by Marie Force
“It sounds like you did everything you could for your wife. That’s why you were able to go back to being a dad to your girls and get back to work—because you know you did everything you possibly could for her.”
“I usually find it hard to talk about, but you make it easy.”
“I’m still recovering from my foot-in-mouth incident last night,” she said, enjoying her lobster salad as the conversation went in a less intense direction.
“I thought we were past that.”
His wry grin made her heart skip a beat. He was so magnetic and everything she’d ever wanted in a man. But she reminded herself—and her galloping heart—that he belonged to someone else. Thinking of Tony and their fledgling relationship, she experienced a pang of guilt over all the feelings she suddenly had for Jack.
“What is it?” he asked.
She ventured a glance at him. “Nothing, why?”
“You just had this look…in your eyes, like something upset you.”
Rattled, she put down her fork and took a sip of her wine. “You’re a very nice guy, Jack Harrington.”
As a muscle in his cheek pulsed with tension, he glanced down at the table and then at her. “May I ask you something that might seem wildly inappropriate coming from a professional colleague?”
Releasing a nervous laugh, she said, “Sure. Go for it.”
“Are you seeing anyone at home?”
A flush of heat worked its way through her, settling in her face. Andi put her hands on her cheeks, hoping he wouldn’t see how his question had affected her.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ve embarrassed you.”
“No, it’s fine. It’s just kind of warm in here.”
“It’s none of my business. I don’t even know why I asked.”
He looked so befuddled that Andi’s heart went out to him. Danger! “We’ll be working together very closely for the next year and a half. I’d like to think we could be friends as well as colleagues.”
His face lifted into a small smile that sent arrows of desire darting through her. Big trouble.
“I’d like that,” he said.
“In that case, I can tell my friend who is also my colleague that I recently started seeing the father of one of Eric’s friends.”
Was that disappointment she saw on his face?
“And how’s that going?”
“It’s…ah…interesting, I guess you could say, to be back in the dating world after so many years of being married and then single during my ‘I’ll never date again’ phase.”
“I can’t imagine ever dating or anything like that. I mean who’d want to take on a situation like mine? Married but not really… How would that be fair?”
“You don’t have to decide that for someone else. If a woman chooses to get involved with you, she’d do so knowing your situation.”
“I still can’t see it ever happening. I’d feel so disloyal to Clare, you know?”
“I can see what you mean.” She paused for a moment. “I didn’t know her, but I can’t imagine she’d expect you to be alone the rest of your life. Wouldn’t she want you to be happy?”
Laughing, he said, “Not if being happy included other women. She was a little territorial where I was concerned.” He fiddled absently with an extra napkin on the table. “I’ve been so caught up in trying to mend fences with the girls and get back in a groove at work that I haven’t given my own future the first thought.” His eyes shifted up to meet hers. “Until recently.”
The statement hung in the air between them.
Andi cleared her throat and got busy finishing her salad.
“I’ve made you uncomfortable again. I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about.” She forced a bright smile as her heart hammered in her chest. “What time are we meeting everyone at your house?”
He studied her for a long, breathless moment. “Six.”
Since they had some time to kill, he took her to the Cliff Walk that ran along the backyards of the mansions they’d toured that morning. The ocean crashed against the jagged rocks below, sending huge streams of mist into the air.
Jack stopped her to point out his house across the wide span of water. “It’s between the two white ones, lots of glass. See it?”
“Wow, I can’t wait to see it up close.” She looked up at him, a teasing grin on her pretty face. “Is it a Jack Harrington original?”
“As a matter of fact, it is.”
“Was it difficult to build right on the coast like that?”
“It was a bit of a challenge but well worth it. I love living so close to the water.”
She took a good look at the view. “I can see why.”
Making a studious effort to stay away from the personal topics they’d strayed into over lunch, Jack kept the discussion focused on the plans for the hotel, decorating ideas, and design highlights. But despite his best intentions, he was captivated as she talked with animated gestures about the ideas the day in Newport had generated.
He’d embarrassed her over lunch by asking personal questions he had no right to ask. Not only was she a colleague, but she was involved with someone else. Why that information had filled him with such unreasonable jealousy would be something he could stew over later when he was alone. For now, he was delighted to simply be with her.
She was so caught up in what she was telling him that she missed a small dip in the path and lost her footing.
Jack reached for her and stopped her from falling.
Gasping, she looked up at him with chocolate brown eyes gone wide with surprise.
Jack kept his arms around her as she regained her balance. “Are you all right?”
She glanced at the rocky shoreline below the path and tightened her grip on his arms. “That would’ve been quite a fall.”
“Someone goes over at least once a year.” When she looked up at him, the impact once again hit him like a punch to the gut. “Andi…”
“Yes?”
“I…” He wanted to kiss her. After more than a year of feeling nothing at all, the desire was so fierce, he could barely breathe. Then all the reasons why he couldn’t kiss her or anyone else came flooding back to remind him he needed to let go of her.
But damn it, he didn’t want to.
He finally released her.
“Jack? What is it? What’s wrong?”
Rattled, he shook his head. “Nothing. Let’s get going, shall we?”
Chapter 6
At Jack’s house, a game of Marco Polo was going on in the pool. Andi waved hello to her coworkers and to Frannie and Jamie, who were working the grill.
“We’ll be back in a minute,” Jack called to them. “Andi wants to see the house.”
“Take your time,” Frannie shouted over Jimmy Buffett on the stereo.
After Jack introduced them, Jill got up to offer Andi a drink.
Andi waved to Kate and Maggie in the pool as she accepted the glass of wine from Jill.
“It’s unreal!” Andi said as she and Jack went into the house. “She’s you all over again!”
“So I’ve been told. She gets sick of hearing it from everyone.”
“I’m glad I didn’t say anything to her, then.”
“She’s used to it. But what sixteen-year-old girl wants to look just like her dad?” he asked, grinning. “Clare and Kate, same story—uncanny resemblance. Then there’s Maggie.”
“A bit of both of you?” she asked as she followed him through the kitchen.
“Exactly. You can probably tell by how much younger Maggie is that we didn’t plan her. And believe me, we were taken aback by the idea of another baby when Jill and Kate were in elementary school. But Maggie completes us. I’m so glad she came along when she did.”
Listening to him talk about his kids made Andi sad that Eric didn’t have a father like Jack in his life. Pushing that depressing thought away, she focused on the incredible house he’d built for his family. It featured hardwood floors and lots
of glass to take full advantage of the magnificent ocean view.
He led her upstairs to the girls’ floor and then up the spiral stairs to the master suite.
“I’ve lost count,” she said. “Four bathrooms?”
“Six,” he said with a sheepish grin. “Seven bedrooms.”
A casual photo of Jack and his pretty blonde wife sat on a table, and Andi could tell it had been taken on the boat. She followed him to the balcony that hung over the pool area with the ocean farther below.
“This was Clare’s favorite spot. She used to come out here every morning for a few minutes no matter what the weather.”
“I can see why she loved it so much. It’s an amazing house, Jack. Truly.”
“Thanks.” He seemed embarrassed by her effusiveness. “I surprised Clare with it at Christmas six years ago in one of my finer moments, if I do say so myself.”
“She knew nothing about it?”
“Not a thing.”
“And how’d you pull that off?”
“There was a lot of lying involved,” he said with a grin. “For which I was forgiven when she saw this place the first time.”
“She’s lucky to have you.”
“I was lucky to have her,” he said, hesitating, as if he wanted to say something else.
“Jack? What is it?”
His face tightened with tension, and all at once, he seemed far away. “There was more to Clare’s accident than I told you last night.” It seemed to cost him something vital to talk about Clare standing in front of the speeding car, her failure to move, and how he now had to live with the gnawing uncertainty that perhaps she’d done it on purpose.
“You don’t really think that, though, do you?” Andi asked, deeply moved by his story and the pain that radiated from him. In that moment, she was startled to realize there was almost nothing she wouldn’t do to make him smile again.
“I didn’t believe it was even remotely possible until I saw the video from the mall security. She had time to get out of the way.”
“After meeting you and the girls and seeing the home you built for her, it would seem to me that Clare had everything in the world to live for.”
“That’s what I always assumed, but who knows if that’s how she felt. We had a fight on the morning of the accident, and when I look back over the months preceding it, I can see now that something was off. You know what they say about hindsight…”
“You can’t do that to yourself, Jack.”
“That’s what everyone tells me, but the image of her standing there when the car was coming at her haunts me. I wake up a lot of nights in a cold sweat, even all these months later, because I’ve been dreaming about it and can’t stop the car from hitting her. I run for her, but I’m always too late.”
Blinking back tears, she reached for his hand. If not for the patio full of people below them, she would’ve hugged him.
“Anyway, I’ll probably never know for sure what really happened.” She watched him make a supreme effort to shake off his grief. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to drag down our day.”
Andi squeezed his hand. “You didn’t. I’m glad you told me.”
“I appreciate you listening.”
Frannie looked up at Jack and Andi on the balcony, talking with their heads close together. “Something’s up.”
“You might be right,” Jamie said as he flipped the burgers and sneaked a peek.
Frannie smacked his arm. “Stop looking!”
“You were looking, too! Before they come back, I want to ask you something.”
“What?” She made an effort to sound casual despite the strange hum of tension between them since the night before on the boat.
“Will you have dinner with me tomorrow night?”
“Like a date?” She pretended to be horrified, but her heart was banging around in her chest.
“Yes, like a date,” he said, laughing.
“That’s not such a good idea.”
“What do you mean? It’s the best idea I’ve ever had. In fact, I should’ve had it years ago.”
“If we start something that doesn’t work out, it’d be a mess. For everyone.” She gestured to the pool where the girls swam with their friends and Jack’s guests.
Spinning a lock of her hair around his finger, Jamie brought his face down close to hers. “When we start something, it’s going to work out because we already love each other.”
Her mouth hung open in surprise as he handed her the spatula and walked away.
“You and Jamie were looking pretty intense,” Jack said when he joined her a few minutes later. “Everything all right?”
“Of course it is.” Frannie returned her attention to the grill. “You were looking pretty intense yourself up there with Andi.”
“I was?” He sounded panicked. “Really?”
Frannie watched her brother seek out Andi, who was on the other side of the pool with her coworkers. “Relax,” she said. “No one noticed.”
“You did.”
“What’s going on, Jack?”
He hesitated before he said, “I wasn’t expecting to meet someone who’d make me want more.”
His helpless shrug made Frannie ache for him. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting more, Jack. You can’t be alone the rest of your life. Clare wouldn’t want that for you.”
“Get real. She would’ve flipped out if I so much as looked at another woman.”
“That was then.”
“So you’re giving me permission, little sister?” he asked with a small smile.
“You need to give yourself permission.” She squeezed his arm. “Permission to live, Jack. What else can you do?”
“I can’t see anything happening with her.”
“Why not?”
“For one thing, we’re professional colleagues, and nothing good ever comes of getting involved with someone you work with.”
“I hate to point out the obvious, but you don’t actually work with her.”
“You know what I mean. She’s a client.”
“She’s the employee of a client.”
He scowled playfully at her. “She also lives a thousand miles from me and is dating someone at home.”
“Oh,” Frannie said, grinning. “So you asked, huh?”
“It came up.”
“Is it serious?”
“Apparently, it’s new.”
“I’m still not hearing a convincing argument of why you can’t see her.”
“How about this then: what woman in her right mind would want to take on the mess that comes with me?”
“Um, maybe the one who’s been sneaking peeks at you the entire time you’ve been talking to me?”
Jack’s eyes darted to the other side of the pool, and sure enough, Andi was watching them. He smiled at her, and she smiled back.
Frannie laughed watching the exchange. “Got yourself a little crush going on, do you?”
“I don’t know,” he said, flustered as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Maybe.”
“Go for it, Jack. What’ve you got to lose?”
“I’ve already lost so much. I’m not sure I could take that kind of risk again.” His face clouded with tension that he made a valiant effort to shake off. “Anyway, what’s up with you and JB?”
“I have no idea what you mean.”
“He said something that left your mouth hanging open.”
She rolled her eyes and started to walk away. “Whatever.”
Taking her arm, he stopped her and raised a questioning eyebrow.
“If you must know, he asked me to have dinner with him tomorrow night.” She pulled her arm free.
“Well, isn’t that interesting? Are you going?”
“I haven’t decided. I have no interest in joining his harem.”
“He’s been over his Barbie phase for a while now. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I saw him with any woman. Our boy might just be growing up. Maybe he’s looking for a woman o
f substance.”
“Is that what I am? A woman of substance?” She pretended to be offended as she scooped the burgers onto a plate. “Burgers are ready,” she called out and handed the plate to Jill.
“Go out with him. See what happens.”
“What if it doesn’t work out? He’s your best friend and one of my best friends, and he has been for years.”
“I see what you mean, but look at it this way: what if this is what you’ve both been looking for, and all these years it’s been right under your noses?” He tweaked her nose. “It’s just dinner. Go with him. If you don’t, you’ll always wonder what might’ve happened.”
Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Did he pay you to plead his case?”
Laughing, Jack raised his hands to fend her off. “He hasn’t said a word to me about this. Honest.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll go, but if it turns into a mess, remember I tried to tell you it would.”
“That’s a great way to start something, looking for a mess. Good strategy, Fran.” He patted her head and went to join the others.
Frannie watched him go, her heart soaring as she watched Andi smile when she saw him coming. Things were definitely looking up.
After dinner Jack lit the poolside fireplace, and Andi sat next to him on a double-sized lounge chair to watch the fire. Her coworkers entertained his daughters with stories about some of their bigger design challenges. The girls were hooked on the decorating shows on HGTV and chatted about their favorites with the eccentric interior designers.
Jack laughed at Maggie charming Andi’s coworker, Michael, into taking “just a quick look” at her room. She had totally bamboozled the comical designer.
“Watch out for her in a few years,” Andi whispered.
Jack groaned. “She’ll be the one to give me gray hairs. Jill and Kate have had boys flocking around for years, but neither of them has really singled one out. They usually prefer to hang out in groups, which is fine with me. Maggie, on the other hand, terrifies me.”
“She’s adorable,” Andi said, laughing at his distress. “So what were you badgering Frannie about earlier?”
“Me? Badger? I don’t know what you mean.”