Coming Home (26 page)

“What happened?” Reid asked, staring at the damaged remnants of the place he’d called home for nearly a decade.

“We don’t know,” Jeff said. “We had the neighborhood dinner in town last night and got home late. When we got up this morning, we noticed the damage to your place. We tried to call you and Mari last night, to see where you were when you didn’t show up for dinner.”

“Mari and I aren’t together anymore.”

“Oh,” Jeff said, seeming shocked by the news. “I hadn’t heard that. Sorry.”

“Thanks.” Reid continued to stare at the shattered windows, feeling somewhat removed from the surreal sight. Was this really happening?

“You don’t think she…” Jeff shook his head. “What am I thinking? Of course she didn’t.”

Reid wished he could be so certain.

One of the police officers approached him. “This is your place?”

Reid nodded. “I rent it.”

“Any idea who might’ve trashed it?”

He had a few thoughts, but he refused to entertain them. He’d slept with her, made love with her, shared his life with her for half a year. Surely she wouldn’t do something like this to him. Would she?

“No, I can’t think of anyone.”

Beside him, Jeff remained silent, for which Reid was grateful. If this was Mari’s handiwork, he’d let the cops figure that out. He wasn’t going to hand her over to them.
 

“Can I go inside?”

“Let me check with my captain,” the officer said. He walked away.

“It’s none of my business,” Jeff said.

“But?”

“She knew we’d all be at the dinner last night. It’d been planned for weeks. There’d be no one here to report that glass was being smashed.”

Jeff made a good point. A very good point. But it was too much for Reid to process. She’d professed to love him. How fast love had turned to hate.

“Mr. Matthews,” the young police officer said. “My captain said it’s okay for you to go in as long as one of us goes with you.”

“That’s fine.” There wasn’t much inside he needed, beyond his computer and a few photos he treasured, mostly of Ashton. His gut ached at the thought of what she’d probably done to the computer. What she didn’t know was that due to some power issues they’d had in the beachfront community a few years ago, everything was fully backed up on a remote server.

These were the thoughts that spiraled through his mind as he followed the officer inside through the yard, where one of his favorite shirts had been shredded and tossed into bushes he’d planted himself. They stepped into the shattered remains of his home, where nothing remained intact. The glass covering pictures on the walls had been smashed, curtains torn down, blinds hung askew, the mattress on the bed they’d shared had been ripped open, as had the pillows, and his computer lay in a mangled mess on the floor. He noted the lamps she’d bought were gone, as were the crystal wineglasses she’d loved.

“Damn,” the officer muttered. “You’re sure you didn’t piss anyone off?”

In a state of shock, Reid ventured farther into the room, where he found one of Ashton’s baby pictures torn to pieces and sprinkled on the floor as if it were just another piece of trash. Seeing that, he no longer felt the need to protect her.

“I believe Mari Christenson did this. You can find her at her sister Angelique’s house in Basseterre.” Enraged, he rattled off the address.

Over the next hour, he answered the many questions the police had about his relationship with Mari and how it ended. He also talked to his landlord and offered to pay for the damage. In the same call, he let the landlord know he’d be ending the lease. He talked to his neighbors, promised to be in touch and received their hugs and support with grace, even though he felt completely numb inside.

When there was nothing left to do, no one left to talk to and all the questions had been answered to the best of his ability, he walked down the street to discover Desi’s driver had waited for him. In the last hour, the storm clouds had gotten closer and the wind had begun to whip. It would be a choppy ride across the channel to Nevis.

Watching him with eyes gone wide with shock over the scene at Reid’s house, the driver held the backseat door open. “Is there anything I can do, Mr. Matthews?”

“I need to do an errand in town before we head back to the dock.”

“Of course.”

“And thank you for waiting.”

“Not a problem.”

As the driver backed the car down the street, Reid thought about taking one last look at the place he’d called home for so many years. But then he thought better of it. There was nothing here he needed anymore.

Jack was in his study later that afternoon, staring out at foamy whitecaps on the Atlantic, when his wife came to find him.
 

“There you are,” Andi said. “I’ve been looking all over for you. I didn’t expect to find you in here on a Sunday, especially when there’s football to be watched with your boys.”

He’d gone out of his way the second time around as a father to leave work at the office on weekends and to spend as much time as he possibly could with his wife and sons. “Sorry. I was catching up on a few things and lost track of time. Are the boys all right?”

Andi eyed him shrewdly. “Everyone’s fine. Are you?”

“Sure. What do you want to do for dinner?”

“Jack…”

He couldn’t bring himself to say the words. If he said it out loud, it became real. “I talked to Kate.”

“Oh good! Finally! How is she?”

“Better than expected.”

Andi came around the desk, pushed some of his stuff out of the way and took a seat on the desktop. “How do you mean?”

“Apparently, she’s getting married.”

Andi’s mouth fell open with shock, but she quickly recovered. “Oh. Well, they didn’t waste any time.”

“No.”

He diverted his gaze to the ocean, where everything made sense to him. On windy autumn days like today, the water took on a darker grayish hue and whitecaps churned. On clear, sunny days, the water could be so painfully blue it would hurt his eyes to look at it. After living most of his life on the coast, he could predict the ocean’s moods and rhythms with practiced ease. He wished he could do the same with his children, who’d proven endlessly unpredictable.

“What did you say when she told you her news?” Andi asked.

“I don’t want to tell you, because you’ll probably be disappointed. I already expect an earful from Clare, who’s apparently all for it.”

“Hmm, interesting. So you told Kate you don’t approve.”

“Among other things.”

“You can’t help how you feel, Jack, and I don’t blame you for being upset about it.”

“But?”

She raised a dark eyebrow in amusement. “How do you know there’s a but?”

“Because I know you.”

Andi bit her lip, seeming to consider whether she should speak her mind or not. Since it was unlike her to hold back any thoughts from him, watching her debate made him nervous about what she might say.

“If you’re going to say I’m a horse’s ass and I need to grow up and let my girls make their own mistakes, go ahead and say it. It’s nothing I haven’t already told myself.”

“I wasn’t going to say that, but now that you mention it…”

He laughed. Against all odds, she’d made him laugh. Shaking his head, he said, “You’re too much, Andrea Harrington. Right when I thought I might never laugh again, there you are.”

Her face lit up with delight. “Happy to help.”

“So what were you going to say?”

“It might make you mad…”

“I promise I won’t get mad at you. I’m mad at the situation. I’m mad at Reid Matthews but not at you. Never at you.”

“Earlier today, even before I heard this latest news, I was thinking about where Kate’s relationship with Reid might be heading and how you might react to it.”

“So you expected me to be a horse’s ass.”

“I didn’t say that…exactly.”
 

Her smile warmed him as it always did, reminding him that no matter what happened, he had her to help him through the challenges.

“Do you remember when we first got together?” she asked.

The sudden change in direction took him by surprise, but she was always doing that—surprising and stirring him. “I remember every minute of it.”

“So do I. It was an extremely difficult time for you. Clare had been in a coma for more than a year, you were suddenly raising three teenage girls mostly on your own, and you’d recently gone back to work after spending more than a year trying to find help for Clare.”

Jack hated to think about that time in his life, even if it had led him to Andi.
 

“When we got together,” she continued, “a lot of people supported us, despite the fact that our situation was anything but conventional. Your wife was still alive. You were still technically married but getting involved with someone else.”

He thought about what she’d said, her point obvious to him even if he didn’t care to admit it. “You’re saying it’s the same as what she’s doing with Reid?”

“Not the same but
similar
. It’s an unconventional situation—one you don’t see every day and one that will make their life together, especially at first, a little more challenging than they’d like it to be as the people in their lives get used to them together.” Pausing, she reached for his hand and held on tight. “Remember how essential it was to us to have the support of Jamie and Frannie and my friend David and our children?”

He nodded in agreement. It had meant the world to them.

“Even Clare’s mother stepped up for us. Imagine how difficult and painful it must’ve been to see her sick daughter’s husband moving on with another woman.”

“Anna was amazing to me. She always was.”

“Yes.”

Andi let that single word hover in the air between them while he considered what she’d said—and what he’d said to Kate. One of the things he loved best about Andi was how she instinctively knew when to say nothing at all.

“I really am a horse’s ass.”

“No, Jack. You’re a loving father who’s rightfully concerned about the choices your child is making.”

“She’s not a child anymore. She likes to remind me of that.”

“She’ll always be your child, your little girl who grew up far too fast for your liking.”

Wasn’t that the truth? “She’s going to marry him.”

“Yes.”

“I’m going to have to give her away. To
him
.”

“Not if you don’t want to. She’d never ask that of you if you weren’t willing to do it.”

“What father of girls doesn’t think about that moment the whole time their daughters are growing up?”

Again, she held her tongue and let the silence speak for her.

“She wants us there for Christmas.”

“I told you that days ago.”

He glanced up at her. “What do you think?”

“It’s up to you. The boys and I will do whatever you want to do. If you want to go to Nashville, we’ll go with you. If you’d rather stay home, we’ll do that, too.”

“And you won’t think I’m a horse’s ass if I decide not to go?”

“Never. I meant it when I said you have a right to your feelings, even if others don’t agree with them.”

“You make a good point about when we were first together. I don’t know what I would’ve done if people like Jamie and Frannie or my kids treated me like I was a monster for wanting to be with you.”

“Kate might appreciate the same courtesy from you.”

“Of all three girls, she was the most willing to go along with you moving here.”

“Is that right? You never told me that, but it doesn’t surprise me. She was the friendliest to me when Eric and I first arrived.”

“
Shit
,” he said with a moan. “I totally screwed this up. I said all the wrong things to her.”

“You’re a wonderful father, Jack, and you’re allowed to screw up every now and then.”

“You never do. You never screw up.”

“That’s because I’m the mom. We can’t afford to screw up with you crazy dads around to mess things up.”

“Very funny.”

“You can always call her back to fix it.”

“True.”

“Is that what you want to do?”

“I think it might be.”
 

She kissed the back of his hand and released it. “Then I’ll leave you to it.” She got up off the desk.

He stood to stop her from escaping. With his hands on her shoulders, he took a good long greedy look at her.

“What?”

“I love you so much. I hope you know that.”

She rested her hands on his chest. “How could I not know when you show me every single day?”

He drew her in close to him, comforted by her unwavering love. Their bond had been unshakable from the very beginning, and he wouldn’t have survived without her. He drew back from her, just far enough that he could kiss her.