Protecting Her(88)

“You should come over and have Thanksgiving with us.”

“Oh, no. I don’t want to intrude on your holiday.”

“You wouldn’t be intruding. We’d love to have you. I always make more than enough food. It’ll just be Pearce, Garret, and me, and Pearce’s parents. What do you say?”

He pauses to consider it. “I suppose I could. But you have to let me help with dinner.”

“Gladly. Would you like to make the stuffing? I’m not very good at stuffing.”

“That’s my specialty, so yes.”

Pearce walks in. “We need to get going, Rachel, or we’re going to be late.”

“Yeah, I’m just waiting for Garret. He’s upstairs getting his gym bag.” I go stand next to Pearce. “Charles is going to join us for Thanksgiving.”

Pearce smiles at Charles. “Good. We’re happy to have you.” He looks at me. “You did warn him about my parents, right?”

“No.” I bite my lip.

Pearce laughs and looks at Charles. “If you met my parents, you might change your mind, especially if you knew my father.”

Charles nods. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

Garret races up to us, holding his gym bag. “I’m ready.”

We go to his basketball game, and when we get back home, Eleanor is there. Charles is finishing up in the kitchen, the cookies all boxed and ready to be picked up by the woman who’s coordinating the bake sale. I tell Charles goodbye and pay him for his work.

Then I go over some things with Eleanor. She’s never babysat Garret at our house before. The few times Pearce and I went on an overnight trip without Garret, he stayed at Eleanor’s house, but he wanted to stay home this time so she agreed to come over.

“I think that’s it,” I say once I’ve gone over everything. “Just call if you have any questions. I’ll keep my phone on.”

“We’ll do fine, won’t we Garret?”

“Yep,” he says, standing beside me.

She smiles. “I’ll let you say goodbye. I need to go upstairs and unpack my suitcase.”

When she’s gone, Garret hugs me. “Don’t go.”

He sounds so sad, and he won’t let go of me. Usually he’s the one who ends our hugs first, but this time he doesn’t, so I keep hold of him. “Don’t you want to spend time with your grandmother?”

“Yes, but I don’t want you to go.”

I gently back away so I can see his face. He’s frowning and his eyes are wet. I crouch down to his level and hold his hands. “Honey, what’s wrong? Why are you so upset about this?”

“I don’t know.” He sniffles and a tear runs down his cheek. He wipes his face with the back of his hand. “I just don’t want you to go.”

“It’s just for a couple days.” I’m trying not to cry, but seeing him this sad is making me tear up.

“Why can’t Dad go without you?”

I can’t tell Garret the reason why. The truth is that Pearce could go alone, but I’m going with him because this trip is a little getaway for our anniversary. The real one, not the fake one in March. Garret only knows about the fake one. Pearce and I never told him we eloped. We will when he’s older, but right now, he’s too young to understand.

“Your dad is going to a big party for the senator and he didn’t want to go to the party all by himself.” I wipe a tear off Garret’s cheek. “If he did, who would he dance with?”

Garret shrugs. “He doesn’t have to dance. He could just drink coffee and talk to people.”

I smile at his comment. I’m sure there won’t be coffee at this party. There will be nothing but liquor. There’s always a lot of drinking at these political fundraisers.

“Honey, I already told him I would go.”

“You could change your mind.” He sounds hopeful just saying it.

“I could, but your dad really wants me there. And I promise you, the time will go so fast that before you know it, we’ll be home. Then we’ll have Thanksgiving, and on Friday, we’ll spend all day decorating for Christmas, like we do every year.” I smile. “And Saturday, the three of us will go out for pancakes and then I’ll take you to the store to pick out your ornament. Maybe we’ll go to the pool in the afternoon. We’ll even make your dad go.”