Lilly: A Kensington Family Novel Read online

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  From the Author

  Lilly

  A Kensington Family Novel

  By Allie Everhart

  Lilly

  By Allie Everhart

  Copyright © 2016 Allie Everhart

  All rights reserved.

  Published by Waltham Publishing, LLC

  Cover Design by Sarah Hansen of Okay Creations

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, things, and events are fictitious, and any similarities to real persons (live or dead), things, or events are coincidental and not intended by the author. Brand names of products mentioned in this book are used for reference only and the author acknowledges that any trademarks and product names are the property of their respective owners.

  The author holds exclusive rights to this work and unauthorized duplication is prohibited. No part of this book is to be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author.

  CHAPTER ONE

  "So what do you think?" Garret hangs his arm off my shoulder, pulling me into his side in his protective big-brother hold.

  I glance around the small dorm room. "It's okay, I guess."

  "You sure you don't want to live with Jade and me?"

  "She'll be fine, Garret," my dad says. "She can always come home on the weekends."

  Truthfully, that's a big reason why I picked Camsburg College. I love my family and I didn't want to be far away from them. My dad and stepmom, Rachel, live in Santa Barbara, which is two hours south of here. And my half-brother, Garret, and his wife, Jade, and their kids, are just an hour away.

  Garret squeezes my shoulder. "Do you really want to live in this tiny room on a floor full of strangers instead of living with us, in a house with a pool and a private beach?"

  I wiggle out of his grasp and turn to face him. "This is what I'm supposed to do. Living in the dorms is part of the college experience."

  "It's overrated. Living in the dorms sucks."

  Jade comes up behind him. "The dorms don't suck. If I hadn't lived in the dorms, I might not have met you."

  He wraps his arm around her and leans down to kiss her. "I still would've met you. I would've seen you on campus and chased you down and made you go out with me." He kisses her again.

  Those two are constantly kissing and hugging and holding hands. You'd think they're newlyweds, but they've actually been married for eleven years.

  My niece, Abi, runs in the room with her sister, Hannah. Miles and Ethan, their little brothers, are right behind them, holding Rachel's hands.

  "Everyone's been to the bathroom," she says. "I think we can head out now."

  "Bye, Aunt Lilly." Abi's arms squeeze around my waist. She's seven, Hannah is five, and the twin boys are three.

  "Bye, Abi." I hug her.

  She looks up at me with her big blue eyes, her face very serious. "Don't kiss any boys. You'll get cooties and then your face will swell up really big, like you got stung by a bee."

  My eyes move to my brother. "Really, Garret? You're using your kids now?"

  He puts his hands up. "It wasn't me. I don't know where she heard that. But it's true, so you should heed her advice."

  If Garret had his way, I'd never kiss a guy. Or even go on a date. He lectures me all the time about how guys are trouble and can't be trusted, so I should stay away from them. And for the most part, I have. I dated in high school, but never had a serious boyfriend. The longest I've dated a guy is a month.

  "We should get going." My dad comes up and hugs me. "Goodbye, honey. Call if you need anything." He kisses my head. "Love you."

  "Love you too."

  Rachel is teary-eyed as she approaches me. "Bye, honey."

  Rachel is more of a mom than a stepmom. My real mom has no interest in me, other than to tell me how to act and what to say and what to wear. She lives in New York and hasn't come out to see me all summer and hasn't called me for weeks.

  "Don't cry," I say to Rachel as we hug. "I'm only two hours away."

  "I know, but I'll miss seeing you every day." Rachel sniffles as she pulls away. "The house will be so quiet without you."

  "You can borrow these two if you want some noise." Garret points to Miles and Ethan, who are running around his legs, chasing each other.

  She laughs. "I might just do that." She goes over and scoops up Miles. "Do you want to come to Grandma's house?"

  He nods really fast.

  "Me too!" Ethan jumps up and down. Those boys never stop moving. Garret always has them outside in the pool or playing ball in the back yard but their energy never seems to run out. Rachel said Garret was the same way when he was little.

  I hug Hannah, but she won't let go. Jade has to pry her off me. Then I hug Miles and Ethan, who don't really understand the whole going-away-to-college thing so they're the only ones who aren't sad right now.

  As everyone's leaving, Garret says, "I'll be right there."

  They go out in the hall and Garret shuts the door. He comes up to me and puts his hands on my shoulders, his eyes on mine.

  "You gonna be okay?" he asks.

  "Yeah." I glance down. "I'm fine."

  "Hey." He lifts my chin up. "It's me. Tell me the truth."

  Garret and I have always been really close. He practically raised me since my mom had no interest in doing so. He's overprotective of me, but he's the best big brother ever.

  "I'm nervous, but I'm sure everyone here is, at least the freshmen." I pause. "Were you nervous?"

  "No, but I only lived a half hour from home. And I couldn't wait to move out of the house to get away from..." His voice trails off. He doesn't want to bring up my mom. He hates her, but he tries to keep his thoughts to himself, for my sake. "I'm just saying it wasn't the same for me. I didn't like the dorms, but I liked having my freedom. And people from my high school went to Moorhurst so I already had friends. There was nothing to be nervous about."

  "What if I can't make friends?" I'd only admit that fear to Garret. I tell him things I wouldn't tell anyone else.

  "Are you kidding?" He smiles. "The people here are gonna love you. You'll have so many friends you'll be turning them away."

  "I don't think so," I say quietly.

  "Lilly, you had a ton of friends in high school. You were the freaking homecoming queen."

  "That was a small private school. Everyone knew each other. We were all friends."

  "And Camsburg is a small private college. You'll get to know people and you'll make friends."

  The door swings open and we both turn to see a girl walking in. She's petite with dark brown hair that hangs straig
ht, to just above her shoulders. She's wearing white shorts and a black tank top and black sandals.

  "Oh my God." She puts her hand up. "I'm so sorry. I opened the wrong door." She backs up, pointing to the side wall. "I live next door. This is so embarrassing. I'll see you later."

  "Wait," Garret says. "What's your name?"

  "Willow." She eyes him up and down. All girls do this because my brother is hot, or at least that's what I've been told. Every girl in my high school wanted to date him, even though he's married. And 31. But he doesn't look 31. He could easily pass for 25. Willow smiles at Garret. "So what's your name?"

  "Garret." He shoves me in front of him. "And this is Lilly. My sister. She just moved in."

  "Hi." Willow smiles and comes over to shake my hand. "Guess we're neighbors."

  "Yeah." I smile back.

  "Sorry to run, but I left my phone at the gym and I have to go get it before they close. I'll see you later." She waves as she hurries off.

  "She seems nice," Garret says.

  Jade appears at the door. "Everyone's ready to go."

  Garret hugs me for the millionth time. "Be safe. Practice those self-defense moves I taught you. And don't drink. It screws with your judgment. And don't—"

  "Yeah, Garret, I got it." I laugh, but only to cover up how scared I am to be left here all alone.

  "Love you," he says before letting me go.

  "Love you too."

  Jade wraps her arm around his and drags him to the door. "You need to get out of here or you'll never leave." She pushes him into the hall.

  "Aren't you coming?" he asks.

  "In a minute. I'll meet you at the car." She closes the door on him and walks over to me. "I know this is scary, being left here like this. You're probably feeling sick to your stomach right now."

  "How did you know?"

  "I felt the same way when Ryan dropped me off at college. I was scared to death when he drove away. I was such a long ways from home. I'd never even left Iowa before then."

  "So what did you do after he left?"

  "I ran on the track for hours, hoping it would make me feel better."

  "And did it?"

  She shakes her head. "No. At least not until Garret showed up. He met me on the track that day and asked me to have lunch with him and we went to a party that night. After that, I wasn't so scared. Or lonely." She rubs my arm. "It just takes time to get used to living on your own in a strange place. Once you meet some people, it'll get better."

  "I already miss home." I half smile. "Is that totally pathetic?"

  "Not at all. It just means you love your family."

  I glance down at the floor. "My mom still hasn't called."

  Jade moves my long blond hair behind my shoulder and sets her hand there. "Lilly, your mom has issues that have nothing to do with you."

  She's right, but I don't know what those issues are. I don't know why my mom acts the way she does. She's cold, and says mean things, and doesn't care about anyone but herself. I know this, and yet for some reason, I keep trying to get her to care about me.

  "You know she'll never change," Jade says.

  "I know."

  "So don't worry about her. You have a whole family that loves you. And Rachel will always love you like a daughter." She smiles. "I will too."

  I smile back. "You're supposed to be my sister-in-law, not my mom."

  "Yeah, well, when you have four kids, you start acting like a mom to everyone. Speaking of kids, they need to get home for their naps. I better get out to the car. Call me whenever you want to talk. About anything. Friends. Your classes. Boys."

  "If I tell you about a boy, Garret will come here and kill him."

  She laughs. "I won't tell him. We girls have to have our secrets. And come on. We all know you'll have a boyfriend soon. You're gorgeous. You'll have tons of guys asking you out. Just be careful, okay?"

  "I will. Bye, Jade." I hug her.

  She leaves, and I watch out the window as she joins Garret and the kids and they drive away. I plop down on my bed, which is covered in the new pink and green comforter I picked out. It has a floral pattern, but the colors blend together like a watercolor painting. That's why I liked it. It reminded me of a painting.

  I'm majoring in art, or "fine arts" if you go by what the college calls it. I want to be an artist someday. This semester I have to take the required freshman English class, but my other classes are art-related; a drawing class, painting class, and an art seminar that all first year art students have to take.

  My room at home is covered in my drawings and paintings, but I didn't want to bring any of them here to school because I'm not sure they're any good. My family says they are, but I can't trust what they say. I entered some art competitions in high school and won some awards, but again, that doesn't say much. I wasn't competing with actual artists, just kids like me who like to draw and paint. Here at college, I'll be surrounded by people who want to do this for a living and I'm worried they're going to be a lot better than me.

  It's only two o'clock. There's a freshman dinner at six. I told my dad I'd go to it, but I don't really feel like going. It'll be a roomful of strangers and I'm not very good at going up to strangers and saying hi. Once I get to know someone I'm fine, but I get nervous when I first meet people.

  I think that's because I've lived kind of a sheltered life. In fact, for the first six years of my life I barely left the house. My mom thought someone would try to kidnap me because we have a lot of money so she kept me inside and made me stay in my room all the time. I had no interaction with other kids until I started first grade at a private school. And even then, I had a hard time making friends because I wasn't used to being around people my own age. I didn't know how to act around them or what to say. It got better as I got older but I still get nervous around new people.

  Garret's comments about high school were true. I did have a lot of friends and was homecoming queen but sometimes I wonder if I was only popular because of the Kensington name. Everyone at school knew I wasn't just any Kensington, but THE Kensington, as in Pearce's daughter and Garret's sister.

  There's a knock on the door. "Lilly?" She knocks again.

  I get up and open the door and see my RA. "Hi, Kalea."

  She's from Maui. She's super pretty, with long, silky black hair and deep brown eyes.

  "Hi." She smiles. "I just wanted to check in and make sure you're doing okay. Do you need anything?"

  "No. I'm good. Thanks."

  "Are you going to the dinner tonight?"

  "I'm not sure."

  "You should go. It's a good way to meet people. You don't have to stay for the dance if you don't want to."

  "There's a dance?" I didn't know about the dance. I must've missed that when I read my welcome packet.

  "Yeah, and a band. I've heard they're pretty good." She's still smiling. I've noticed she smiles a lot. "Well, I have to check people in. If you need anything, just stop by."

  "Okay. Thanks."

  "Go to the dinner tonight. I promise you'll have fun."

  As she turns to leave, I say, "Hey, Kalea. I like your name. It's pretty."

  She turns back. "Thanks! It's Hawaiian. Means joy and happiness. See ya later!"

  Joy and happiness. The name fits her. She seems like a happy person. And her enthusiasm about this dinner actually has me wanting to go. I might even go to the dance—to hear the band, not to dance. This might turn out to be a fun night after all.

  "Lilly!" The harsh, shrill voice startles me.

  It can't be her. She didn't even call to tell me she was coming. But I know that voice.

  I turn around and there she is; tall and thin, wearing a short-sleeve black dress, her blond hair twisted up behind her neck and giant sunglasses hiding her eyes.

  I put on a fake smile. "Hello, Mother."

  CHAPTER TWO

  "Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" I ask, as my mother leans forward for her typical quick, shoulders-only hug.

&nb
sp; "What kind of question is that? Are you not happy to see me?"

  "It's not that. I just..." I never know how to respond to her. She always takes things the wrong way.

  "It's your first day at college." She takes her sunglasses off and slips them in her purse. "I decided to surprise you."

  "Um, okay." I hold my door open for her. "Come in."

  "Don't say 'um' when speaking. It makes you sound ignorant and unsure of yourself." She walks past me into my room.

  Her comment doesn't faze me. After eighteen years, I'm used to her correcting me and criticizing me and telling me everything I do is wrong. It's just who she is and she does it to everyone, not just me.

  "Did you do this yourself?" She waves her hand in the air, motioning to my room.

  "Um—I mean, yes. Rachel and Jade helped me. We went shopping last week and picked everything out."

  Her eyes scan over my room; my watercolor comforter, the fluffy white throw pillows, the pink lamp by my nightstand, the pink cardboard organizers on my desk that hold my art supplies, and the pink-and-white striped rug on the floor.

  "You're too old to be filling your room with this hideous pink color. That color is for little girls. You are an adult woman. Adult women do not decorate with the color pink."

  I've always liked pink. It's girly and fun and makes me happy. Colors shouldn't be banned once you hit a certain age. If I like pink, I should be able to have pink.

  "You should've let me hire a designer to do your room," my mother says.

  "I'm a fine arts major, Mother. I know how to design my room."

  "This room looks like a child designed it. If this is the best of your artistic talents, perhaps you should change majors."

  She drops her designer purse on my desk, right over my sketch book, like she's trying to hide it. She hates that I want to be an artist. She says that's a job for people who are uneducated and lazy and have no real skills so choose to sit around and color all day. She doesn't understand art, and yet her apartment in Manhattan is filled with expensive artwork. It's just there to impress her friends. She doesn't seem to realize that if there weren't any artists in the world, she wouldn't have that artwork.