Treading Water (20 page)

“
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?”

“
I’ll be better when I hear
Eric’s all right,” Andi said, grateful to all of them for coming to
be with her.

Jack squeezed one of her hands in
reassurance while David took her other.

After an interminable wait, Dr. Porter
returned, still in the surgical scrubs he had worn to assist in the
surgery.

Andi jumped up when she saw him coming.

“
He did just fine, Andi. No
perforation.”

She sagged against Jack as her legs
threatened to give out.

Jack kept both arms around her. “When can we
see him?”

“
He’s in recovery. I don’t
expect him to be awake for a few hours, so you might want to go
home for a while. The nurses will call you when he starts to come
around.”

“
Thank you, Dr. Porter,”
Andi said.

David and Lauren had to get home to their
four daughters. They promised to check in later. Andi and Betty
wanted to stay, but Jack talked them into going home to rest. After
he left Andi’s phone number with the charge nurse, he took them
home and whipped up some eggs and toast for them.

When they’d finished eating, Andi called the
nurse’s station. Eric was still asleep, so she let Jack talk her
into trying to take a nap on the sofa before they went back to the
hospital.

“
I’m going to bed,” Betty
said. “You’ll wake me if you hear anything?”

“
Of course. Good night,
Mom,” Andi said.

“
Thanks for your help,
Jack,” Betty said. “I’ll see you both in the morning.”

After she left the room, Jack stretched out
on the sofa next to Andi and put his arms around her.

“
Your approval rating seems
to have gone up a bit with Mom,” Andi whispered, thrilled to feel
his arms around her even if the circumstances were less than
ideal.

He chuckled. “Remind me to thank Eric for
that.”

As she studied his handsome face, she could
honestly say she’d never loved him more. “I still can’t believe
you’re here. You were such a rock. Thank you.”

“
It felt like my own child
was in that operating room.”

“
Nothing you could say
would mean more to me.”

“
I love you, sweetheart,
and I love Eric, too.” He kissed her forehead. “Why don’t you get
some rest?”

“
I’ll try.”

He covered her with a blanket and went into
the kitchen to call home to check on the girls. She dozed off to
the comforting sound of his voice, relieved to know he was there to
share some of the burden with her.

Jack was alone with Eric when he woke up
late on Saturday afternoon. He’d closed his tired eyes for a few
minutes, and now he rubbed his hand over the stubble on his face as
he tried to force himself to wake up. Being in a hospital had
brought back memories he’d rather not revisit, but he’d pushed them
aside so he could focus on Andi and Eric.

The boy smiled and signed, “Hi, Jack.”

“
Hi, buddy.” Jack’s sign
language had improved during the week they spent together earlier
in the month.

Eric asked for his mother, and Jack held up
five fingers to let him know she would be back soon. Eric squeezed
Jack’s hand and drifted back to sleep.

Andi came in a few minutes later to find
them holding hands. “Did he wake up?”

“
Just for a
minute.”

“
I’m sorry I missed
it.”

Jack tucked Eric’s hand under the blanket.
“I told him you’d be right back.”

“
I know it has to be hard
for you to be hanging out in a hospital,” she said, surprising him
as she often did with her insight.

“
I’m okay, honey.” He
reached out to run his fingers through Eric’s soft blond hair.
“He’s so little in that big bed. I hate seeing him in
there.”

“
I know. Thank God it
was
only
appendicitis, and he’ll be able to come home in a day or
two.”

“
Yes.”

She leaned over Jack’s chair to hug him from
behind. “What’re you thinking about?”

He hesitated for a moment, not sure this was
the time to be dredging up the past, but he wanted to be honest
with her. “Being here and seeing him so sick has brought back all
kinds of memories. I remember thinking, after Clare’s accident,
that as bad as it was to lose her like that, it would’ve been so
much worse if the car had hit one of the girls. I have to think
Clare would agree.”