by Shirley Jump
“That business was on its last legs before your father went to Knight for help. Tom had lost his passion for it years earlier, and in the last couple of years before he sold, he’d spent too many days going fishing on the boat instead of working. A business is like a garden. You have to keep tending it, or it’ll die on the vine. And your father stopped tending it.” She shrugged. “I knew, but I figured we were okay. And I couldn’t blame him. He’d worked so many hours when he first started out and he hated being the boss. The one to hire, fire, and demand. Plus, he missed you girls’ soccer games and softball matches, and weekend family trips. I think he just wanted a break, to live his life before he got too old to do so and...”
Her voice trailed off and she bit her lip. “He just wanted time. With his family. With the people most important to him. There was a lot involved in that decision, Marnie. A lot you didn’t know. Your father kept things to himself, hated to worry us. All he kept saying was that we’d be fine.”
“Keeping the sunshine on his face,” Marnie said, repeating her father’s oft-used phrase.
“That was his philosophy, right or wrong. And so I couldn’t blame him for wanting time to enjoy his days. He said he had put money aside for retirement, and that we would be all right once he got some investors on board. The company would turn around, freeing him up. We’d have time together, we’d travel, we’d treat you girls to all those extras we hadn’t been able to afford before. I trusted him. I’d been married to the man nearly all my life, why wouldn’t I?”
Marnie’s jaw dropped as she put the pieces together. The financial struggle her mother had had over the last few years, her decision to go back to work. “There was no retirement?”
Helen shook her head, sad and slow. “Your father had spent it all, investing it in some fishing charter thing his cousin Rick talked him into, and kept telling him it would pay off. Just be patient, wait, and your dad did. Too long.”
Her father, a trusting, optimistic man, who had trusted a family member when he should have had his guard up. In the end, it didn’t surprise Marnie as much as reveal a different side of her father.
“Rick’s business went belly up before it started, and the money was gone,” Ma said. “Our entire future, gone in an instant. All our equity. All we had left was the house and the company, which by then wasn’t worth much at all.”
“So he sold a majority interest in the business to get the money back,” Marnie finished.
Helen nodded. “Your father partnered with Knight on the agreement that they would be there to provide counsel to help him get the printing company back on track. They talked about bringing in an expert to help the operation get leaner, more efficient, hire some sales people to generate more income. Tom thought maybe he could bring about a financial miracle before I realized what happened to the retirement money. But then Knight didn’t help. As soon as the paperwork was signed, the help and advice stopped. And the company, like you said, faltered. When Knight came back and offered to buy the remaining assets, your father jumped at the offer, even though it meant taking a loss. By then, he knew there was no way to rebound, and I don’t think he had the heart or desire to put in the hours that might take. He wanted to be here, not behind that desk. Still, your father felt so guilty, and I think that’s what broke his heart in the end. I had no idea. If I had...” She shook her head, regrets clouding her eyes. “He didn’t tell me any of this until shortly before he died. I wish he’d told me sooner. Oh, how I wish he had. Communication was never the strong suit in this family, and we had...so many other worries at the time. If he’d said something—”
“We would have stepped in and helped,” Marnie said. “I would have gone to work for him or loaned him some money or...” She paused as the realization dawned in her mind. Her father, sacrificing for his family right to the end. “That’s why he didn’t tell us. He didn’t want us to do any of that.”
Helen’s soft palm cupped her daughter’s cheek. “He was so proud of you. You and your sisters. You found jobs that you love, that speak to your heart, and he would never have asked you to give that up.”
“But, Ma, we could have helped him. Done something.”
“And it would have made him miserable. He wanted you girls to be happy in your own lives, not make up for his mistakes. Not to worry about him all the time.”
“He wasn’t perfect,” Marnie said, “but he sure was a great dad.”
“Before he died, he made me promise not to let hurt or anger fill my heart. That’s why he got me that clock the last Christmas before he died. So I’d remember to be happy, to tick along. To not let what happened ruin our future.” Her mother got to her feet, took the clock off the wall and pressed it into Marnie’s hands. “Take this, hang it on your wall, and remember to be happy, Marnie. To be silly. And most of all, to forgive.”
The two of them hugged, two women who had lost a man they loved, and who shared common regrets. Outside, the rain washed over the house, washed it clean, and inside the kitchen, the first steps of healing truly began.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“TELL ME AGAIN why I’m here, besides serving as a fifth wheel,” Jack said. They were standing in the lobby of a seafood restaurant located on the wharf. In the distance, he could hear the clanging of the buoys. The scent of the ocean, salty, tangy, carried on the air, a perfect complement to the restaurant’s menu.
Dan chuckled. “I thought it’d be nice for you to get to know Helen a little better. And it’ll do you good to eat a meal that doesn’t come out of a takeout box.”
Jack grinned. “You have a point there.”
“Parents are always right. Just remember that.” Dan arched a brow, a smirk on his face. The door to the restaurant opened, and Helen strode in, shaking off the rain on her coat and her umbrella. Her gaze met Dan’s and a smile sparked on her face.
A wave of jealousy washed over Jack. Not that he begrudged Dan a moment of happiness, but seeing Helen’s happiness, and the echoing emotion in his stepfather, was a stark reminder to Jack of his solitary life.
“Did you tell him?” Helen asked.
“Nope.” Dan grinned again.
That didn’t sound good. Jack sent Dan an inquisitive look. “Tell me what?”
Then the door to the restaurant opened again and Marnie walked in. At first, she was too busy brushing off the rain to notice Jack. She shrugged out of her raincoat, handing it the coat check. Then she turned, and his groin tightened, his pulse skipped a beat and everything within him sprang to attention. Wow.
Marnie had on a clingy dark green dress that accented the blond in her hair, made her eyes seem bigger, more luminous. The dress skimmed her body, showed off her arms, her incredible legs, and dropped in an enticing V in the front.
She smiled when she saw Dan and her mother. Then her gaze swiveled to Jack and the smile disappeared. “Why are you here?”
“I was invited,” he said.
“So was I.” She tipped her head toward her mother. “Ma?”
Helen took Dan’s arm and beamed at both Jack and Marnie. “Our table’s ready. Let’s go have dinner.”
“Ma—”
“Come on, Marnie, Jack.” Then Helen turned on her heel and headed into the dining room with Dan, leaving Jack and Marnie two choices—follow or walk out the door. Marnie looked ready to do the latter.
Jack tossed Marnie a grin. “It is their treat, and we do need to eat. Should we call a truce, for the sake of our parents?”
She hesitated, biting her lower lip, then nodded. “If they stay together we’ll inevitably see each other once in a while. So we should at least get along tonight. For their sake.”
“If they stay together? I thought you were the best matchmaker around,” he teased. “Hmmm...maybe you were wrong about who you matched me with, too.”
“You were a special case.”
He laughed. “Now that I agree with.”
She rolled her eyes, but a slight smile played on her lips. It was enough. It gave Jack hope that maybe, just maybe, all was not lost between them. She strode into the dining room, with him bringing up the rear.
They sat across from Dan and Helen, who had taken seats together on one side of the table. Another element of Dan and Helen’s strategic plan, one Jack had to admit he admired. The waiter took their drink orders, left them with menus, then headed off to the bar.
“I’m glad you both decided to join us for dinner,” Helen said.
Dan draped an arm over the back of Helen’s chair and she shifted a bit closer to him. “We figured it would take a miracle for you two to see you’re as matched as two peas in a pod—”
“Dad—”
Dan put up a hand. “Hear me out, Jack. Marnie’s mother and I are pretty damned happy. And we want to see both of you just as happy as we are. Now, maybe you two won’t work out. But you’ll never know unless you give it a chance.”
“You had to get your matchmaking abilities somewhere,” Helen said to Marnie. “Dare I suggest your mother’s side of the family?”
“They’re pretty obvious,” Marnie said to Jack.
He nodded, a smirk on his face. “Maybe they’ve got something here.”
Dan and Helen watched the exchange with amusement. “Like I said, you should always listen to your parents,” Dan said. “We’ve got age and experience on our side.”
“Definitely the latter,” Helen said with a flirtatious tone in her voice. She flushed, then laughed, and gave Dan a quick kiss on his cheek. He cupped her face, and kissed her again.
A craving for that—that happiness, that ease with another person, that loving attention—rose in Marnie fast and fierce. Her mother had taken this leap, taken the biggest risk of all and fallen for someone else. Could Marnie do the same?
If she didn’t, she knew she’d never have what her mother had right now. And oh, how Marnie wanted it. More than she ever had before.
She slid a glance in Jack’s direction. Every woman with a pulse had noticed him tonight. He had on a dark blue pinstripe suit, a pale blue shirt the color of the sky on a cold morning, and a green and silver striped tie that coordinated with her dress, as if they’d planned it that way. His dark hair seemed to beg for her to run her fingers through it, while the sharp lines of his jaw urged her to kiss him.
If he was any other man, and she was any other woman, she would want him. She would probably date him. Fall for him. But even the thought of that caused the familiar panic to rise inside her chest.
Falling for Jack would be like jumping off a cliff. It was the kind of heady rush that Marnie avoided at all costs. Not to mention, his mere presence was a constant reminder of what had happened to her father’s business. She couldn’t do that to herself, but most especially, to her mother or sisters.
“It’s very sweet of you both to think we should date,” Marnie said, “but this matchmaker doesn’t see the logic in that. Jack and I are too...different.”
Helen propped her chin on her hands. “Really? Different? How?”
Marnie shifted in her seat. “He’s a businessman—”
“As are you.”
“Well, I’m in a creative industry. He’s...corporate.”
“That just means you’ll compliment each other’s skills,” Helen said.
Dan nodded. “Yup. Like ranch dressing and celery sticks.”
Jack turned in his chair and put one arm on the back. “There are the things we have in common, too. Like music. Hobbies.”
“Not movies,” she pointed out, then felt silly for even mentioning it. Really? Her strongest argument was that Jack liked The Terminator and she liked tissue-ready chick flicks?
Jack nodded and feigned deep thought. “There is that. Well, that settles it, then.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. Good. He wasn’t going along with this charade any more than she was. “Great.”
“We just won’t watch movies,” he said, then leaned toward her. His dark, woodsy cologne teased at her senses, urged her to come closer, to nuzzle his neck, taste his lips. “We’ll find other ways to entertain ourselves.”
Desire roared through Marnie’s veins, an instant, insane tsunami of want, as if Jack had reached over, and flicked a switch to On. Across from them, Dan laughed, and Helen gave them a knowing smile.
“I, uh, forgot. I have a meeting with a client.” Marnie grabbed her purse and jerked to her feet. The only thing she could do to avoid this disaster was to leave. “I’m so sorry. Maybe we could do this another time.”
Helen apologized to the men, then headed out after her daughter.
After the women had left, Dan turned to his stepson and sighed. “Sorry, son. We thought that would work out better than it did.”
“It’s okay. She can’t forgive me for what Knight did to her father’s company. I understand that.” Heck, he heard it every day, as he worked to make amends, to try to undo the damage that had been done both by his father and himself.
But there were days when the task felt like pushing back a wall of water. He’d think he was making progress, then unearth another stack of files or get another phone call from a lawyer and realize how far he had yet to go. In between, he was still running Knight Enterprises, and still working on investment deals and helping the businesses he funded. A Herculean task, even with a staff working along with him.
“She’ll come around,” Dan said. “Look at the people you have helped. You’ve gotten, what, twenty companies back up and running? Invested in another dozen business owners whose companies had been dissolved? You’ve got a gift there, son, and you’re using it to do good. I’m proud of you.”
The tender words warmed Jack. For so long, he had wanted to hear them from his biological father, but never had, even when he’d modeled Jack, Senior’s ruthless behavior. Now, in doing the opposite of his biological dad, he had earned respect and pride from the man who had truly been his father, with or without a DNA connection. And that, in the end, meant far more to Jack. His biological father might never have appreciated or understood or supported him, but this man did all three, and that was the mark of a true parent. “Thanks, Dad. That means a lot.”
Jack’s gaze went to the restaurant exit. A part of him hoped like hell that Marnie had changed her mind, but no, Helen was making her way back to the table. Alone.
“And don’t you worry about Marnie,” Dan said as if he’d read his stepson’s mind. “You’ll figure out the best way to win her heart because that’s your specialty. Solving the big problems and creating a happy ending for everyone.”
Jack thought of the piles of folders on his credenza. The companies he had yet to find a way to restore or repair. He had a way to go, a hell of a long way to go, in creating those happy endings. And judging by the way Marnie had looked at him tonight, he had a way to go in the romantic happy ending department, too. It was time to admit defeat and quit chasing something that didn’t want to be caught.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned in business, it’s when to walk away from the deal,” Jack said, getting to his feet, and nodding a goodbye to his stepfather and Helen. “And when it’s time to move on to another candidate.”
* * *
Every time Marnie managed to put him from her mind, Jack Knight popped back into her world, a few days after the dinner with her mother and Dan. Marnie had just locked the door on the office and turned toward home, exhausted and beyond ready for a vacation, or at the very least a weekend away from the calls and emails and meetings, when a familiar silver car pulled into the lot and Jack hopped out of the driver’s seat. The trunk had been restored to new condition, all evidence of the wreck erased by some talented body shop.
As for Jack, despite everything, a li
ttle thrill ran through her at the sight of him, tall and lean, in a pair of well-worn jeans, a cotton button-down and a dark brown sports jacket. He looked...comfortable. Sexy. Like a man she could lean into and the world would drop away.
“Leaving so soon?” Jack asked.
“It’s nearly noon,” she said. “On a Sunday. Most people left the office two days ago.”
“Just us workaholics still in the city, huh?” He reached into his jacket and withdrew a bright pink flyer. “And people planning on going to the Esplanade this afternoon to soak up some sun and hear the MAJE Jazz Showcase.”
“What’s that?”
“Top scoring high school bands from around the area get to perform at the Hatch Shell every year. And this year, my cousin is playing in one of the bands that won gold at the state competition, which automatically puts the band into the showcase.” He took a couple steps closer to her. “How about it? Would you like to go and support the local arts?”
“Me? Why?”
“Because I think you would enjoy it. We both like jazz, and it’s a gorgeous day, one we should take advantage of and spend a few hours enjoying. And—” he took a couple steps closer to her “—because I am officially asking you on a real date.”
“Jack—”
“You know, after that dinner at the restaurant, I told myself to walk away. To quit pursuing someone who didn’t want to be pursued. And I did. But you know what the problem with my theory is?”
She shook her head.
“I couldn’t get you out of my mind. Maybe this is crazy. Maybe this is a really bad idea.” He took another step closer, and his cologne teased her nostrils, and her pulse began to race. “But I want to see you again, Marnie.”
That sent a zing through her heart, and a smile to her lips. “You are a stubborn man, Jack Knight.” No one had ever pursued her this hard before, and if she was honest with herself, it was nice. Very nice.