Treading Water

by Marie Force

  While he attempted to collect his thoughts, Kate and Maggie landed on the other sofa.

  “You remember Andi, who was here this summer from Chicago?”

  “Sure,” Kate said. “She was nice.”

  “And so pretty,” Maggie added.

  He smiled. “Yes, she’s nice and pretty. I’ve invited her and her son, Eric, to go to Quinn’s wedding with us.”

  “Is she a friend of Quinn’s?” Jill asked. She spun her long dark hair around a finger tipped with hot pink polish.

  “Not exactly.” He swallowed hard. “It’s more like she’s a friend of mine.”

  Kate’s eyes widened. “Like a girlfriend?”

  He had promised himself he’d be honest with them. “Yes, like a girlfriend. How do you feel about that?”

  They were silent until Jill finally said, “I hadn’t thought about you having a girlfriend.”

  “I hadn’t either. You know I wasn’t looking for one.”

  Biting her lip, Maggie looked worried. “Are you going to marry her?”

  “No, sweetie. I’m still married to Mom, and that’s not going to change. I promise you.” He reached out to bring her onto his lap and put his arms around her.

  “I want you to be happy, Dad,” Kate said. “If Andi makes you happy, I’m glad she’s your girlfriend.”

  “Thank you,” he said softly. She reminded him so much of Clare that it sometimes took his breath away. “I mentioned her son Eric’s coming, too. Remember when I went to Chicago, and Miranda taught me some sign language because I was going to meet a hearing-impaired boy when I was there? That’s Andi’s son. You guys will love him. He’s five, and he’s so cute.”

  “Not cuter than me?” Maggie asked with an arched eyebrow.

  He laughed and tickled her. “No way. No one’s cuter than you, Mags.”

  Jill and Kate rolled their eyes at Maggie’s baby-of-the-family act. Maggie and Kate kissed him good night and went upstairs.

  He reached for Jill’s hand when she lingered a moment longer. “Are you okay with this, hon?”

  “I want it to be as simple as Kate made it out to be, but it’s not, is it?”

  “No, baby, it isn’t. But she makes me happy. That’s all I can say.”

  “I still miss Mom.”

  “I do, too, and I always will. I hope you believe me.”

  She nodded and kissed him before she went upstairs.

  He sat there a long time thinking about them and hoping he was doing the right thing by bringing two new people into their lives.

  Jack stood in the same spot where he first met Andi the summer before to watch the stream of people coming off the Chicago flight but didn’t see her or Eric among them. He was starting to worry they’d missed the flight when he saw Eric come around the corner, dragging Andi behind him.

  Jack held out his arms, and Eric ran to him. He swung the boy up and around. When Andi caught up to them, he pulled her to him with his spare arm, and the three of them held each other for a long moment.

  “It’s Friday,” Andi whispered in his ear.

  Jack leaned in to kiss her and had to remind himself to show some restraint in front of Eric. “Thank God. Let’s get this show on the road.”

  They arrived in Newport as the girls were settling into the boat for the sail to Block Island. Since they had only about three hours of daylight left, they hurried to get under way.

  The girls showed Eric where to put his things and where he would be sleeping. Kate’s friend Miranda had taught them some basic sign language, and they were like three mother hens with the little boy.

  Jack kept an arm around Andi as they watched the kids together. “They’re going to smother him,” he said.

  “He loves the attention. I can’t believe they learned some sign language for him. That’s so sweet.”

  “They wanted to be able to talk to him and figured if they learned a few things, they could work together. If they hit a snag, they know you’re here.”

  “Looks like they’re doing fine so far.”

  Jack looked down at her, burning with the need to kiss and touch her. Somehow he managed to curb the urge in deference to their children.

  “Stop looking at me that way,” she whispered. “This is a G-rated weekend.”

  “What? No way.”

  She gave him a gentle nudge. “Yes, way.”

  “We’ll see about that…” He glanced into the cabin and noticed Jill watching them with a blank expression on her face. Realizing how strange it must be for her to see her father with another woman, he stepped back from Andi.

  “It’ll take some time,” Andi whispered.

  “I know.”

  Frannie and Jamie arrived and greeted Andi with hugs.

  “We’re so glad you could come this weekend,” Frannie said.

  “I understand congratulations are in order for you two,” Andi said.

  Jamie hooked an arm around Frannie as she showed Andi her engagement ring.

  “It’s gorgeous, Frannie. I’m so happy for you.”

  “If you’re done with your female bonding ritual, we ought to get going,” Jack said dryly.

  “You be quiet,” Andi said.

  Jack rolled his eyes at Jamie as the women continued to oooh and ahhh over Frannie’s ring. She told Andi about wedding plans while Jack and Jamie eased the boat out of the dock and prepared the sails. Jack motioned Eric over to him so he could outfit him with a life jacket and handed another to Maggie.

  The brisk westerly wind gave them a quick, easy sail to the island. Jamie was at the helm when they arrived in New Harbor on the island’s north end. After securing the boat and visiting with their friends at Payne’s Dock, they piled into the old station wagon Jack kept on the island to drive to Haven Hill. The girls brought their bags to stay at the house with Quinn, who had invited them to hang out with the bridal party the next day.

  Andi let out a gasp when she saw Haven Hill for the first time. The rambling twenty-room “cottage” with the sweeping front porch stood high on a hill, its shingles weather-beaten from more than half a century of fending off the elements on the island’s south end.

  The noisy group fell out of the overcrowded car and charged inside. Eric followed close on Maggie’s heels while Andi stood back to get a better look at the house that bustled with workers making final preparations for the wedding.

  “It’s beautiful, Jack. I can’t wait to see inside.”

  With the kids inside, he slipped an arm around her. “I love it here. This house made me want to be an architect. It’s inspired every house I’ve ever designed.”

  “I can see why.” They walked along the driveway so Andi could get a better look at the widow’s walk that faced the Atlantic Ocean. “It’s amazing. How did it come to be in your family?”

  “My grandfather bought it right after World War II for two hundred thousand, if you can believe that. The guy who built it died just as construction was being completed, so his estate needed to sell it. When my grandfather died, he left it to my mother. We spent summers out here when we were growing up, and Clare always brought the girls out, too.”

  He walked her in to show her around, and she exclaimed over the comfortable yet elegant furnishings that gave it the atmosphere of a beach house but with classic touches like the grandfather clock that stood in the front hall next to a winding staircase.

  “I love it,” she said when he led her to the large back porch outfitted with comfortable wicker furniture and a hammock that overlooked the ocean. “I can imagine whiling away an entire summer on this porch.” They watched the kids disappear down the steep stairs to the beach. “Show me the rest.”

  He took her through the large open rooms downstairs that would be used for Quinn’s wedding.

  “I want to show you the upstairs.” Jack steered her to the second floor.

  “Which one’s yours?” she asked with a coy smile after he had shown her several rooms.

  He grinned and led her into one
of the house’s two master suites, where he pressed her against the wall to kiss her the way he’d longed to for hours. Ten passionate minutes later, he groaned with frustration and tore himself away to check his watch. “The ferry will be in soon. I need to send Jill to get Quinn and her family.” He leaned his forehead against Andi’s in an effort to cool off. “We’ll continue this conversation later.”

  “I’ll look forward to that.”

  After dinner with Quinn, her fiancé, and parents, Jack, Andi, Eric, Frannie, and Jamie headed back to the boat. Eric was out cold by the time they arrived at the marina.

  “This is getting to be a habit,” Jack said as he carried her sleeping child to the boat.

  “One I could get used to.”

  “Oh, yeah?” He cocked an eyebrow at her as they boarded the boat. Frannie and Jamie had gone to the marina bar to have a nightcap.

  After they tucked Eric into his bunk, Jack opened a bottle of wine, and they took it up on deck with a heavy blanket.

  “Look at the stars!” Andi said.

  The night sky over the Great Salt Pond was alive in the total darkness. The pond, which was packed with boats in the summer, had thinned to just a few hardy souls. After the long weekend, the island would all but shut down until spring.

  “It’s the best stargazing in the world,” Jack said.

  “I can see why you love it here.”

  “I met Clare out here.” He shared the story of how they met the summer after he graduated from Harvard.

  “That’s right, you went to Harvard,” she said in a mocking tone.

  “Oh, God, don’t start on that. Clare never got over teasing me about it. I went there for graduate school with Jamie after Berkeley. Where’d you go?”

  “Parsons. I lived in an apartment across the hall from David while he was at NYU. That’s how we met. His father founded Infinity. David went to work there right out of school and hired me. Three years ago, his dad retired, and David became the CEO.”

  “Funny how your career ended up being decided by the apartment you rented in New York. Mine has revolved around the friend I met the first day at Berkeley.”

  “It’s worked out well.”

  He had seen her office and apartment and knew it had worked out better than well for her. Holding her close to him, he pulled the blanket up around them. “I missed you so much,” he whispered in her ear. “A month apart is far too long.”

  She leaned her head back on his shoulder. “I hate to say it, but it looks like it might be six weeks before I have another free weekend. Things are nuts at work. I have to go to Juneau for at least a week early next month, so it could be Thanksgiving before I have enough time to get away again.”

  “I should be able to come out for a weekend before then. Do you think you can come here for Thanksgiving?”

  “I’d hate to leave my mother, but she’s been spending more time at her sister’s anyway. I suppose we could probably come.”

  “I’m sorry it’s so complicated, honey.”

  She tipped her head back to kiss him. “Me, too.”

  “Could I ask you something?”

  She shifted to study his face in the dark. The dim cabin light cast a faint glow on them. “Sure.”

  “Would you ever consider moving here to live with me? With us?”

  Her eyes widened. “Seriously?”

  “Very seriously.”

  “I don’t know, Jack,” she said, her voice infected with a stammer. “I can’t imagine how I could… There’s Eric and his school, my job, my mother…”

  “It’s messy. I know it is. And it’s terribly unfair that you’d have to be the one to move. I’d be out there in a minute if I could, but I just can’t. Not now anyway.”

  “I know.”

  “We haven’t known each other that long, but everything about us feels right to me. I want so much more than occasional weekends together.”

  “I want more than that, too. You know I do. But I can’t imagine leaving my whole life in Chicago.”

  “I promised myself I wouldn’t even mention this to you until after Frannie and Jamie’s wedding. I wanted to give us more time to get to know each other, but this last month has shown me I don’t need it. I know I’m asking so much, and all I have to offer in return is my love for you and Eric.”

  “And that’s no small thing,” she said, caressing his face. “As much as I want what you’re offering, it’s an enormous step for me. I don’t know if I have it in me after what happened with Alec.”

  A flash of anger took him by surprise. “You can’t possibly be comparing me to him.”

  “No, love, never.” With her hands on his face she touched her lips to his. “I don’t know if I trust myself anymore. You’ve made me a lovely offer, and I don’t take it lightly. I know what you’ve been through, what your family’s been through, so I get that it’s a big deal for you, too. Can I have some time to think about it?”

  “I guess that’s not too much to ask,” he said.

  “And can we put it on the back burner, so we don’t spoil this wonderful weekend together?”

  “That’s not too much to ask either.” He leaned in to kiss her. “Let’s talk about it again after Frannie and Jamie’s wedding. That gives us more than two months, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  He wrapped his arms around her. “I love you, Andi. I love you so much.”

  “I know you do.”

  “My whole world had tipped upside down until you came along and made everything right again.”

  “Jack,” she said with a sigh. “I love you, too. If I had only myself to consider, I’d move today. Right now.”

  He tilted her chin up to kiss her again. “I’ll do my best not to pressure you.”

  Andi laughed. “And you’re known for your patience?”

  “I’m working on that.”

  Frannie and Jamie boarded the boat wearing grim expressions.

  “What’s wrong?” Jack asked.

  “That tropical storm has taken a turn away from the Carolinas and is headed due north,” Jamie said.

  “The new track puts Block Island right in the path,” Frannie added.

  “Shit,” Jack said, thinking of Quinn and the wedding. “When will it be here?”

  “Monday night.”

  The Sunday wedding went off smoothly despite the frantic work going on around the island to prepare for the direct hit of a significant tropical storm. Jack and his group did what they could to help get Haven Hill buttoned down before they sailed back to Newport early on Monday, ahead of the storm.

  At home, Maggie, who’d tended to Eric’s every need all weekend, insisted he stay in her room and pulled out the trundle from under her bed for him. Jack wondered how she would ever let Eric go back to Chicago. After putting the younger two kids to bed, he called to check on Clare and her nurses, who reported being tucked in to ride out the storm.

  While the wind howled outside, Jack spent most of the night making love with Andi in the guest room. Suffering through an attack of guilt over being with another woman in Clare’s house, he left Andi’s room before dawn. If she agreed to come live with them, there’d be adjustments for everyone—including him. He hoped the extra days they’d get thanks to the storm would convince her they could make it work.

  The slow-moving hurricane continued well into Tuesday, and after the storm finally ended, Jack was relieved to hear that Clare was fine and there was hardly any damage to his property.

  With the power out on Aquidneck Island, Jamie and Frannie came over to spend the evening with them. Frannie was all but living with Jamie these days, but she still helped Jack with the girls.

  The fireplace cast an amber glow over the family room as Eric and Maggie played a card game.

  Jill used the firelight to read by, and Kate played her guitar. She tended to be the more introverted of the three girls, so Jack had been surprised and amazed when she led them in a sing-along earlier. He was again taken aback by how very good
she had gotten.

  As the fire burned down, Frannie and Jamie sat together on one sofa, Jack and Andi on another as they worked on a second bottle of wine. He had a generator for the refrigerator but had told the girls they could do without power for one night. After some grumbling they’d been good sports overall.

  Andi stretched and yawned. “This was the most relaxing day I’ve had in years.”

  Jack grinned at her, thrilled to have their time together extended. “Did you ever get through to the airline?”

  “I tried, but they left me on hold forever. I didn’t want to waste the power on my phone waiting, so I hung up.”

  “Oh, too bad,” Jack said.

  Frannie laughed. “You’re all broken up, Jack.”

  He put his arm around Andi. “It’s not funny, Fran. Andi’s missing work, and Eric is out of school. It’s terrible how they’re stuck here with us.”

  Jamie made a barfing noise that made the others laugh.

  Frannie and Jamie left a short time later.

  Jack and Andi hustled the kids off to bed, walking them through the dark house with flashlights and candles.

  After he tucked Maggie in, Jack went back downstairs to make sure all the candles were out and found Andi watching the last of the fire. “Hey, I thought you were upstairs.” He sat next to her on the sofa and reached out to stroke her hair. “What’re you thinking about?”

  She smiled. “Nothing. Everything.”

  “Hmm, which is it?”

  “I loved the storm. Isn’t that crazy? I should’ve been scared, but it was exhilarating. And I loved being here with you and our kids.”

  He smiled. “You said our kids.”

  She rested her head on his chest. “Are you sure you didn’t manufacture the storm to keep us here longer?”

  Laughing, he ran his fingers through her silky curls. “It was kind of tricky getting it to move in the right direction, but I was able to pull it off.”

  “I’m beginning to sense that you usually get what you want.”

  “Oh, I sure hope so.” He took her hand to lead her up to bed. “I really hope so.”