Treading Water (27 page)

“
Are you going to talk to
me?”

“
I am talking to
you.”

She raised an eyebrow.

He released a jagged deep breath. “I found
some things of Clare’s, stuff I never knew she kept, old cards and
letters… It just, I don’t know…it hurt,” he whispered.

She held her arms out to him.

“
It was a pile of paper,
but it brought it all back again,” he said, resting against
her.

She tightened her hold on him. “And you were
all alone.”

“
I’m glad I was. I don’t
want the girls to see me like that anymore.”

Choking back the fear that lodged in her
throat, Andi closed her eyes and breathed in his familiar scent.
“It was pretty bad?”

He nodded.

She ran her fingers through his thick dark
hair.

When he looked up at her, the shattered look
in his eyes brought tears to hers.

“
It scares the hell out of
me to think there may be other things around here that could set it
off. I can’t promise it won’t happen again.”

“
You don’t have to.” She
guided his head back to where it had been resting against her chest
and continued to caress his hair as a tear rolled down her cheek.
“If it happens again, I’ll be right here with you, and we’ll get
through it together.”

“
I’m so tired,
Andi.”

“
I know, love.” She took
him up to bed and held him close until he drifted into peaceful
sleep, but she lay awake for a long time hoping she wasn’t about to
make another huge mistake.

The phone woke them early the next morning.
Jack fumbled to pick up the bedside extension.

“
Jack?”

“
Fran? What’s the
matter?”

“
Nothing. What’s the matter
with you?”

“
Other than it being six in
the morning?”

“
Oh, crap. I can’t figure
out the time thing. Sorry. Is everything okay there?”

He was finally awake. “Everything’s fine.
Are you already bored with your new husband?”

Andi smiled at his question, and he wrapped
his free arm around her.

“
I heard that,” Jamie
said.

Frannie laughed. “I’m
definitely
not
bored.”

“
Spare me the details.
How’s Fiji?”

“
What I’ve seen of it seems
pretty nice.”

“
I told you to spare me the
details.”

“
Are you sure everything’s
okay, Jack? I had the strangest dream about you, and it really
bothered me, so Jamie told me to call you.”

“
I’m fine,” he assured her
as Andi’s hair brushed against his cheek. “Enjoy yourself and don’t
worry about anything here.”

“
Okay. I’ll see you next
weekend.”

“
See you then.” He clicked
off the phone, ran his hand through his hair, and
yawned.

“
Everything all right in
Fiji?” Andi asked.

“
Sounds like it. She said
she had a crazy dream about me and needed to call. My heart almost
stopped when the phone rang. I thought of the girls on that cruise
ship.”

“
Funny that she sensed
something was up with you.” Andi turned to study him. “You look
better.”

He rolled over so he was on top of her. “I
was having an amazing dream myself, and I woke up to find it wasn’t
a dream at all,” he said, kissing her lightly at first and then
more intently. “You know what I want to do?”

“
I have an idea,” she said
with a dry chuckle as she lifted her hips against his
erection.

“
Well, that, too.”
Laughing, he left a trail of hot kisses from her ear to her
collarbone. “But you know what we’ve never gotten to
do?”

“
What’s that?”

“
Stay in bed all
day.”

“
And pretend we’re in
Fiji?”

“
Why not? How many times
will we find ourselves without any kids underfoot for a whole
day?”

“
I can’t argue with you
there. Don’t you have to work?”

“
Don’t you?”

“
You got me
again.”

“
Hearing no objections… All
in favor? Aye and aye, and the motion passes.” He kissed her before
she could render an objection. “Unanimously.”

“
This is utter decadence,”
Andi whispered hours later after they’d devoured a box of leftover
Christmas chocolates, taken a bubble bath, and made love again.
“I’ve never been so lazy in my life.”

“
We should make this a
monthly event. One day a month, Jack and Andi will be absent from
life—definitely on a day when the kids are in school. All in
favor?”

“
Aye,” they said
together.

“
And another motion passes
unanimously,” he said. “I love this governing system we’ve
established.”

“
It goes back to you
getting your way all the time, which, I’ve come to realize, is one
of your many gifts.”

“
So, if I’d let you be in
charge—only for this one day, mind you—what would you have changed
about it?”

“
Not a damned
thing.”

“
I have to go home
tomorrow, you know,” she said as they ate Chinese takeout in front
of the fire downstairs.

“
You are home,” he reminded
her.

“
Let me correct that. I
need to wrap things up in Chicago, so I can get back home to
you.”

“
Much better.” He fed her
some of his lo mein. “I’m still coming on moving day,
right?”

“
You don’t have
to.”

“
I want to. One more
month…”

Gazing into the fire, she said, “I
know.”

“
What’s wrong?”

She turned to him. “Are you sure, Jack?
Really sure you’re ready for all this? It’s not too late to put it
on hold for a while—” The expression on his face stopped her.

He put the Chinese carton on the table and
reached for her hand. “Andrea, you’ve saved me in every possible
way. I thought my life was over, and then there you were. Remember
when you said you were worried I was upset yesterday and everyone
was gone?”

She nodded. It was the first time all day
he’d mentioned it.

“
No one else could’ve
helped me the way you did. You’re my first thought in the morning
and my last thought at night. I can no longer imagine my life
without you or Eric. I don’t want you to have a single doubt about
my love for both of you or my commitment to you.”

She caressed his face. “I don’t.”

He leaned in to kiss her and gathered her
close. “I won’t let you down.”

She closed her eyes and rested her head
against his chest to listen to the strong beat of his heart,
knowing for certain it belonged to her.

Jack flew to Chicago two days after the
moving van pulled away with the last of the things Andi and Eric
were taking to Rhode Island. The rest of her furniture was in
storage, and her new tenant was moving in next week. With the
apartment empty, she reserved a suite at Infinity for their final
night in the city. Eric was at his last day of school when Andi
took one of the company cars out to O’Hare to meet Jack. Buying a
car was first on her to-do list when she got to Rhode Island.

She was leaning against the limo when he
emerged from a lower-level door into a freezing, gray February
day.

“
Hey, sailor, need a ride?”
She smiled as he came toward her, looking sexy in jeans and a black
wool coat.

He dropped his small bag on the curb and
swept her into his arms, lifting her off her feet and kissing her
as he brought her slowly back down.

“
Well, hello to you, too,”
she said, thrilled to see him after a long month apart.

He leaned her back against the limo. “You
know what my first thought was this morning?”

“
Hmm, was it ‘damn, I have
to get my butt out of bed early to make this flight’?”

“
No, you’re way off. That
was my second thought. Want to guess again?”

She pulled him close enough to kiss again.
“I’m stumped.”

“
My first thought was
that
last
night
was the
last
night
I’ll ever spend without you.” He kissed her as a policeman
blew his whistle, warning them to move the limo.

They didn’t hear a thing.

Chapter 20

David invited Andi, Jack, and Eric to dinner
at the hotel, and they were stunned to find the room filled with
her colleagues and friends, some of whom Jack met for the first
time. David even thought to invite several of Eric’s school
friends. Andi was disappointed that her mother wasn’t among the
well-wishers.

She and Jack finally made it to bed at
midnight after they tucked Eric into the suite’s other bedroom.

“
How’re you feeling?” he
asked, drawing her in close to him.

“
Kind of sad. I’ll miss
them very much.”

“
I don’t know if I’ve said
this to you enough, but I appreciate all you’re doing, all you’re
giving up.”

“
Do you know what I said to
my mother when I told her we were moving?”

“
What’s that?”

She turned to face him.
“That I have more of a life with you in five minutes than I have
here in a whole year. I’m not giving up
anything
compared to what I’m getting
in return.”

He kissed her softly. “That’s good to
hear.”

She snuggled into him, peppering his chest
with kisses. “I’m so glad you’re here. I hate sleeping alone.”

“
I can’t believe we can
sleep together every night now.”

Trailing a finger over his belly, she
wrapped her hand around his erection. “That’s not all we can do
every night,” she said with a saucy smile.

He shifted so he was on top of her. “Mmm,
every night, huh? Promise?”

“
We have a lot of time to
make up for.”

He slid into her and sucked
in a sharp deep breath. “
God
, is there anything better than
this?”

“
Not that I can think of.”
Her fingers caressing his back made him tremble. “Jack…”

He pushed hard into her. “What, baby?”

“
Don’t stop.”

Laughing, he bent to kiss her. “No chance of
that.”

David was waiting for them when they came
down to leave the next day.

Andi cast one last critical eye over the
lobby, pleased to see everything where it belonged, even as her
heart ached a little.

The bellman had already loaded the last of
her bags into the car that would take them to the airport.

“
Are you ready?” David
asked.

“
You didn’t have to come in
on a Saturday,” Andi said.

“
I wanted to see you off.
Shall we?” David signed the last two words to include Eric, who
rewarded him with a big grin.

Eric had a backpack filled with things to do
on the plane and wore his Chicago Cubs ball cap as they went out
through the hotel’s revolving front door.

While David guided Eric into the car, Jack
waited for Andi to take a last wistful look at the hotel.

“
Ready?” he asked, putting
an arm around her.

“
Yeah. Let’s
go.”

The ride to the airport seemed quicker than
usual, and before she knew it, Jack and David were helping the
driver load their bags onto a cart.

When Jack had put the last of the bags on
the pile, he turned to David with his hand extended. “Thank you,
David, for everything. I hope you and your family will come see
us.”

“
Count on it.” David shook
Jack’s hand and folded Eric into a long hug. “Take good care of
these guys.”

“
I will.” Jack took Eric’s
hand. “We’ll wait for you inside, Andi.”

David held out his arms to Andi. “I guess
this is it.”

She hugged him hard and then stepped back to
look at him. “I can never thank you enough for everything. I’ll do
a good job for you in Newport.”

“
I have no doubt. But
there’s something far more important you can do for me.”

“
What’s that?”

“
Be happy, Andi.” He kissed
her cheek and hugged her again. “I’ll miss you.”

“
Me, too.” Tears rolled
down her face as she watched him get back in the limo. When the car
had driven out of sight, she went to find Jack and Eric.

They arrived at home in two cars overflowing
with people and luggage. Andi was delighted that Frannie, Maggie,
and Kate had come to the airport with Jamie. She had been amused by
Maggie’s sign, which had Welcome Home ERIC in big bold letters and
her name added almost as an afterthought. Still, she was thrilled
to know her son would be well loved in his new home. She could tell
that Jack had been disappointed that Jill hadn’t come to the
airport.

After Jack and Jamie had lugged the bags
into the house, they went into the kitchen, stopping short when
they saw balloons and a large cake on the table, with “Welcome Andi
and Eric” written on it.

“
I thought you might be
hungry,” Jill said with a shy smile.