Chapter 14
Fourteen
Watching Andi’s plane lift off, Jack already yearned to have her back.
They’d had such a wonderful week together.
He’d noticed the girls beginning to appreciate Andi’s gentle sweetness as much as he did.
One night he came home from work to find her at the table, helping Maggie with long division.
When Andi looked up to find him watching them, her smile had stopped his heart.
This time, saying good-bye to Andi had also meant saying good-bye to the boy who’d become so dear to him.
Jack replayed their long visit as he drove home from the airport and remembered all the moments that added up to one simple truth for him—he loved her and needed her more all the time. He could only hope she would reach the same conclusion.
She’d promised to come to Rhode Island for Thanksgiving, but that was five long weeks away. In the meantime, they were back to phone calls and the online video chats the girls had suggested they try.
He got home from the airport and came in through the kitchen, where Jill was getting a glass of water.
“Did they get off okay?” she asked.
“Right on time. Shouldn’t you be in bed?”
“I’m going now. I had some homework to finish.”
He kissed her cheek. “See you in the morning.”
She walked toward the stairs but turned back. “Dad?”
“Yeah, hon?”
“I like her. I didn’t want to, but I do.”
“I’m glad. Thanks for telling me.”
“Good night.”
“Night.”
Andi called at twelve thirty to let him know they’d arrived in Chicago.
“Next time I might not let you go,” he said.
“Is that so?”
“You know it is.”
After a long pause, she said, “I’m thinking about it, Jack.”
He’d thought of hardly anything else in days. “Good.”
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“I can’t wait.”
At the end of her first day back to work, Andi wandered over to David’s office. His secretary was away from her desk, so Andi looked in to see if he was busy. “Knock, knock…”
“Hey, come on in. You look like you could use a drink.” At the minibar he kept stocked in his office, he fixed them glasses of wine and invited her to join him in the sitting area facing Lake Michigan. “Of course, you know that means I could use one, too.”
Laughing, she flopped down, kicked off her heels, and put her feet up on the glass table just like she used to when he lived across the hall from her in New York.
“Hard day?” he asked, handing her a glass.
“My unscheduled week off caught up to me the minute I walked in this morning. Of course all hell breaks loose when I’m stranded without a phone for a few days. Bill did a great job covering for me, but it’s been a crazy day.”
“We’re just glad you survived the storm. The pictures on the news were unreal.”
“It looked worse than it was. We were never in any danger.”
“So you had a good time?”
“The best. I highly recommend being marooned for a few days with great company, no phones, no power. It was good for the soul.”
“When will you see him again?”
“Thanksgiving and again over the holidays. Get this—his sister is marrying Jamie Booth on New Year’s Eve.”
“Huh. I’d pegged him as bit of a player.”
“I guess he was, but he and Frannie have been friends for years—decades, in fact—and suddenly everything clicked for them. It’s a great story.”
“Sounds like it. What about you? You’ve gotten yourself into a complicated situation.”
She put her drink down and looked at him. “Jack asked me to move there to live with him.”
“What’re you going to do?”
“I don’t know. Like you said, it’s complicated. I’d have to leave Infinity, Eric’s school, my mother…” She shrugged.
“There’s a lot to consider, no doubt. What does your heart say?”
“Go,” she said so softly it was almost a whisper.
“How about your gut?”
“The other day, Jack took Eric to the park. I saw them through the window when they were coming home. He had Eric on his shoulders. Their cheeks were flushed from playing in the cold. Jack was bouncing him all around, and Eric was laughing so hard. Right in that moment, I started to think seriously about moving.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Just like that?”
“Why not?”
She eyed him suspiciously. “Why are you making this so easy for me? I figured you’d have a fit and tell me I can’t go.”
“Is that what you want me to do?”
“I want you to tell me I’d be doing the right thing.”
“No one can tell you that, but I can make one part of it easier for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You wouldn’t have to leave Infinity.”
“I don’t get it.”
“I believe you’re aware we’re building a hotel in the very town you wish to move to. I don’t see why you couldn’t manage it for us.”
Andi gasped. “But I’m not a hotel manager!”
“Come on, Andi.” David got up to refill his glass.
“You’ve been an executive with us for fifteen years.
You’re tuned in to every aspect of our operation.
On top of that, you’re one of my closest advisers and know almost everything I do about running a hotel.
There’s no reason you couldn’t move to a different job within the company.
That said, don’t think I want you to go.
” He looked over at her. “I’d miss you and Eric terribly.
We all would. But if this is what you want, and I think it is, let me make it easier for you. ”
She sat back, stunned by what he’d said. Running the Newport property would be a huge responsibility, and she knew he’d been looking for someone within the company to take the job.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t say anything now.” He returned to the sofa.
“Think about it for a few weeks and see how the idea feels. We’re only just now beginning construction, so I’m not in any rush to fill the job.
I’ll need someone in place within six months to manage the final setup and to handle the local hiring.
You know what has to be done for an opening. ”
She nodded, trying to process it all. “You’re so good to me,” she said. “Everything I have, I owe to you.”
“No, Andi, everything you have you owe to yourself. If I didn’t think this was a good business decision, I wouldn’t have mentioned it.
Newport is the biggest property we’ve built on my watch.
I’ve got a lot invested. I want someone I can trust there, and if it helps you on a personal level, all the better. ”
She slid her shoes back on and stood up. “Thank you,” she said, humbled by the faith he had in her.
He got up and folded her into a hug.
“I’ll let you know what I decide.”
“Take your time.”
Andi didn’t immediately tell Jack about David’s offer because she wanted to decide on her own what was best for her and Eric.
Jack would see it as a sign that her move was meant to be, a point she would have a hard time debating.
So she sat on it for a few weeks and tried to consider the many ways her life—and Eric’s—would change if they moved.
The one thing she knew for certain was that in the three weeks since she’d last seen Jack, her longing for him had only grown more intense.
One Friday afternoon, she left work early after her mother called to say Eric had come home from school with a stomachache.
When Andi walked into Eric’s room, he was sleeping fitfully. She ran her hand over his forehead and discovered he was hot with fever.
Her mother looked on with concern.
“We should call the doctor,” Andi said.
“I’ll stay with him while you call,” Betty said.
After consulting with the doctor, Andi returned to Eric’s room. “He wants us to bring him in. He’s meeting us at the ER.” She tried to hide the sudden tremble in her hands from her mother.
They bundled the sleeping boy into a cab and rushed him to the hospital. Eric woke up on the way, crying out in pain as he clutched his stomach.
Andi exchanged worried glances with her mother.
Dr. Porter, Eric’s pediatrician, walked in just after they arrived. He led them to an exam room where he performed a few quick tests. “I think it’s appendicitis,” the doctor said. “I’ll order blood work and a scan to confirm it, but I’m fairly certain he’ll need an appendectomy.”
Andi’s hands began to tremble again at the thought of her baby undergoing surgery.
“Try not to worry. You got him here very quickly, and it should be routine,” Dr. Porter said. He went to find a nurse to draw the blood.
Eric was so miserable that the blood test hardly registered, but Andi was relieved when it was done. Her cell phone rang, and when she saw it was Jack, she walked out to the hallway to take the call.
“Hi, honey, how are you?” he asked.
“Not so good. I’m at Mercy Hospital with Eric. They think he has appendicitis.”
“Oh no. Is he okay? Are you?”
Her voice broke. “He’s really sick.”
“I’m sure he’ll be just fine,” Jack assured her. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
“I don’t think so. I’ve got to go. The doctor is coming back. I’ll call you when I can.”
“Okay, honey, hang in there.”
Andi was pacing the hallway outside the surgical suite when Jack came off the elevator a couple of hours later.
At first she thought she’d wanted him so badly that her imagination had produced him. “Oh my God! I can’t believe you’re here!”
“How could I not be here?” He hugged her tight against him. “How is he?” he asked, wiping tears from her cheeks.
“Still in surgery.” Her voice hitched, and her heart ached from the hours of worry. “I can’t believe how fast it happened.”
Jack took her hand and led her to a row of chairs. Holding her close, he offered what comfort he could while they waited.
Andi’s mother returned with coffee and stopped short when she saw him there. “Hello, Jack. What a surprise.”
“Hi, Betty.”
“It was good of you to come.”
David and his wife Lauren rushed into the waiting room.
“We got here as soon as we could get a sitter for the girls,” Lauren said as she hugged Andi. “How is he?”
“Still in surgery,” Andi reported and introduced her to Jack.
“Nice to see you again, Jack,” David said as he squatted in front of Andi. “Sorry about the circumstances, though. You doing okay, kid?”