Treading Water (6 page)

On the last Sunday in
August, Jack rode the airport escalator and wondered how he would
pick out Andrea Walsh from the crowd arriving on the Chicago
flight. As he approached the top, he spotted a gorgeous brunette
with long curls walking toward him. Based on Jamie’s description,
Jack realized it was her.
Well, that was
easier than expected
.

When her brown eyes scanned the crowd and
connected with his, her stunning smile left him staggered as he was
hit with an odd sense of recognition. Had they met before? Not that
he could recall.

“
Andrea?”

“
Hi, Jack.” She shifted her
briefcase so she could shake hands with him. “Please call me Andi.
Thanks so much for meeting me.”

“
No problem.” He took her
bag and ushered her down the escalator to retrieve her luggage.
“You picked a great day to arrive. Rhode Island at her
finest.”

“
The view from the air was
amazing.”

“
I never get tired of
it.”

“
I’m sorry to drag you away
from your family on a day like this,” she said as they arrived at
the baggage area.

“
I blocked two weeks for
your team’s visit, so they understand. They might join us later to
go sailing if you’re interested.”

“
I’d love to.”

When she glanced up to find him studying
her, her cheeks heated with color. “What?”

“
I keep feeling like I’ve
met you before, but I’m sure I haven’t. You seem so
familiar.”

“
I think I’d remember you,”
she said and then quickly looked away as if embarrassed by her
frank reply.

“
Hmmm,” he said, flustered.
He grabbed her two bags off the carousel and led her to the
door.

She put on a pair of Jackie O-style
sunglasses and followed him to his car. “Oh, a convertible! Can we
take the top down?”

“
Sure,” he said, relieved
that the awkward moment at the carousel had passed.

She gathered up her long hair into a
ponytail for the ride.

“
I enjoyed your
colleagues,” he said once they were heading south on Interstate 95.
He had accompanied her team to Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and
Nantucket before sending them on their own to Boston. They were due
back in Newport late the next day.

“
That’s nice to
hear.”

“
Your coworker Michael is
quite the character,” Jack said, grinning.

“
He sure is, but he knows
his stuff, so I put up with his eccentricities. I hope he didn’t
drive you crazy.”

“
Nah, he kept me laughing.
They had me out until one in the morning, and then they were up at
seven, ready to hit the streets again. I haven’t done anything like
that in years, and it’s official: I’m getting far too old for it. I
was
dead
the next
day.”

“
You have to say no to
them. They know better than to ask me, but I’m sure they took full
advantage of you.”

He laughed and stole a glance at her. She
had her face tipped into the warm sun, and he was struck once again
by how stunning she was. Jamie had failed to mention that. Jack
wondered if the oversight had been intentional.

“
So what’s our plan for
today?” she asked.

“
I thought we’d drop your
bags at the hotel and then run by HBA where I’ve set aside an
office for you. After that, I’ll take you to see the
site.”

“
I appreciate the office
space. I hate working in hotel rooms.”

“
So do I.” They crested the
hill that led to the Jamestown Bridge. “This is where the view gets
spectacular.”

Andi took it all in. “I thought Lake
Michigan was pretty, but this is something else. Do people live on
all the islands?”

“
Some of the larger ones
are inhabited. We’re heading onto an island up ahead known as
Conanicut Island. Locals call it Jamestown.” They crossed the first
of two bridges. “Newport is also on an island, called
Aquidneck.”

“
I saw this one from the
air,” she said of the Newport Bridge.

“
You’ll have a great view
of Newport in a minute. If you look to the right when we get to the
top, you might be able to see Block Island on the
horizon.”

“
Yet another
island?”

“
Popular spot about twenty
miles from here.” A stab of pain cut through him when he thought of
being there with the girls.

“
I’ve never seen so many
boats!”

“
The City by the Sea is the
sailing capital of the world, and I guess you can see why from up
here.” He pointed out the Naval War College on the north side of
the bridge, and told her about the navy’s long history in
Newport.

“
You could be a tour guide.
Are you from here?”

He shook his head. “I’m what’s known as a
carpetbagger. According the locals, you can’t be ‘from’ Newport
unless you’re born inside the city limits. I’m originally from
Connecticut.”

“
What brought you
here?”

“
Jamie and I came here when
we were in graduate school and fell in love with the place. We both
love to sail, so when we started HBA, we decided to locate it here.
On a day like this, you can see why.”

“
I wouldn’t get anything
done if I lived here.”

“
We take a lot of half days
in the summer,” he said. “Have you lived long in
Chicago?”

“
All my life except for
college in New York. I guess I’m pretty boring, but I love the
city. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”

After she checked into her downtown Newport
hotel, he drove her through the city. She marveled at the rows of
colonial homes, cobblestone streets, and gas-powered lantern
streetlights. The streets teemed with tourists as they poured in
and out of restaurants, shops, and bars.

On the way to the office, he drove past the
crowded town beach and merry-go-round. In HBA’s parking lot, he
walked around to open her door.

“
Another amazing view,” she
said when they reached his office. “I have a great view of the lake
from my office, but I hardly notice it anymore. You can’t help but
notice yours. And I love this building.”

“
This was our first
collaboration. We’d worked for the same company but not on any
projects together. The way this place came together boosted our
confidence about going out on our own.”

“
Where were you
before?”

“
We did seven years with
Neil Booth in Boston.”

Andi’s eyes widened.
“
The
Neil
Booth?”

“
The one and only. He’s
Jamie’s father.”

“
Oh my God, of course! I
didn’t make the connection, and Jamie never mentioned
it.”

“
He doesn’t make a big
production about it, so don’t let on I told you,” Jack said,
smiling.

She wandered over to look
at his framed degrees on the wall. “Well, look at you: Berkeley,
Harvard,
and
a
Roman numeral. John Joseph Harrington the
third
. Very impressive.”

Sadness descended upon him when he
remembered Clare teasing him about being a Harvard graduate. “Yes,
terribly impressive,” he forced himself to say, “and that’s the
only place in my world you’ll ever see that Roman numeral. Let me
show you to your office. Then we’ll grab some lunch and head out to
the site.”

“
Sounds great, John the
third,” she teased, smiling at his playful scowl.

After lunch and a tour of the Infinity site,
Jack flipped open his cell phone. “Let me check with Jamie about
sailing and at home to see who wants to come along.”

“
I need to call home,
too.”

He pulled into a gourmet deli to pick up the
picnic dinner he had ordered.

“
Tell him I love him,” Andi
was saying when Jack returned to the car.

“
Who’s the lucky guy?” Jack
asked after she ended the call.

“
My son. He’s five and
sound asleep at the moment.”

“
I love that age,” he said
wistfully as he drove to the marina. “They’re still so cute and
funny. Teenagers can be anything but cute
or
funny. Although I’m lucky—mine
aren’t as bad as some.”

“
I’m sure they
aren’t.”

Her cell phone rang as they arrived at the
marina.

“
Sorry, I have to take
this. It’s my deputy director calling from Juneau.” She rolled her
eyes. “
Lots
of
issues out there.”

“
Take your time. I’ll
unload the car and come back for you.”

While Andi took her call,
Jack walked down the dock with an armload of bags. He unlocked the
large navy blue sailboat he and Jamie had named
Blueprint.
When he
was greeted by a blast of heat from the cabin, he
opened the hatches to let in the cool sea breeze.

Glancing up at the parking
lot, he saw Andi laughing and talking with animated hands.
God, she’s beautiful
. An
ache formed in his gut that he was startled to recognize as desire.
It’d been so long, he’d almost forgotten the sensation of wanting a
woman. Acknowledging that he’d been attracted to her from the first
moment he saw her, Jack felt as if he was awakening from a long
slumber and had to remind himself not to stare as he watched
her.

A few minutes later, she strolled down the
dock to join him. “I like the name of the boat. Very clever.”

“
Thanks. Come aboard. The
others will be here soon.” He offered her a hand. “What can I get
you to drink?”

“
Do you have white
wine?”

“
Sure do. Everything all
right in Juneau?” he asked from the galley as he uncorked the
bottle.

“
It is now. We’ve had one
disaster after another out there, and we’re getting down to the
wire with the opening.” She sighed. “Why is it some jobs are so
smooth and others are a total mess from the get-go?”

“
I wish I knew. We’ve had
our share of disaster jobs, but most of the time we can find a way
to blame it on someone else.”

She laughed. “I like that
strategy. Fortunately, Bill, my deputy, was able to straighten
things out. He’s on his way back to Chicago with a new artist
commissioned to fill in for the one we all
loved
until she got pregnant with
triplets and had to quit.”

Smiling at her dismay, he handed her a glass
of wine.

“
He told me the funniest
story about an old man and a dog-sled team. One of those ‘you had
to be there’ things, but it was comical.”

Jack gestured at the picturesque marina.
“I’d say you got the better end of the deal.” The sun was a ball of
fire in the late afternoon sky with hours yet to go until
sunset.

“
No kidding! I didn’t dare
tell him where I was when he called.”

“
Here they come.” Jack
gestured to the rowdy group pouring out of Frannie’s Range Rover.
Jack had bought the car for her to run the kids around in. He never
let anyone use Clare’s Volvo wagon, which still sat in the garage.
“You remember Jamie, right? Well, he’s got my sister, Frannie, and
my daughters, Kate and Maggie, with him.”

Jack made hasty introductions as the group
boarded.

“
Hey, Andi, nice to see you
again.” Jamie shook her hand. “I hope Jack is showing you a good
time so far.”

“
Nice to see you, too.
We’ve had a great day. I can’t wait to get out on the
water.”

Jamie rubbed his hands together. “Then let’s
do it.”

Jack handed out beers and sodas to the crew
and told Andi to relax and leave the work to them.

Jack joined Andi on the bow to watch the
sunset. Sitting next to her, he said, “Can I get you anything?”

“
No way! I haven’t eaten
this much in one day, well, ever. Dinner was great. Thank
you.”

“
My pleasure.” He nodded to
the colorful sunset. “Pretty, isn’t it?”

“
I feel kind of guilty
calling this work.” She wrapped her arms around her knees and
turned to him. “Your girls are lovely. You must be so proud of
them.”

“
I am. They amaze me in
some new way just about every day.”

“
It’s fun to watch you all
together. You’re obviously very close to Jamie and
Frannie.”

“
Jamie is the brother I
never had, and Frannie is much more than a sister. She’s always
been one of my best friends, too.”

“
You’re lucky to have
them,” she said wistfully. “I’m an only child.”

“
Sometimes when Frannie was
trying to dress me up or get me to play tea party, I used to
dream
about being an only
child,” he said, and they laughed at the visual.

Frannie stood next to Jamie at the helm.

“
Is my brother
laughing
up there?” she
whispered.

“
Nice to see him so
relaxed.”

“
She’s a
knock-out.”