Chapter 5
Five
Ashaft of light slicing through the hotel curtains woke Andi the next morning. When she remembered the night before, a fresh wave of embarrassment hit her. She groaned and buried her head under the pillow.
How could I have made such a huge assumption?
Recalling the stricken expressions on the faces of Jack and his family had her burrowing deeper under the pillow, where she planned to stay forever.
Until the phone rang.
“Ugh!” She pushed the mass of curls off her face and reached for the receiver. “Hello?”
“Good morning, Andi. Hope you slept well.”
Her face flushing with heat at the sound of Jack’s voice, she sat up and tugged at the blanket. “Yes, I did. Thanks.”
“Okay if I come by to pick you up in about an hour? We can grab a bite to eat and head out to see some sights. Your group won’t be back in town until late this afternoon, so we have all day.”
“That sounds good. I’ll meet you downstairs.” She paused, wincing once again at the awkward memory. “Jack, I feel awful about last night.”
“I told you, it’s fine. Don’t give it another thought, okay?”
“Ah, yeah, sure,” she said with a laugh. “No chance of that.”
He laughed softly, and she was startled when her skin tingled with anticipation. She couldn’t wait to see him again. Stop it right now, Andrea. He’s a colleague—a married colleague. She thought of Tony, the very nice man she’d recently begun seeing in Chicago. And you’re…well…involved…
“It’s already eighty degrees, so plan for a hot day.”
“See you soon.”
After she hung up the phone, she lay there for a time thinking about Jack and Tony and her son.
Eric’s father had hurt her deeply, and she’d kept her distance from men ever since—until recently.
Tony, the father of one of Eric’s friends, had asked her out repeatedly before Andi finally gave in and said yes.
They’d been to dinner a few times over the last couple of weeks and were taking it slowly.
She enjoyed his company, but as she thought of Jack’s phone call, she realized her skin had never tingled in anticipation of seeing Tony.
“You’re being ridiculous,” she said out loud.
Nothing good could come from allowing herself to become infatuated with Jack.
He lived more than a thousand miles from her and was married with children of his own.
One broken heart per lifetime, she thought as she dragged herself out of bed. That’s more than enough.
Wearing a long sundress and a wide-brimmed straw hat, she met Jack in front of the hotel.
He came around to open her door. “You look lovely.”
“Thank you.” Her heart tripped into overdrive at the sight of him. “You weren’t kidding when you said it was hot.”
“I can put the top up and crank on the AC if you’d like.”
“No, it’s fine. I love having the top down. That’s why I brought the hat. So where’re we headed today?” She stole a glance at him and noticed how handsome he was in a pale blue silk shirt and khakis. Stop it.
“I’ve arranged for us to have private tours at the Breakers and Marble House.”
“I can’t wait to see them. I read the material your office sent about the ‘summer cottages.’ That’s a laugh.”
“When you see how enormous they are, you’ll find that even harder to believe. I have a couple of books in the office that show where the Astors and Vanderbilts and their ilk lived the rest of the year. Those houses put the summer cottages to shame.”
The gilded rooms and period furnishings captivated Andi’s imagination and started her thinking about how she could bring the early twentieth century to the hotel.
Jack seemed to enjoy watching her delight at every new discovery as they wound their way through hallways and stairwells within the mansions.
She pointed out one feature after another that only a decorator would notice.
In turn, he focused her attention on the architectural aspects that made each house unique.
Next, he took her to Hammersmith Farm, the Kennedy family’s summer White House.
Even though the house was no longer open to the public, Jack told her the new owner was a friend who’d permitted the tour.
The estate, which had been owned by Jackie Kennedy’s stepfather, Hugh Auchincloss, was located on the Ten Mile Ocean Drive.
Andi especially liked the tour guide’s story about President Kennedy’s helicopter landing on the expansive front lawn that abutted the shores of Narragansett Bay.
The president, bad back and all, would bound up the lawn and hop through the bay window to sit down for lunch.
Andi decided to feature the Kennedy connection to Newport in one of the hotel’s suites.
“This was wonderful, Jack, simply amazing,” she said, thrilled to have experienced a small slice of Camelot.
“I have one more thing to show you before lunch.”
They stopped at St. Mary’s Church where President and Mrs. Kennedy exchanged wedding vows in September of 1953. “The reception was held on the lawn of Hammersmith Farm.”
“We have to make sure the rest of the team gets the Kennedy tour,” she said as they were seated for lunch.
“We’ll get Hammersmith on their itinerary. While you were in the ladies’ room, Frannie called to invite you all for a cookout at the house tonight.”
“That’s too much of an imposition. They’re a crazy bunch.”
“We have teenagers. We’re used to crazy. Frannie and the girls are excited to have you.”
After they ordered a late lunch, he sat back in his chair and studied her with gray-blue eyes that drew her right in. Once again her skin tingled, and once again she reminded herself to proceed with caution.
“You said you have a son. What’s his name?”
“Eric. I know all mothers think their kids are adorable, but in his case, it’s true.”
He laughed. “So your house is probably loud and raucous like mine. Are you married?”
“Not anymore,” she said with a sigh. “And I wish my house was loud, but Eric was born profoundly deaf and can’t speak. He’s a world-class sign language champ and is getting better at lip reading, but it’s far too quiet.”
“That must be hard for you on your own.”
“My mother lives with us, and she’s been such a help to me. Eric doesn’t let his handicap hold him back. He’s a typical five-year-old. His school has done wonders for him, so we’re doing much better these days.”
“Does his dad help out?”
Shaking her head, she struggled to find the words, even all these years later. “He…couldn’t handle the idea of a ‘damaged’ child. He left us ten days after Eric was diagnosed, and we haven’t seen him since. That was more than four years ago.”
Jack stared at her, clearly shocked. “Who does that?”
Touched by his outrage, she smiled. “I made my peace with it a long time ago. Eric hasn’t asked me where his father is, so I’ve been able to put it behind me for now, anyway. I’m sure the questions are coming.”
“I’m so sorry. It must’ve been a terrible time for you.”
“It was, but we survived. Everything was much harder when he was younger, and I was panicked all the time about him being hurt by what he couldn’t hear. I’ve gotten better about that.”
“There was nothing they could do for him?”
“He wasn’t a candidate for a cochlear implant. I hope maybe someday there’ll be other options.” She reached into her bag for a photo of a gorgeous blond towhead with huge blue eyes.
“He looks just like you,” Jack teased as he handed the photo back to her. “Beautiful.”
“Thanks for that, but he’s all Alec.”
“That must be tough in light of how things ended with him.”
“It doesn’t bother me. Eric is a constant reminder that even though life sometimes doesn’t work out like you’d hoped, good things can come from disappointment. My life would be so much less without him at the center of it.”
“That’s a great way of looking at it. You’re amazing. A lot of people would’ve been destroyed by that kind of betrayal.”
“Just like you, I didn’t have the luxury of allowing it to destroy me. I had a child to think about, and believe me, it’s Alec’s loss. He’s missed out on a wonderful kid.”
“We’ve both been through the wars, haven’t we?” he asked as their lunch was served.
She smiled at his choice of words. “You could say that, but we’re lucky, too. We have great kids and fun, interesting jobs. Things could be worse, right?”
“I’ve spent an awful lot of time the last sixteen months feeling sorry for myself.”
“You seem to have done an admirable job of handling an unimaginable situation.”
“That’s nice of you to say, but I did a pretty crappy job of taking care of my kids for a long time. I was so focused on Clare that I neglected them. Thank God Frannie and Jamie and a lot of other people were there for them when I wasn’t.”
“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?”