Reed smiles at me. "As long as Lilly doesn't mind me tagging along."

  "I don't mind, but I'm warning you now that eating dinner with two toddlers is not exactly quiet."

  "They just had a nap," Jade says. "They'll be fine."

  The guys go change out of their wetsuits, then we all go to a pizza place for dinner. Garret is no longer glaring at Reed, so that's a good sign. In fact, he seems to like him. Jade does too. And Abi and Hannah like him because he laughs at their jokes, even though the jokes aren't that funny.

  Reed fits into our family way better than Preston would. And Reed's polite. He even tried to give Garret money towards the bill. Garret wouldn't take it, but I could tell he was impressed that Reed offered. A lot of guys wouldn't.

  After dinner, Reed leaves in his Jeep and I ride back to campus with Jade and Garret and the kids. Once everyone says their goodbyes, Garret takes me aside.

  "Reed seems like an okay guy, but I still want you to be careful."

  "Yeah, I got it."

  He holds my shoulders. "Lilly, I'm not joking around. I can see that you really like this guy and I don't want that clouding your judgment."

  "It's not."

  "Just don't go too fast. Take time to get to know him."

  "I will."

  He hugs me. "Love you."

  "Love you too."

  Garret has nothing to worry about. Reed's a good guy. And after seeing him with my family, I like him even more.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  The next week, my life gets a lot busier. I have assignments to work on and tests to study for, and at night I hang out with Reed and we study together or work on our art.

  By Friday, I'm exhausted and just want to go to sleep. But I'm going out with Reed because tomorrow he's driving to LA to check on his mom and won't be back until Sunday. While he's gone, I'll be hanging out with my dad and Rachel. It's parents' weekend and they'll be arriving in the morning.

  Reed and I decided to go to a party tonight. Well, he wanted to go to a movie but I wanted to go to the party, so he agreed to it. The party is on the beach so it sounded better than a house party. Those are always too crowded and hot.

  "Do you like this?" I spin around, showing off my dress. It's a casual halter dress that hangs straight and ends just above the knee. It's a dark coral color and I paired it with some cute wedge sandals, a row of bracelets lining my wrist.

  "I like it, but so will every other guy." Reed's arms circle my waist and he leaves kisses along my exposed shoulder. "I don't want other guys looking at you."

  "It'll be dark. They won't even notice."

  "Believe me. They'll notice. You look gorgeous."

  "Thanks."

  He looks good too, wearing dark jeans and a black v-neck t-shirt that fits snug to his lean chest and muscular shoulders.

  He nuzzles my neck. "God, you smell good. And feel good." His hand slides down my dress, just under the hem, his fingers brushing against the back of my thigh.

  Our make-out sessions have become more heated the past week, but Reed always lets me decide how far we'll go and when to stop. As much as I like him, I'm not ready to go all the way and may not be for a while.

  "Are you sure you don't want to stay here?" he asks, his warm breath tickling my ear. "Skip the party?"

  He's been saying this all week. He really doesn't want to go—to this, or any party. But I can't figure out why.

  "Reed?"

  "Yeah?" he asks, his lips grazing my neck.

  "Can I ask you something?"

  "Go ahead." He kisses me.

  I laugh. "You have to stop doing that so I can ask."

  He pulls back. "Okay, what is it?"

  "Why do you hate parties so much?"

  "I don't hate them. I'd just rather not go to them."

  "Why? Because you don't drink?"

  "Mostly, yeah. And I'm not looking to find a girl, so there's no reason to go."

  "Why don't you drink? Is it because of your mom? You're worried you'll become an alcoholic?"

  "Yeah." He lets go of me and walks away, rubbing his jaw, his head down.

  "Reed, what's wrong?"

  "It's not entirely true."

  "What isn't?"

  He turns around to face me. "The reason I don't drink."

  "Then what's the reason?"

  "I don't want to tell you. But I also don't want to lie to you." He pauses, his eyes on mine. "You know what's strange?"

  "What?"

  "I've never had a problem keeping secrets. When I was a kid, I lied about my mom. Told everyone she was the greatest mom ever. I never wanted anyone to know what my life was really like. I still don't. But then I met you and I find myself wanting to tell you everything. I never should've told you that my uncle covered up all the shit my mom's done. If you ever told the police that, my uncle would go to prison. He'd lose his job. Probably his family."

  "I'd never tell anyone that."

  "I know you wouldn't, which is maybe why I feel like I can tell you this."

  "Tell me what?"

  "My uncle didn't just cover up for my mom. He also covered up something I did."

  "What did you do?"

  He hesitates, looking down at the floor. "When I was 15, I got drunk and stole my mom's car and went for a joy ride. I was going way too fast and swerved into the other lane and almost slammed head-on into a car. Instead, I nicked the bumper and the guy in the car swerved and hit a telephone pole. He wasn't going very fast, but still, I knew there was a possibility he was injured. I panicked and sped off and called my uncle and told him what happened. He told me to drive home, put the car in the garage and wait. So I did. My mom was passed out on the couch. I was a freaking mess. Threw up at least three times, not from the alcohol but from what I'd done."

  "Was the guy okay?"

  "The windshield shattered and some of the glass hit his face so he had to get stitches. Other than that he was okay. When my uncle questioned the guy, he said it all happened so fast that he didn't see the car that hit him so he wasn't able to identify me."

  "So your uncle was at the scene of the crash?"

/>   "He wasn't on duty, but he told his boss he was driving by and stopped to help. He checked for any evidence that might link back to me but there wasn't any. It was ruled a hit-and-run. If someone had seen me or if my uncle had reported me, my life right now would be totally different. I would've been charged with underage drinking, driving while intoxicated, driving without a license, speeding, and the list goes on. I'd have a criminal record. I wouldn't be going to college. I'd be lucky if I could even get a job. That's why my uncle didn't turn me in. He knew it would destroy the rest of my life. I'd have no future. But he said that was my one and only get-out-of-jail-free card. After that, if I screwed up, I'd be treated like anyone else would."

  "So it never happened again?"

  "No. That incident scared me straight. I haven't had alcohol since. Not one drop." He looks down, then up again. "I was never an alcoholic. It never got to that point. So I can be around alcohol without wanting a drink. But being surrounded by drunk people takes me back to that night. I remember stumbling around my kitchen, looking for my mom's keys. Mumbling words but not making sense. Then driving..." His voice trails off.

  "Reed, we can skip the party. I didn't realize how hard this is for you."

  "That's the thing. When you're with me, that night doesn't take over my thoughts. I'm able to breathe. Relax. Focus on you instead of the drunk people around me."

  "We've only been to that one party and I wasn't even with you. I was with Preston."

  "Yeah, but you left him and hung out with me. Before that, I wasn't doing so well. I was feeling anxious and just wanted to leave. But then you came over and we talked and all I could think about was you. The beautiful girl I saw under the tree."

  I don't respond because I'm trying to decide how I feel about this. He committed a crime and got away with it. That bothers me. But it was in the past and he still feels bad about it, so maybe I should forget it and move on. At least he was honest enough to tell me.

  "Lilly." He holds my hands. "Tell me what you're thinking. Are you mad at me? Ashamed of me? Don't want to see me anymore?"

  "No. I'm just surprised."

  "Maybe I shouldn't have told you. But I want you to know me. All of me. The good and the bad. I've never been this honest with someone, but I want to be honest with you. I don't want secrets between us. Secrets keep people apart and destroy relationships. I want to be open with you, even with things that don't make me look so good."