Treading Water (30 page)

“
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.”

She cradled his face in her hands and
brought him down for a soulful kiss that sent desire darting
through her. Her toes curled as she lifted her hips to give him
more.

“
I need to move,” he said
with a gasp.

She let her legs drop and fall open.

His back was slick with sweat as he pounded
into her.

Andi had no choice but to go along for the
ride until he sucked her nipple deep into his mouth and sent her
into a climax that she felt from her toes to the tips of her
fingers.

Suddenly, he went still.
“
Andi
,” he moaned.
“Oh,
God
, I love
you.”

She kissed his brow, his closed eyes, his
cheek, the end of his nose, and finally his lips. “I love you, too.
So, so much. I don’t know what I’d ever do without you, without
this.”

“
You’ll never have to find
out.” He held her close to him as he tried to catch his breath. “I
don’t ever want to be away from you again.”

“
Good, because I’m not
letting you go anymore. All hell breaks loose when you’re not
here.”

“
Jamie told me what
happened with the girls.” He kissed her and shifted to his side,
bringing her with him. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that by
yourself.”

She smoothed a hand over his chest, stopping
to linger when his nipple pebbled under her finger. “I felt bad
about upsetting them. I had no idea Clare wrote the note on that
board.”

“
They know that.” He
reached for her dallying hand and brought it to his lips. “I’m
sorry I never mentioned it. I heard Jill took it hard.”

“
She did, but we had a good
talk, and she even let me comfort her.”

“
She’s matured a lot this
year.”

“
She told me she’s happy
I’m here,” Andi offered with a smile.

His grin lit up his face. “Did she? I’m so
glad to hear that.”

“
I was, too.”

“
See? It’s all working out.
We’re becoming a family, one small step at a time.”

The phone rang, and he
reached for the bedside extension. He told the caller that Kate was
at the beach. “Yes, I’ll tell her.” Jack hung up and rolled his
eyes. “That was
Ryan.
”

“
So I gathered.”

“
Kate’s not answering her
cell, and he wants to make sure she knows he’s picking her up at
seven thirty rather than seven. Oh, the
joy
.”

She laughed at him. “You’re lucky it took
this long for one of them to have a boyfriend.”

“
That doesn’t mean I have
to like it,” he grumbled.

Andi settled herself on top of him. “I can
see for Kate’s sake, I need to get your mind off her love life and
back on your own.”

He raised a crooked eyebrow. “Oh, yeah? What
do you have in mind?”

“
You’ll see,” she whispered
in his ear.

They spent two blissful weeks on Block
Island at the beginning of August, relaxing on the beach, sailing
in Block Island sound, and taking long walks into town for ice
cream.

Late on their last night on the island, Jack
sat with Andi on Haven Hill’s back porch long after the kids had
gone to bed.

“
I can’t believe this is
our last week with Jill at home.”

“
The summer went by so
fast.”

“
I never really went home
again after I left for college. In fact, I didn’t spend a night in
my parents’ house for ten years.”

“
That was different, Jack.
Your father was so hard on you. You know Jill will be home for
weekends all the time.”

“
It won’t be the
same.”

“
No, it won’t. We’re all
going to miss her, but she’ll be fine. She’s smart and clever, just
like you. And I know it’ll be such a difficult transition for you,
but she’s so excited. Don’t take anything away from her joy by
letting her see how sad you are, okay? It’ll be much harder for her
to leave you if she thinks you’re sad.”

“
You know me so well.” He
lifted their joined hands to kiss hers. “And you’re right. I need
to keep that in mind over the next week. I can be sad later, and
you’ll take good care of me, right?”

“
Of course I
will.”

He released her hand to run his fingers
through her long hair. “Are you happy here with us? Do you miss the
city—”

She put her fingers on his lips to silence
him. “I’m thrilled to be here with you. I’ve never known anything
like what we have.”

He hugged her, grateful for the second
chance at love she had given him.

The family celebrated Jill’s eighteenth
birthday a week early, since she’d be in the midst of freshman
orientation on her actual birthday. Jack’s parents came for the
party and to see Jill off to school. There were tearful good-byes
at the house when Jack, Andi, and Jill left for Providence in two
cars packed full of Jill’s belongings.

“
Thanks again for this,
Andi,” Jill said later that afternoon.

Andi had created an away-from-home sanctuary
for Jill by using a combination of the girl’s favorite colors: lime
green, purple, and blue.

“
My pleasure, honey. We’ll
sure miss you at home.” Andi hugged Jill one last time. To Jack,
she said, “I’ll wait for you downstairs, okay?”

“
I’ll be right there.” He
appreciated that she understood his need for a last moment alone
with his daughter. “You’re sure you have enough money and
everything?” he asked Jill for the third time.

“
I’m sure, Dad. I have
everything I need. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“
No chance of
that
,” he said with a
grin. “You’ve got your cell phone and charger, right?”

“
Yes, and I’ll use it to
call you—often.”

“
I’ll be waiting.” He
hugged her. “I want you to enjoy every minute of this, but use your
good judgment and stay away from things you know you shouldn’t be
doing. There’ll be lots of temptation—”

“
You don’t have to worry.
I’d never do anything to disappoint you.”

He hugged her again. “I love you.” His
throat tightened with emotion, but he maintained a smile for her.
In one instant, he saw her dancing at five in a pink tutu, walking
over the bridge to Girl Scouts, flying down the lacrosse field with
her long hair in a ponytail, jumping off the boat into cool blue
water, and skipping across the stage in her cap and gown. How fast
it all had happened.

“
I love you, too. You can
go. I promise I’ll be okay.”

With a deceptively jaunty wave, he finally
left her.

Andi waited for him in the driver’s seat of
his car.

He got in next to her and sank into her
loving embrace as he struggled to compose himself. “You know what I
can’t stop thinking about?” he asked after several quiet
minutes.

“
What’s that?”

“
I have to do this
again
next
year.”

Andi laughed. “Yes, you do. Why don’t we go
have a nice dinner, and I’ll buy you a bottle of good wine so you
can drown your sorrows?”

“
I like the way you think.”
He was up for anything that would postpone going home to a house
where Jill no longer lived.

They went to an Italian restaurant in the
city’s Federal Hill section, where he did his best to put away a
bottle of wine, but rather than helping him forget, it only made
him sadder. They held hands as she drove home.

“
Thanks for everything you
did to help out today.” He looked over at her. “Jill’s room is
amazing. She’ll be the envy of all the freshmen.”

“
I’m glad she liked it. It
was a lot of fun to do.”

“
We’re all lucky to have
you.” He leaned over to kiss her cheek and rested against her as
they crossed the Newport Bridge.

Jack arranged for the kids to spend the
night at Frannie and Jamie’s on the twenty-fourth of August—the
one-year anniversary of the day he met Andi. Planning a special
night for them had helped to take his mind off Jill being gone, and
he’d told Andi to be ready at six.

“
Ready to go,
hon?”

“
Ready when you
are.”

“
You look beautiful.” He
drew her in close to him and gave her a lingering kiss. “Happy
anniversary.”

Andi curled her arms around his neck. “Same
to you. With Jill leaving and everything, I wondered if you’d
remember.”