Treading Water (33 page)

“
Instead, you betrayed me.”
He stormed out of the bathroom and slammed the door, needing to get
the hell out of there before he said something else he’d
regret.

Since it was too dark to run on the beach,
Jack stayed on the quiet street and watched for patches of ice.
Running without music or a destination, he couldn’t believe Andi
had kept something this important from him, even for just a few
hours.

After a while, he looked up to discover he’d
run three miles and was approaching Frannie and Jamie’s new house,
a contemporary Jamie had designed and built overlooking the water.
He’d drawn the plans for the house years ago and put them away when
it seemed like he wouldn’t be having a family. Jack saw the lights
were still on, so he decided to stop to see them. He walked in to
find Frannie curled up on the sofa, feeding one of the babies.

“
Hey,” he said. “I didn’t
want to ring the bell and wake someone up.”

“
You don’t have to ring the
bell here. You know that. What’re you doing out so
late?”

“
Just taking a run. Who do
you have there?” he asked as he wiped the sweat off his face with a
gloved hand.

“
Owen. He’s insatiable.”
She smiled when the baby wrapped his tiny fingers around hers as he
breastfed under a light blanket.

Jack dropped into the chair across from
Frannie and pulled off his gloves. “Enjoy them while they’re that
age.”

“
What’s the
matter?”

He told her about finding Kate with Ryan and
the fight he’d had with her. “She wants to go on the pill, and
she’s not going to college. Other than that, everything’s
groovy.”

“
Wow, she put it right out
there, huh? Don’t you want her on the pill if things with him have
gone that far?”

He struggled not to raise
his voice as the baby dozed on Frannie’s shoulder.
“
No
, I
do not
want her on the
pill. I’m not giving her permission to have sex.”

“
Jack, she’s seventeen. She
doesn’t need your permission. If she wants to do it, she will.
Wouldn’t it be better to make sure she doesn’t get
pregnant?”

“
I can’t believe we’re even
having this conversation. Oh, and get this—Kate talked to Andi
about all this earlier, and she never said a word to me. I mean my
daughter is talking about having
sex
, and Andi doesn’t think I need to
know that?”

“
So you expect Andi to tell
you everything the girls confide in her?”

“
Stuff like
this—yes.”

“
I didn’t.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
There were lots of times
the girls told me things and made me promise not to tell you
because it was embarrassing or it was just girl stuff. Sometimes I
told you, and other times I didn’t. It depended on what it was.
Don’t you think it’s great that Kate went to Andi with this? It
shows what a good job she’s done getting the girls to trust her. If
Andi had gone blabbing to you, Kate would never tell her anything
again.”

Jack hated to admit Frannie might have a
point. “Andi could’ve cued me in so I wouldn’t have been totally
blindsided.”

“
I know it’s hard to see
the girls growing up. It’s hard for me, and I’m only their
aunt.”

“
You’re much more than that
to all of them, and you know it.”

“
Get her on the pill so a
year from now you aren’t wishing you had.”

“
I’ll think about it, but I
hate the idea of it.”

“
Weigh it against how you’d
feel about being a grandfather, and you’ll start to feel a whole
lot better about it,” she said with a grin.

Jack grimaced at the
word
grandfather
.
“What’ll you do when Olivia tells you she wants to be on the pill
at seventeen?”

“
Olivia won’t be allowed to
date until she’s thirty. That’s where you made your mistake—letting
her go out with him in the first place.”

He smiled. “I hope I’m around for that
fight.”

“
So she says she’s not
going to college? What’s that all about?”

“
She wants to pursue music,
and ‘why should I waste four years in school?’”

“
Who’s wasting four years
in school?” Jamie asked as he came into the room.

“
Kate. She’s got a big idea
about a career in music.” Jack rolled his eyes.

Jamie leaned down to take the sleeping Owen
from Frannie. “She’s good enough.”

“
Make sure you tell her
that,” Jack said dryly. “You’ll really help my cause.”

“
Well, she is,” Jamie
insisted. “She’s got a real talent. Maybe you should let her see
where it takes her.”

“
Clare would have a shit
fit over this. She pounded college into their heads from the day
they were old enough to know what school was. She’d never go for
it.”

“
Aren’t you doing to Kate
the same thing your father did to you?” As he spoke, Jamie rubbed
Owen’s back. “Do you want Kate to resent you the way you resented
him all those years for not understanding you well enough to let
you go your own way?”

“
So I just say ‘good luck,
honey, hope it works out. Call home every now and
then?’”

“
Maybe you do,” Frannie
said softly. “If that’s what it takes to prevent what happened
between you and Dad from happening again, maybe that’s exactly what
you do.”

Jack shook his head as he got up. “I can’t
see myself doing that, Fran. I’m sorry I barged in on you guys.
Thanks for letting me vent.” He gave Owen a pat on his well-padded
bum.

“
It’s too cold to take the
babies out, so we’re always home these days,” Frannie
said.

“
Come by any time,” Jamie
added. “We like the company.”

Jack jogged home thinking about what Frannie
and Jamie had said. He knew they were probably right, but he had no
idea how to let Kate follow her dream and keep her safe at the same
time.

He took a shower and lay awake next to Andi
for a long time. As he stewed about Kate, he found himself longing
for Clare. She’d know exactly what to do.

Jack woke up to a note from Andi, asking him
to come see her when he got to the hotel.

He dropped Maggie and Eric off at school and
was at the hotel by nine. Sleep deprived and cranky, he was hit
right away with a slew of new issues with the stubborn stonemasons.
He finally blew up at the Portuguese crew chief, the only one who
spoke English.

“
Do it the way it’s drawn,
or I’ll find someone else who will!
” Jack
left the man speechless in his wake as he stormed into the hotel,
went to Andi’s office, and slammed the door.

“
What’s wrong?” she
asked.

“
They’re making a goddamned
mess of that veranda.” He ran a hand through his hair in
frustration. “I’m giving them one last chance to follow the plans,
or I’ll replace them.”

“
We don’t have time to get
another crew. I’ve had a disaster a minute myself since I got here
at seven, and I don’t have the patience for another
one.”

“
If you don’t care if it’s
done right, then I don’t either. You’re the client.”

She got up and walked around the desk to
face him. “Is that what I am now, Jack? The client?”

“
You know what I
mean.”

“
You’re mad I didn’t tell
you about Kate, but I’d do the same thing if I had it to do over
again.”

“
I just wish you’d warned
me or something.”

“
Would that have made it
easier to hear? Any of it?”

“
Probably not, but I don’t
want us keeping things from each other. I don’t operate that way,
and I didn’t think you did either.”

“
You’re being very unfair,
and I don’t deserve it.” Her normally soft brown eyes flashed with
fury. “I’m living in your wife’s house, eating off her dishes, and
using her towels while trying to be a friend to her daughters. I’m
doing the best I can. For God’s sake, Jack,
what else do you want from me
?”

“
Andi—” he said, stunned by
her outburst.

She held up a hand to stop him. “Forget it.
I don’t have time for this now. I’ll be here until ten o’clock
tonight at this rate. Thank you for driving Eric this morning and
for pitching in with him while I’m so busy.”

“
You don’t have to thank
me. I’m happy to take care of him.”

“
I’ll see you
tonight.”

With a sick feeling in his stomach, he went
back to work.

They didn’t see much of each other over the
next few weeks as Andi worked long hours, usually crawling into bed
long after midnight.

Two days before the opening, the executive
team from Chicago completed its inspection and declared the hotel
ready to go. Andi’s reservations director told her they were sold
out for the first month, and the front desk manager reported her
group was ready to begin receiving the VIPs invited to the gala
opening.

Andi had supervised every detail of the gala
and was tending to final preparations the day before the opening as
she walked through the lobby, where the house staff was decorating
a huge Christmas tree.

The first thing guests would see upon
entrance through the main door was an enormous staircase with the
registration desk on one side and the concierge and bellman’s
stations on the other. The staircase divided the two sides of the
hotel and served as the symbolic center of the building. Guests
choosing to take the stairs would be rewarded at the top with a
full-length window view of the lawn and the bay. Andi loved the
night view when she could see the Newport Bridge lit up in the
distance.

Jen Brooks had arrived two weeks earlier and
was already indispensable to Andi. Jen had taken on the
housekeeping and food service staff. Louis Jacard, the executive
chef Andi had hired away from a top New York restaurant, was
temperamental, but Jen assured Andi she could handle him.

“
Everything looks
wonderful, Andi,” her colleague, Bill, said as they toured the
suites in the west wing. “It came together beautifully.”

“
It really did,” Andi
agreed.

“
And the art is superb.
Frannie Booth did an outstanding job. We’ll have to use her
again.”

“
She’s busy with the twins
right now, but she might be interested in some work down the
road.”

He scowled playfully at her. “I shouldn’t
even be speaking to you after the way you poached Jen right out
from under me.”

Andi laughed. “It was truly awful of me, but
it had to be done. I’d never have gotten everything finished in
time if she hadn’t shown up when she did.”

“
I saw her battling with
Louis earlier, and she was holding her own. It was a good move for
her. She was in bad shape after she ended it with Mark.”

“
She already seems better
after just a few weeks. I’m thrilled to have her with me, but I’m
sorry I stole her from you,” Andi said, full of mock
contrition.

“
You are not!” he said, and
they laughed.

They were in the America’s Cup suite when
Jack appeared at the door.

“
Hi, there.” Andi was
surprised—and thrilled—to see him. He’d made himself scarce around
the hotel since they’d argued about Kate. Repairing their rift was
her top priority after the opening.

Jack shook Bill’s hand. “Hi there, Bill. How
are you?”

“
Nice to see you. You guys
did an outstanding job.”

“
So did you. The suites are
amazing.”

“
Andi deserves most of the
credit for that. Would you two excuse me? I need to get over to the
east wing where the rest of my people are handling the finishing
touches.”

“
I’ll see you later, Bill.”
Andi was hosting a dinner that evening for her former coworkers as
a thank you for their hard work over the last few
months.

“
How’re you holding up?”
Jack asked, studying her. “You look tired.”

“
I’ll be glad to get
through tomorrow. Is everyone all set to come?”

“
We’re looking forward to
it. I bought Eric a tux yesterday. Wait until you see how cute he
is.”

He looked delighted, and she felt her heart
soften toward him for the first time in far too long. “I can’t
wait. Thanks for taking him.”

“
It was fun.”

She looked up at him, her heart aching. “I
miss you.”

“
I miss you, too.” He held
out his arms to her.

Taking a step to meet him halfway, she
released a deep sigh of relief at being back in his arms and
engulfed in his familiar scent. “I’m scared, Jack. I never would’ve
thought we could drift so far from each other so quickly.”

“
We’ll work it out, honey.
After the opening, we should get away for a few days. Just the two
of us.”

“
I’d love that.” She
reached up to kiss him and lingered longer than she’d intended when
the old thrill chased through her the moment their lips
touched.

He seemed reluctant to let her go. “I’ll
make some plans for us. Any preferences?”