Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
As Jillian Frances Harrington’s name was called at graduation, Jack held on tight to Andi’s hand and fought the urge to bawl his head off.
Jill walked across the stage in her red cap and gown to shake hands with the principal. She wore gold cords around her neck, signifying her acceptance into multiple honor societies, and Jack thought he would burst with pride.
When she reached the end of the stage, she moved her tassel to the other side and blew them a kiss.
To his right sat Andi, his parents, Clare’s mother, Frannie and Jamie, Neil and Mary Booth, Kate, Maggie, and Eric. The adults wept as they watched the girl they loved leap into adulthood.
Jack wished Clare could have been there to see it.
He’d thought of her often in the weeks leading up to the ceremony and knew she was also on Jill’s mind that day.
The time with his first-born daughter had gone by in an instant, and he was sad to think about her leaving them at the end of the summer.
When the last of the graduates had been called, he went to find his girl.
Jack took them all out to dinner and invited everyone back to the house to swim and have cake. They were throwing a party for Jill and her friends the next day, but this night was for family.
Jill glowed with excitement as she opened cards and gifts. She was delighted with Andi’s gift—a certificate for professional decorating services for her dorm room at Brown University. Jack thought it was a great gift, and Andi seemed relieved that Jill liked the idea.
When Jill had opened all her gifts, Jack handed her a black key and pointed to the front door.
Shrieking, she flew out the door to find a lime-green Volkswagen Beetle with a large yellow bow on top sitting in the driveway.
Jill let out another shriek and launched herself into his arms when he followed her out the door. The others were right behind him.
Her eyes widened with excitement. “Is it really mine?”
“All yours, with only one string attached—you have to come home to us often.”
“I will, Dad. I promise.” She hugged him again. “Come with me. You get the first ride.”
He slid the bow off and handed it to Andi.
Jill almost jumped out of her skin with delight as she beeped at the family on her way around the circular driveway. She hit the gas, and the gravel went flying.
He groaned. How many times had he talked to her and Kate about blasting in and out of the driveway? He was forever raking the gravel back into place.
Jill drove around the block to the beach. “This was the best day of my whole life.”
“You’ll always remember it.” His right foot shot out looking for brakes that weren’t there. “Slow down, Jill!”
She flashed him a saucy grin that reminded him of her mother. “Thank you for the car. I love it.”
Willing his heart back to a normal rate, Jack said, “I had a feeling you would.”
She pulled into a parking space at the beach, where the surf was up, and people were enjoying the end of one of the year’s longest days.
They sat on the sand to watch the surfers riding the waves.
“I was so proud of you today, and your mother would’ve been, too. She’d be thrilled to know you’re going to Brown.”
“I hope so.”
He slipped an arm around her. “I know so. I love that you’re staying right here in Rhode Island but still going Ivy League. That gives me lots of bragging rights.”
She groaned and laughed.
“You’re a good girl, Jill, and a wonderful daughter. I hope you’ll never forget where your home is or that you can come back any time you want to or need to. I’ll always be right here for you.”
She leaned into him. “Thank you, Dad,” she whispered. “For everything.”
Overcome, he kissed the top of her head and held on tight, wishing he could hold on forever.
“We’d better get back to the party,” he said.
They got up, brushed off the sand, and walked hand in hand back to her new car.
With Jack in New York for a few days of client meetings, Andi sent the kids to the beach and buckled down to write a recruitment ad for an executive chef. After working for several hours, she pushed back from the computer and stretched.
She wandered into the kitchen for a glass of juice and to watch the surf for a few moments before she used the last of the juice to refill her glass.
Looking around for a piece of paper to make a grocery list, she noticed the dry erase board that no one seemed to use on the side of the refrigerator.
Taking a wet paper towel to wipe off the old writing, she started a new grocery list and then went back to the window to finish her juice.
She never grew tired of such ready access to the ocean and had come to depend on the roar of it to lull her to sleep at night.
Andi was back in her office when the garage door opened. Checking her watch, she couldn’t believe it was so late and went out to greet the kids.
“Hi,” Kate said as she came into the kitchen with Jill right behind her.
They made a beeline to the fridge.
Jill stopped short, let out a cry, and looked at Andi. “Did you erase that?”
Taken aback, Andi said, “We needed a new list.”
“Nooooo,” Jill wailed and flew from the room.
Andi turned to Kate, who seemed stricken as she studied the board.
“What’s wrong? I don’t understand.”
Kate shrugged. “My mom wrote that.”
Andi’s stomach dropped. “Oh my God, Kate. I had no idea. I’m so sorry.” The note had been there for more than two years, and she’d wiped it away in a careless instant. She’d hardly even noticed it before.
“You couldn’t have known,” Kate said.
Andi wondered how many more times she would hear that phrase.
“What’s wrong?” Maggie asked when she came in with Eric. She let out a short gasp when Kate pointed to the dry erase board.
“I’m sorry, girls. I didn’t know it meant something to you.” Andi signed to Eric that she would be right back and went upstairs to find Jill stretched out on her bed. Andi sat next to her. “I’m sorry, Jill.”
“I overreacted. It was just this dumb thing I looked at every day.”
“It’s not dumb. I’m sorry, honey. I really am.”
“Sometimes I get through a whole day without thinking about what happened to my mother, and then other times it still hurts so much.”
Andi reached out to Jill and held her for a long time.
Jill pulled back and gave Andi a shy smile. “I’m sorry I freaked.”
“Don’t be. I understand.” As she smoothed the silky dark hair back from Jill’s face, Andi’s heart swelled with love for the young girl who’d lost so much. “No one can ever take the place of your mother, Jill, but I hope you know I’m right here for you, and I care for you very much.”
“I know. I like having you here.”
Touched, Andi said, “Will you be okay now?”
Jill nodded.
“Why don’t we go out tonight so no one has to cook?” Andi had been taking turns making dinner with Jill and Kate, and it was Jill’s night.
“Sounds good to me,” Jill said with a grin. “I’m going to take a shower.”
When Andi went back downstairs, she found Frannie waiting for her.
“Everything okay up there?” Frannie asked.
“Seems to be. I messed up pretty badly today,” Andi said with a gesture at the innocuous-looking dry erase board that had set off a firestorm in the house.
“You need to give yourself a break. You had no idea. We just left it. It’s kind of silly, when you think about it.”
“It’s more sweet than silly. Are there other landmines around here I should know about? I’m terrified of doing or saying something that’ll upset them.”
“I can’t think of anything, but if I do, you’ll be the first to know,” Frannie assured her.
“Figures it happens when Jack is away.”
“Trial by fire for you,” Frannie said with a wry grin.
“I’m taking the kids out to dinner tonight. Why don’t you guys join us?”
“We’d love to.”
Andi treated them all to lobster at a seaside restaurant, and by the time they returned home, the girls were in better spirits.
Frannie and Jamie’s company had helped to improve their mood.
After Andi tucked in Maggie and Eric and said good night to Jill, she heard Kate playing her guitar by the pool.
The full moon hung over the ocean as Andi walked outside.
She perched on the end of Kate’s lounge. “That sounds lovely, Kate.”
“Thanks.”
“You didn’t say too much about what happened earlier. I’m sorry it upset you all so much.”
“It’s okay. You didn’t mean to hurt us.”
“I’d never do anything to hurt you.”
“I know.”
“May I listen to you play for a while?”
“Sure.”
The kids were at the beach again, and Andi was working the next morning when she heard the front door open.
She figured it was Frannie and knew she would wander in to say hello on her way to the studio.
Construction on Frannie’s studio at their house was almost done, and Andi would miss having her around every day.
Andi went back to answering an email from the director of the new hotel division in Chicago and was absorbed in her reply when Jack sneaked up behind her and kissed her neck.
Letting out a surprised shriek, she jumped out of the chair into his arms. “What’re you doing home two days early?”
“I missed you. Where’re the kids?”
“Beach,” she said, reaching for him.
“Mmm. Good.” He captured her mouth in a deep, passionate kiss as he lifted her and carried her out of the study. On the way upstairs, she wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed his face, wallowing in his familiar scent. “I missed you so much. You can’t go away anymore.”
“Or you have to come with me.” He put her down next to the bed and pulled off her shorts and T-shirt.
She unbuttoned his shirt, pushed it off his broad shoulders, and yanked at the waistband of his khakis.
“Hurry, Jack,” she sighed against his lips.
He eased her onto the bed and thrust into her.
With her arms tight around him, she hooked her legs over his hips and took him deep.
He rocked against her. “It’s like half of me is missing when I’m away from you.”