Forever You

by Allie Everhart

  “Why is Grace coming here so early?”

  “She didn’t want to drive herself so I invited her to come with us.”

  “Couldn’t you just pick her up the morning of the wedding? Santa Barbara isn’t that far away.”

  “Yes, but she’s going to babysit Lilly for me while I attend to some business.”

  “Oh. That’s too bad you have to work while you’re here.” I laugh. “As the owner of the company you should give yourself a week off.”

  He hesitates, then says, “Yes, well, there’s always work to be done.”

  From his tone I get the feeling that the work he’s referring to isn’t company work. It must be something related to the organization. What are they making him do? And does he have to do it a few days before my wedding? I don’t feel good about this. In fact I’m feeling really sick right now.

  “Jade, are you still there?”

  “Yes. I’m here.”

  “Lilly wanted to say hi quick. I’m going to give her the phone.”

  “Hi, Jade!” she says in her tiny kid voice. “I miss you!”

  “I miss you, too.”

  “I made you a picture of all of us in the pool with fireworks in the sky.”

  “That’s great, Lilly. Make sure you bring it with you when you come out here.”

  “I will. Dad says I have to go. Bye!”

  Pearce gets back on the phone. “She’s excited about the wedding. She’s been practicing throwing flowers. I got her some fake petals.”

  “Pink ones,” she yells in the background.

  “I need to be going, Jade. I’m taking Lilly to her ballet lesson today because Katherine is out of town. We’ll talk soon. Tell Garret I said hello.”

  “Okay, bye.”

  I hang up, still not believing how much Pearce has changed. I wonder if it will last or if he’ll eventually go back to being his old self.

  A few minutes later, Garret comes down the stairs. “What did my dad say?”

  “That he’s coming out here this Saturday.”

  “A whole week before the wedding?”

  “Yeah, he’s going to Santa Barbara to stay with Grace for a few days.”

  He looks surprised. “Really?”

  “I know. It’s weird, isn’t it?”

  He walks into the kitchen and opens the fridge. “I guess not. He’s known her family for years and he got to be good friends with Arlin last spring.”

  “He said he’s bringing Grace to the wedding but that they’re coming here next Tuesday. Grace is babysitting Lilly while your dad works. But I don’t think he meant work for Kensington Chemical. I think he meant work related to the organization.”

  “Whatever. I don’t want to know.” Garret starts rummaging through the fridge, moving stuff around on the shelves. “That’s his thing to deal with, not ours, and I don’t want you even thinking about it. He shouldn’t have even mentioned it to you.”

  “He didn’t. I’m just guessing that’s what he meant.”

  My cell phone rings and I see that it’s Harper. “Hey, Harper. Are you in San Francisco yet?”

  “Not yet. We stopped to eat. Hey, can you make sure I locked the door to our place? I thought Sean locked it and he thought I did so now I don’t know if it’s locked.”

  “Sure, I’ll go check.”

  “Thanks. Oh, and my dad just called. He and my mom are driving up next Tuesday. He said they’re staying at the same hotel that Garret’s dad is staying at. My dad has to do something for work, so Mom and I are going shopping Wednesday.” I hear dishes clanging in the background. “Our food’s here, so I’ll call you later.”

  “Okay, bye.” We hang up and I go stand next to Garret in the kitchen. “Harper just said her parents are driving up here next Tuesday and that her dad has to work while he’s here.”

  Garret grabs his keys from the counter. “Yeah. So why are you giving me that look?”

  “Don’t you think that’s strange? Both her dad and your dad have to work? And they’re staying at the same hotel?”

  “No. They both work a lot and there aren’t many hotels in this town.”

  “I guess.”

  “Jade. What did I say about worrying about shit? Whatever my dad’s doing is not your concern.” Garret threads his hand with mine and pulls me toward the door.

  “Where are we going?”

  “To the store. We’re out of milk. Actually we’re out of a lot of stuff.”

  Before I go to the car, I check Harper’s door to make sure it’s locked. It is, so I text her and let her know. She worries about stuff almost as much as I do. She didn’t used to, but I think the past few months my worrying rubbed off on her.

  Garret and I get in my convertible and head to the grocery store. We never have a list. We just wander the aisles and toss whatever looks good in the cart.

  I like grocery shopping with Garret. It makes me feel like we’re already married, just doing our normal routine. Last year, if I heard myself say that, I would’ve thought I’d lost my mind. Grocery shopping makes me feel married? And this is a feeling I want? It’s crazy! But now I wouldn’t have it any other way.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  14

  We start in the produce section and Garret places a bag of oranges in our cart along with some bananas. Then he picks out some apples.

  “Okay, Garret. I think we have plenty of fruit.”

  He sets the apples in the cart, kissing my cheek. “You need to eat better.”

  “I know. You tell me that every day. But I can’t eat all that fruit. It’s too much.”

  “It’s not too much.” He gets behind me and pushes the cart forward, pushing me along with it. “You’re supposed to eat four or five pieces of fruit a day.”

  “Are you serious?” I watch as he takes a plastic produce bag from the dispenser. “Who the hell eats that much fruit?”

  “I do.” He shakes the plastic bag open and fills it with green grapes. “I eat fruit at least five times a day.”

  “You do?” I stare at him. “How do I not know this?”

  “Because you don’t pay attention. I always have it at breakfast and in the afternoon for a snack and usually after dinner.”

  “Huh.” Now that I think of it, he does eat fruit at almost every meal.

  He drops a bag of lettuce in the cart, then picks up two avocados.

  I sigh. “Not the green vegetables.”

  “Technically, an avocado is a fruit,” he says as he hands them to me.

  “It’s still green.”

  He laughs. “I swear. You’re worse than a little kid. I’m going to make you eat better whether you like it or not.” He comes around the cart and kisses me. “I want you around for a very long time.”

  I hug him, not even caring that we’re in the grocery store with people watching. “I appreciate your efforts, but I’m still getting pudding cups. And potato chips. And chocolate cereal. And those donuts with the—”

  “Jade?” He pulls back, smiling.

  I smile back. “Okay, I’ll skip the donuts.”

  We finish our shopping, ending up with a cartful of mostly healthy foods. I really don’t mind that Garret’s trying to improve my diet. I think it’s kind of sweet. And he never forces me to eat anything I don’t like. In fact, he keeps trying to find ways to make vegetables taste better so I’ll eat them and so far, he’s doing a really good job. Since living with him, I’ve eaten more vegetables than I’ve eaten my entire life.

  When we get home, Garret makes turkey and avocado sandwiches for lunch. It’s a good sandwich but I’m not a fan of wheat bread, which is all he’ll buy. I’m getting used to it, though.

  “So I know you don’t want to go anywhere for a honeymoon, but we have to do something,” Garret says. “I want to at least do something special for our wedding night.”

  I get up and take our plates to the sink. “Like what? It’ll be a busy day. We’ll probably be too tired to do anything.”

  He comes over
to the sink and stands behind me. “Are you saying you’ll be too tired to be with me that night?” He leans down and kisses my shoulder.

  “No. I won’t be too tired for that. But we don’t have to go anywhere to do that.”

  He turns me around to face him. “You really just want to come back here that night? Like we do every night? That’s pathetic, Jade. We should at least go to a nice hotel or something.”

  “There aren’t any nice hotels around here. We’d have to drive forever and I don’t want to do that.”

  “Hmm. Then I’ll have to figure something else out.”

  “What does that mean? What are you planning?”

  “Don’t worry about it.” He grabs two oranges from the counter and brings them to the table. “I’ll take care of it.”

  I sit next to him. “Garret, tell me what you’re planning. I don’t want us flying off to some remote island on our wedding night. Frank and Ryan will be here. And your dad and Lilly. I’m not just going to leave when they came all this way to see us.”

  “Yes, we’ll stay here.” He grins. “Just maybe not in our bedroom.”

  I can tell his mind is working. He’s already coming up with something. And he’ll keep it a secret because he loves to surprise me. But surprises drive me crazy. I like them, but they still drive me crazy. I’ll spend the next week trying to figure out what he’s planning and I know he won’t give me any hints.

  “You’re eating two oranges?” I ask as I watch him peel them. “I guess you really do eat a lot of fruit.”

  “This one’s for you.” He hands me one of the peeled oranges. “It’s dessert.” He pops an orange section in his mouth.

  “An orange is not dessert.” I separate the orange sections. “But I’ll eat it since you went to all that work to peel it for me.”

  “You’ll only eat oranges if I peel them for you?”

  “Well, yeah. I’ll never do it myself. So if you want me to eat these, you’ll have to peel them.”

  “Maybe I’ll add that to my vows.” He takes my hand, his face serious. “I promise to always peel your oranges.” He laughs. “For some reason that sounded dirty.”

  I roll my eyes at him and take my hand back. “That reminds me. I need to finish my vows. I’ll clean up lunch and then you need to leave me alone so I can work on them. Maybe you could go surfing for a couple hours.”

  “You trying to get rid of me?” He goes over to the sink to wash the orange residue off his hands. I do the same. That’s another reason I don’t like oranges. They’re too messy to eat.

  “You’re too much of a distraction,” I say as I dry my hands. “If you stay here, we’ll just end up having sex again and I won’t get my vows done.”

  He checks the clock. “It’s only 1:30. You’ve got time to do both.” He grabs my hand and starts walking toward the stairs.

  “Garret, let me finish my vows first.”

  “I’m helping you with them.” He picks me up and carries me upstairs to our room, setting me down by the bed.

  “Oh, really? Having sex is going to help me write my vows?”

  “It’ll inspire you.” He lifts my sundress up and over my head and tosses it on the floor. “After this you’ll be thinking about me the rest of the afternoon.”

  “And that’s gonna help me write my vows?” I smile as I reach around my back, unhooking my bra.

  “It will.” He lays me on the bed and slides my panties off. “When we’re done here, the words will just spill onto the page. You won’t even have to think about it. You should be thanking me, Jade.”

  “You haven’t even done anything yet,” I say as I watch him strip his clothes off. “Maybe it won’t be that great, in which case my mind will just wander all afternoon and I’ll never write my vows.”

  “You did not seriously just say that, did you?” He gets on top of me, gazing down at me and smiling. “Because you know damn well how much I love a challenge. And that definitely sounded like a challenge.”

  “Show me what you got,” I say, kiddingly.

  But Garret wasn’t kidding. The challenge results in a super hot round of afternoon sex. That’s right. It lasts most of the afternoon. So much for getting my vows done.

  The rest of the week Garret and I take some day trips to check out the area. Even though we’ve lived here for almost two months, we’ve spent most of our time hanging out on our own private beach and really haven’t explored much of the surrounding area.

  On Wednesday, we do some hiking at a state park about an hour inland. Thursday we drive up the coast, stopping at each little town just to check them out. And Friday we take a walk on a public beach that’s close to where we live and then grab lunch in town.

  “So the wedding’s a week from tomorrow,” Garret says as we’re eating lunch. We went to a restaurant that’s kind of fancy, but Garret loves their steak sandwich so he insisted we go here. “Are you ever going to share some details about it?”

  “You’re a guy. You’re not interested in that stuff.” I reach across the table for the ketchup. This restaurant has the best French fries in town. I got a burger, too, because Garret thinks French fries alone aren’t a lunch, even though that was pretty much my lunch every day last year.

  “I’m not interested in other people’s weddings but I’m interested in ours. So tell me about it.”

  I purposely left Garret out of most of the wedding plans because I always see talk shows where guys complain about having to help plan the wedding and I didn’t want that to be Garret. Even I wasn’t that interested in planning it. That’s why Harper took over.

  “You already know everything about the wedding,” I tell him. “Sean’s got the menu planned and he made some cakes last week for me to try. They were awesome.”

  “Why didn’t I get to taste the cakes?”

  “Because I didn’t want to bother you with this stuff. Everyone knows guys hate wedding planning.”

  “I may not want to spend hours looking at flowers or dresses, but you could’ve involved me in the cake plans.”

  “You don’t even like cake,” I say, stuffing a fry in my mouth.

  “I like chocolate cake.”

  “Which is why Sean’s making a chocolate cake for the wedding. And a yellow cake with chocolate frosting because that’s my favorite.”

  “We’re having two cakes?”

  The waitress stops by and refills our water glasses. I wait for her to leave before continuing.

  “Actually he’s making three smaller cakes instead of one big one. I couldn’t decide which flavor and he really likes making cakes so he’s making three.”

  “What’s the other one?”

  “A carrot cake because Frank loves carrot cake and so does your dad.”

  “How do you know that about my dad?”

  “I noticed when I was at your house that he never eats dessert unless it’s carrot cake or ice cream.”

  “You’re very observant.” He smiles. “That was sweet of you to consider him.” He slides his plate to the edge of the table for the waitress to pick up. “What kind of flowers are we having? I’m guessing roses, but what color?”

  Garret guessed roses because he knows they’re my favorite flower. I decided this last spring after hanging out with Grace in the Hamptons. She has a huge rose garden there and she taught me all about them. I used to think I was more of a wildflower type of girl, and I do like wildflowers, but roses are my favorite.

  I still haven’t answered so he says, “Jade. What color are the flowers?”

  “Um, pink,” I say quietly. “Pink roses.”

  Garret sits back, looking smug. “Pink, huh?”

  “Yes, and don’t make fun of me. It’s a pale pink, not a bright pink. And just think how excited Lilly will be tossing pink rose petals around. You know she loves pink.”

  “Uh-huh.” The smug smile remains. “So you chose pink because of Lilly?”

  “Well, no. I’ve decided it’s not that bad of a color, okay? Let’s
just leave it at that.”

  “So does that mean Harper’s dress is pink?”

  “Yes. And the reception colors are pink and gray,” I mumble as I push my empty plate aside.

  “That’s very interesting,” Garret says, trying not to laugh. “Because for the entire time I’ve known you, you’ve told me how much you hate the color pink. In fact, I think you even banned me from buying you anything pink.”

  “It’s all Harper’s fault. She wears that stupid color all the time and then her room at Moorhurst was all pink and Lilly’s always covered in pink. I guess it just grew on me.”

  He reaches across the table and holds my hand. “I’m sure pink will look very nice. And thanks for adding the gray at the reception to man things up a little.”

  I roll my eyes. “See? I knew I shouldn’t have gone with the pink. Damn, Harper.”

  “So do you need me to do anything this week? Pick up the flowers? Call and check on stuff? Anything?”

  “Nope. It’s all taken care of. You just need to show up.” I kick his foot under the table. “You are planning to show up, right?”

  He shrugs. “I don’t know yet. Depends on how good the waves are that day.”

  “Garret! Don’t even joke about that.”

  “You know I’ll be there. Besides, we live together. You’ll be with me from now until the wedding.”

  “Actually I’m staying with Harper Friday night and Sean’s staying at our place. It’s tradition for the bride and groom to be apart the night before the wedding.”

  “I don’t like that tradition. Let’s skip that one.”

  The waitress drops off the check and takes our plates.

  “It’s just one night,” I say, taking a drink of my water.

  “I can’t sleep without you next to me, which means I’ll be really tired on our wedding day. Sorry, Jade, that just won’t work.”

  “You can do it.” I smile and rub his hand.

  He smiles back. “I really don’t think you—” He stops and I notice him looking behind me, his face now serious and a little panicked. I start to turn back but he squeezes my hand. “Don’t look.”