“Yeah, I know, but I mean after all that is done. When we’re finally ready to buy this house, where do you want to live?”
“You tell me first.”
“No, you have to go first this time.”
“Hmm. Okay, but if I tell you, that does not in any way mean that we actually have to live in that location. It’s just an idea.”
“Yeah. Got it.”
“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 what you wanted. 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?”
He hands it to me.
I open it up and see a pile of sprinkled donuts, my favorite. “Donuts! Thank you!”
“You’re welcome. You want some fruit? I have some in the cooler.”
I stare at him, my mouth full of donut.
He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, well, tomorrow you’re going back to eating real food for breakfast.”
“This is real food,” I say, holding up the donut. “It’s a carbohydrate.”
“Real food is not bright pink.”
“Okay, so the sprinkles aren’t real food but—”
“You’re not going to convince me, Jade.” He grabs a bottle of water and a banana from the cooler. “Just enjoy your donuts.”
“Is it warm out?”
“Yeah, it feels great. You want to sit outside? I set up some beach chairs out there.”
“You really thought of everything, didn’t you?” I set my donut down and go back over to the clothes I took out but never put on.
“How do you feel?” He comes up behind me, brushing my hair to the side and kissing my shoulder. “Are you tired? We didn’t get much sleep last night.”
I pull my shorts on, then turn around to see him smiling.
“I feel good. Wide awake. So if you want, maybe we could meet up here after breakfast?” I slip my t-shirt on, then grab my donuts and coffee.
“Like you even have to ask.” He follows me out to the beach.
“Is there a bathroom around here?”
“There’s one on the beach. It’s not far from here. You want to go?”
“Yeah.” I set my coffee and donuts down just inside the tent. “You can wait here if you want.”
“You’re not going alone.” He takes my hand. “Come on.”
It’s about a 5-minute walk to the public restroom. There’s nobody out on the beach. The only people I see are a few surfers way off in the distance.
The short walk to the restroom and back feels good. There’s a light breeze blowing and the hot sun warms my skin.
We get back to our beach chairs and I close my eyes and breathe in the fresh air as I sit down. “This has been the best honeymoon ever. Better than going on a trip or to some fancy hotel.”
“Aren’t you glad we didn’t just stay at home last night?” Garret hands me my donuts and coffee.
“Yes. I just didn’t know what to do that was close by. But this was amazing. It’s something I’ll never forget.”
We sit quietly and watch the waves roll in as we have our breakfast.
After a while, Garret says, “People won’t start coming over until this afternoon so do you want to stay here a little longer? Or would you rather go home?”
“Let’s stay here. I don’t want our honeymoon to end yet.”
“It doesn’t have to end. We’ll keep it going.”
“How?” I take a few mints from the tin that Harper left us. She insisted we have them since we can’t brush our teeth.
“A honeymoon doesn’t have to be two days or two weeks.” He holds his hand out and I give him some mints. “It can last as long as you want.”
“I think a week is good.”
“Then we’ll make it a week. What do you want to do?”
“Have you all to myself.”
“Meaning no surfing?”
“Just for a week. Would you do it?”
He gazes out the ocean. “I don’t know. I don’t think I can go that long without surfing.”
“Oh. Okay.” I focus on the sand, drawing a heart shape in it with my toes, which are painted in a pale pink color that I picked out from Harper’s nail polish collection.
“Jade.” I feel Garret’s hand on my arm as I continue to outline the heart in the sand. “I was kidding. Of course I’ll spend the week with you.”
I look at him. “What about surfing? You love to surf.”
“I love you more. Way more.” He takes my hand. “Sorry, Jade. I shouldn’t joke about stuff like that. I don’t want you to ever feel that you’re not the most important thing in my life. Because you are. You’ll always be my number one priority. And if I ever forget that, then like I told you last night, just kick my ass.”
I laugh. “Sounds like you’re prepared for a lot of ass-kicking in the future.”
“Hopefully it won’t come to that. I’m just giving you the option.”
He leans over and gives me a kiss. And then another. And his series of short, sweet kisses soon develop into slower, deeper kisses. We both stand up, not breaking the kiss, then walk back into the tent. Within seconds we’re naked on the floor of the tent, going at it like we can’t get enough of each other. We end up in a sweaty heap, out of breath and tangled up in the blankets that line the tent.
As we lie there, I notice the ocean breeze blowing the flaps of the tent open. We were
too focused on each other to remember to zip it up.
“Garret, do you think anyone saw us? We left the tent open.”
“Nobody saw us. Hardly anyone comes down this far, especially on a Sunday morning.”
I toss the blankets off me. “I’m really hot. I think the sun’s heating up the tent.”
“I don’t think it was the sun, Jade.” He sits up, smiling at me. “Let’s go cool off in the water.”
“You want to go in the ocean? But the water’s freezing cold.”
“I’m out there all the time. You get used to it. And the sun will warm you up.” He goes over and puts on his swim trunks, then grabs my white bikini and tosses it to me.
“Okay, but I’m only sticking my feet in,” I say as I put the bikini on. “I’m not going all the way in.”
“Uh-huh.” He has this mischievous grin on his face as he heads outside the tent.
I step onto the beach and he grabs my hand, pulling me toward the water, practically running.
“What are you doing?” I ask this just as he scoops me up in his arms.
“I’m cooling you off. You’re all sweaty.” He walks right into the ocean as a big wave slams into the shore, the water rising up to his waist, soaking us both.
The water is cold and shocks my warm skin. “Garret, it’s freezing!”
He laughs and walks farther into the ocean. “You’ll get used to it.”
It’s so cold I don’t see how I’d ever get used to it. Since living here, I haven’t even gone swimming in the ocean. I’ve only gotten my legs wet. I haven’t actually gone all the way in. I always get cold and turn around. Plus, I’m kind of afraid of the ocean. The first time I attempted to swim in it, I was only knee deep in the water when a wave surprised me from behind and pushed me down, then pulled at my legs as it went back out. The force of it freaked me out and ever since then, I’ve stayed on the beach, usually only getting my feet wet.
“Garret, I don’t like this.” I hang on to him for dear life as he stands chest deep in the water. “I’m scared.”
He kisses my cheek. “Don’t be scared. I’m right here. And if we’re going to live in California, you have to get used to swimming in the ocean.”
“Why? It’s not like we’ll be living on the ocean.”
“Our house is going to be on the ocean, Jade.”
“It is?” I smile because my dream home just got even better. “But I thought you wanted a pool?”
“We can have a pool and live on the ocean. They’re not mutually exclusive. We can get—”
“Shit!” I interrupt him as I notice a huge wave forming behind him. I hold on to him even tighter, preparing for us to drown, which I’m sure is what will happen when that waves slams into us.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
26
“Garret, look!” I nod back toward the giant wave, my arms gripping his neck so tight I’m practically strangling him.
He glances back at it then back at me, smiling. He’s not the least bit concerned. “Close your eyes and hold your breath.”
He holds me tighter as the wave descends over us, covering us in water. I feel our bodies being dragged to shore as Garret loses his footing. But he doesn’t drop me. As the wave recedes, he lets it pull us back a little, then his feet find the sand again and he stands up.
“See? Nothing to be scared of. I think you even liked it.” He kisses the ticklish part of my neck making me laugh.
“I guess it was okay.” I wipe the water from my eyes. “It was kind of fun the way it pushed us to shore like that. It’s like being on a ride or something.”
“Exactly. That’s why I like surfing. You should try it.”
“Garret, another one’s coming!” I point behind him, panicking again.
He doesn’t even look. “Yeah, there’s a lot of them out here. And they just keep coming. Weird, huh?”
“Not funny, Garret.” I watch as it gets closer.
Again, he doesn’t look. He can feel the force of it as it approaches us. “Get ready.”
The wave hits. It isn’t as strong as the last one, but it still carries us to shore again.
“Okay, that time it was really fun,” I tell him as he tries to get his footing in the sand. “Can we do it again?”
He laughs. “Yes, but I might need to give my arms a rest after the next one. It’s kind of hard to hold on to you when the water’s forcing me down.”
“Oh, then go ahead and—” I see a huge wave coming. “Holy crap!”
Garret looks back at it. “Shit! Hold on.”
It hits us before we’re ready, knocking me out of his arms. I panic as I get disoriented under the water. I feel Garret’s arms around me just as I’m about to hit the shore. He lands underneath me, hugging me into him as the water recedes.
“Are you okay?” he asks, out of breath.
“Yeah, are you?”
“I think I got a little scraped up but it’s no big deal.”
I get off him and we move farther back on the shore. I go around and see trickles of blood on his back where the water dragged him along the sand.
“Garret, you’re bleeding! What should I do?”
“Relax. It’s just a little scrape.”
“Are you kidding? It’s a huge scrape. Why did you swim under me like that?”
“Because I could tell you were freaking out when the water separated us and then I could see that the wave was getting ready to slam you into the sand.”
“How did you see all that?”
“You think I’d ever take my eyes off you? I told you I’d keep you safe. You’re my number one priority, remember?”
“But you hurt yourself.”
“It’s just part of the job.” He smiles. “I knew keeping you safe wouldn’t be easy. I mean, shit, I already took a bullet for you. This was nothing.”
“So not funny.” I stand up, holding my hand out. “Come on. Let’s go home so I can put something on that.”
“We don’t need to go home. There’s a first aid kit in the tent.”
“Then let’s go inside.”
We walk back to the tent. He gets the first aid kit from his bag and we sit down. The blood is dried now but his back still has a big red patch where he landed on the sand.
“This looks really sore. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine. I get scraped up all the time when I’m out there.” He flips around as I’m putting antiseptic cream over the scrape. “You know what we should do?”
“I’m trying to fix your back here. Would you turn around?”
He doesn’t. “We should go bodyboarding. It’s kind of like surfing but not as extreme. And you still get the feeling of riding the waves.”
“Do I need a surfboard?”
“No, you need a bodyboard. You’ve seen them before. They kind of look like a mini surfboard.”
“Aren’t those just for kids?”
“Adults use them, too. I’m going to get us some. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before.”
“Because I told you I wouldn’t go past my waist in the water.”
“Yeah, that’s probably it. But now you’ve conquered your fears of the water so we’re going to try this. We’ll try it next week on our extended honeymoon.”
I smile. “I see what you’re doing. You can’t go a week without surfing and this is your way of kind of surfing, even though it’s really not.”
He rolls his eyes. “No, that’s not what I’m doing. If you don’t want to try it, we don’t have to. But I saw how much fun you had out there just now and I think if you tried the bodyboard, you’d like it.”
“Okay, I’ll try it.” I kiss him. “Now will you turn around so I can finish taking care of your back?”
He flips around just as his phone rings. He reaches for it, causing the cream I was carefully dabbing on one of his cuts to spread all over his back. “Garret, stop moving.”
“Hey, Harper.” He puts the phone on speaker. “Jade’s here.
You’re on speaker.”
“Hi, Jade. How’s everything going?”
“Good. Except my husband just scraped his back on the sand and now I’m playing nurse.”
“That sounds fun,” she says, as if I meant it a different way.
“No, not like that.”
Garret laughs. “That does sound fun.”
“I know where you can get one of those sexy nurse costumes,” Harper says.
I shake my head. “Would you guys stop? I meant that I’m taking care of his back. That’s all.”
Harper laughs. “Okay, well, I don’t mean to interrupt but I just wanted to let you know that Frank called and said he’ll be over with Ryan around 1:30. And Pearce said he’d be over around 1 with Lilly and Grace. Sean’s making everyone lunch so if you guys want to stay there longer, Sean and I will take care of keeping people fed and entertained.”
“No, we’ll be over there. What time is it now?”
“It’s 11:30.”
“Okay, we’ll back soon.”
“No need to rush.” She giggles. “I think Garret really wants to try out this nurse thing.”
“Goodbye, Harper.” I feel my face heating up.
Garret tosses his phone aside and turns to me, laughing when he sees my red cheeks. “Jade, seriously? Why are you blushing? We’re married now. Everyone knows we’re having sex. You don’t have to be embarrassed about it anymore.”
“I don’t want people talking about it. Or thinking about it.” I cover my face with my hands. “Crap! Everyone’s going to know what we did last night. They’re going to be thinking about it when they see us. I can’t have Frank and Ryan thinking about that!”
He pulls my hands back. “I’m sure if that thought even enters their heads they’ll get rid of it as fast as possible.”
“How do you know?”
“Have you ever thought about Ryan having sex with Chloe?”
“No!” I shudder. “As far as I know they’re not even doing it.”
Garret laughs. “They’ve dated for a year.”
“Yeah, okay, so maybe they are, but I don’t want to think about it.”
“And Ryan doesn’t want to think about us doing it. So I’m telling you, Jade, nobody is thinking about that.”
“I guess. Do you ever think about people you know having sex? Like your dad and Katherine?”
Forever You Page 21
