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But Katie preferred more basic food. “How’s the spaghetti and meatballs?”
“Some of the best in the city,” he said. “That’s what I’m getting.”
“Me, too,” she said, setting down her menu. As the waiter approached, Katie wondered if conversation with her old friend was doomed to be shallow and superficial. Perhaps they no longer had anything in common but their choice of entrée.
“So,” Jack said, after they had ordered, “how is everything in Newport Falls?”
“Fine,” she said.
“I was so sorry to hear about your mom, Katie. She was a great person.”
She wasn’t expecting him to mention her mother, who had died nearly ten years ago. She had adored both Jack and Matt, and had long predicted Katie would marry one of them. When she found out she had a fatal illness, she encouraged Katie to marry quickly, so that she could attend her wedding. It was one of the main reasons Katie had agreed to marry Matt.
Fortunately, her mother had not been there to witness the demise of the marriage she had inspired. But Katie and her mother had been extremely close, and her death had left a hole in Katie’s heart that would never heal. “Thank you for the flowers you sent.”
“Of course,” he said. He glanced away. At first she had been devastated when Jack didn’t call after her mother died. But slowly the pain had given way to curiosity. Matt had a theory for Jack’s disappearance from their lives. Jack had recreated himself. He didn’t want anyone around who remembered him for who he was and how he had grown up.
The waitress arrived with their lunch and placed it in front of them. Plates laden with spaghetti and meatballs and the most delicious-looking garlic bread Katie had ever seen.
She picked up her fork, wondering how she was going to eat without splashing marinara sauce all over herself.
But it hadn’t seemed to bother Jack. He was swirling his spaghetti on his fork and chomping away.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Do you want something else?”
“No,” she said. She stabbed her fork into the mountain of spaghetti and popped it in her mouth. One of the noodles fell out and, with a rather loud noise, she slurped it back in.
Jack was grinning. “No one eats like you, Devonworth.”
She doubted the women Jack dated ate much of anything. Those pictured with him in the newspapers and magazines all looked willow thin and perfectly coiffed. Well, thought Katie. I’m a real woman and proud of it. She broke her garlic bread in half and took a big bite.
“Do you like it?” Jack asked, pointing toward her plate.
She nodded.
“There’s a lot of great restaurants in the city, but there’s something about this place. It kind of reminds me of Macaroni’s back home.”
“It’s good,” she said, her mouth only half-full.
Jack grinned again.
She finished chewing and said, “But Macaroni’s isn’t there anymore. They went out of business a couple of years ago.” Macaroni’s wasn’t the only business to fall victim to Newport Falls’ economy. Jack wouldn’t recognize the once-vibrant Main Street. Many of the stores that had been there since Katie could remember were gone or leaving.
“Oh?” Jack said. “That’s hard to believe. They’d been there forever, hadn’t they?”
“It sure seemed that way,” Katie said.
Neither said anything for a while, focusing on their lunch. But Katie couldn’t relax. She knew she had to ask Jack for money. And she had to do it soon.
Finally Jack said, “Do you ever hear from Matt?”
So Jack knew about her divorce. It didn’t surprise her. The Newport Falls grapevine ran far beyond the borders of the city.
“Every now and then,” she said. “I spoke to him last week. He thinks he might come home soon.”
“Come home?”
“He lives in the Bahamas.” A marriage devoid of passion had not been what Matt had bargained for. She hadn’t loved him, truly loved him, and he’d sensed that. She blamed herself for his philandering, blamed herself when he left town with a secretary from the bank. Their divorce had been fairly amicable. There were no property or children to dispute. They simply left the marriage with whatever they brought into it. She got the newspaper and her parents’ house. He got his freedom.
Jack glanced away. “I meant, well, you said he was coming home. Does that mean returning to you?”
Katie shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She didn’t want to discuss this with Jack. Not now. Not ever. “No,” she said. “It means he’s returning to Newport Falls. We’ve been divorced for almost three years now.”
“I’m sorry,” Jack said, his eyes meeting hers.
“Thanks. But I’m not here to discuss the failure of my marriage or my personal life.” Immediately, Katie regretted her words and the tone of her voice. She didn’t mean to sound so nasty. Jack had been friends with both of them. She had expected him to mention the divorce. But her feelings toward Jack and her reactions to him had never been rational.
He leaned back in the booth and crossed his arms. She could see the muscles in his jaw tighten. “All right, Devonworth,” he said. “Or should I call you O’Malley?” he asked, referring to Matt’s last name.
“I kept my last name. But you can call me Katie.” He and Matt had always referred to each other, and her, by their last names. But they were kids then. Things had changed.
“Okay, Katie,” he said. “Why are you here?” He wiped his mouth and put down his napkin.
She shifted her gaze. “I, uh, well, I have wondered about you. Wondered how you were doing, what you were up to…” She stumbled.
“Really?” Jack said. “You haven’t asked me one question about what I’ve been doing. And you’re doing that thing with your hair, twirling it like you do whenever you’ve got something on your mind.”
Out of the corner of her eye she glanced at her finger. She had twisted her hair around it like a wet noodle.
Jack said, “I’m getting the impression this is more than just a personal visit.”
“Okay.” She lowered her hand and leaned forward. “My newspaper, The Falls—”
“I know the name of your newspaper.”
“We’re in trouble. We need cash, badly.”
“I see.” His blue eyes darkened. She thought he looked angry, and she guessed it was because she had not told him the truth about why she wanted to see him. “And you want me to help.” It was not a question, but a statement.
“I’m hoping,” she said.
Jack met her gaze directly. “What’s going on?”
“We lost our major advertiser, Holland’s department store.”
“What happened?”
“Holland’s went bankrupt last spring.” Holland’s was the only department store in Newport Falls. It had employed hundreds of people. A lot of those people had been forced to find work in Albany, an hour and a half south. Many had already put their homes on the market. Unfortunately, none of the real estate was selling. But that news certainly wouldn’t convince Jack to invest. “But before that,” she added truthfully, “circulation was growing.”
“So your revenues have been increasing?”
Something about the way he asked the question told her he already knew the answer. “No,” she said quietly. “I’ve made some changes since Dad died. I’ve picked up some syndicated columns and brought in some experienced reporters.” She shrugged. “It all costs money.”
“Money you don’t have.”
She swallowed. “I’ve already applied for loans, Jack. I’ve been turned down all over the place. You’re my last hope. If I don’t get money soon, The Falls is going to go out of business.”
“Is that so bad? You’re a terrific reporter. You could go anywhere.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere,” she said angrily. “Newport Falls is my home. But it’s not just that. My father spent his whole life working to keep this paper afloat. I’ve had it eleven years and I, well…” She stopped talking and took a breath. Get a grip, she commanded herself. Don’t start crying. This is business. “It’s not just about me,” she said, meeting his eyes. “I employ almost three hundred people. Can you imagine what it will do to the local economy if The Falls goes out of business?”
He glanced away.
She could still read Jack Reilly like a book. And her instincts told her that coming here was a waste of time. He had no interest in investing in a small-town newspaper that would never make a lot of money.
He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Devonworth,” he began. “I mean,” he said quickly, “Katie.”
“Please, Jack,” she said. “We were friends once. I need your help.”
Jack looked at her. He hesitated. As if on cue, his phone rang, giving him the distraction he no doubt wanted. From what he said, she could tell he was talking to someone at his office. Then she heard him say, “What’s on my schedule tomorrow?” He paused, looked at Katie and said, “Cancel it. I have to go out of town. Arrange a trip to Newport Falls. It’s outside of Albany, that’s where. Thanks.” He hung up the phone and said to Katie, “I want to go there and see it.”
“What?” she asked.
“Your paper, of course. The Falls.”
Jack had been inside the building a million times when they were growing up. Besides a new coat of paint, nothing had changed.
He continued, “I want to meet some of these hotshot reporters you’ve hired. I want to talk to your director of advertising and see how firm his—”
“Her,” she corrected him.
“Her commitments are for the next couple of years. See what she’s doing to increase revenues.”
“Okay,” she said.
He stood up. “I’ll be at your office at three.”
When he held out his hand, she took it and stood. But he didn’t let go immediately. She thought he held on for a split second too long as he said, “It’s good to see you again, Katie.”
Jack escorted Katie to the corner and hailed her a cab. After she was seated, she turned up her face to him and said, “Thanks, Jack.” He tried not to focus on her soft, red lips; instead, he shut the door. But he stood there, watching the cab pull away. Only after it disappeared from sight did he finally move—and then not back to his office but in the opposite direction.
He needed a chance to clear his mind. Seeing Katie again, being so close to her after all these years, made his head spin.
He’d always hoped that he had been successful in his attempt to rid her from his mind. But he had found just because he’d taken her out of his life did not mean her spirit no longer lingered. She was the standard that he challenged other women to meet, she was the ghost with whom they competed.
When she first called him, he’d told himself that it would be harmless to meet with her. She no longer had any power over him. But when she walked into his office that afternoon all hopes of being over Katie Devonworth faded. The girl of his dreams had turned into a woman, more beautiful than he could imagine. Her chestnut hair had been cut to her shoulders, framing her big brown expressive eyes. She was as slim and athletic as she had been in high school, but now with curves in all the right places. The blouse she’d worn had clung to her breasts, allowing him to see their fullness.
From the moment he saw her, he knew that he would have to make their lunch as short as possible. That he would have to endure his time with her and then do his best to forget her again. He had little choice. Katie had made it clear long ago that she no longer loved him.
Once again, he thought of that moment at the creek, the day she confessed her feelings for him. He could still remember the taste of her lips, the smell of her skin.
He had loved Katie more than life itself, and it had taken every ounce of conviction to walk away from her. But he had little choice. He knew only too well what happened when love was consummated too soon. He himself was the result of such a liaison.
When he first met Jack’s mother, his father, Robert, had been nineteen, a college freshman in the small town of Addison Park, Iowa. His mother, June, was only sixteen, still in high school. They fell in love at first sight and quickly became inseparable. They pledged their love, determined to spend the rest of their lives together. But June’s parents were not pleased with the match. They had hoped their only daughter would do better than an orphan dependent on scholarships. When June got pregnant, Robert begged her parents to allow them to marry. But her parents wouldn’t consider it. Embarrassed by their daughter’s pregnancy, they sent her away without telling his father where she’d gone. Robert had found out too late that she had been sent to live with an aunt in the country.
His father never saw his mother again. When his mother went into labor, her aunt had tried to deliver the baby herself. June had died in childbirth. His father had taken Jack and returned home to Newport Falls, but he’d never forgiven himself.
Jack was reminded of his parents’ doomed relationship every day of his life. He vowed that no matter how much he loved Katie, no matter how much he desired her, he would not allow her to suffer the same fate as his mother. He needed to become the type of man Katie deserved; then, and only then, would they have a future.
Jack left for college determined to prove himself, determined to make something of himself. And when he did, only when he did, would he be able to marry the woman he loved.
But he had misjudged the situation. He had convinced himself that he and Katie had a special connection, a connection that didn’t need to be spoken of to be real.
But he was wrong. Just when he had begun to make something of himself and felt ready to propose, she had married his best friend.
The marriage had shocked him. How could she? If she had felt for him one tenth of what he did, she would never have been able to escape into someone else’s arms.
And Matt? Matt wasn’t interested in Katie until he found out how Jack felt about her. He remembered the night in junior high when he told Matt he loved her. They were lying in Old Man Kroner’s field, arms crossed, looking up at the sky. Just the two of them. Matt had been teasing him about some girl in school when Jack told him he had it all wrong.
“What do you mean?” Matt had asked.
“I mean,” Jack said, “that I love someone else.”
Matt rolled over. Love was a big word, and being in tenth grade, neither had ever used it to describe a feeling before. “You?” Matt asked. “Who?”
“Katie,” Jack said. “I’m going to marry her one day.”
“Katie?” Matt laughed. “Oh, right!”
“What’s so funny? I have it all figured out. I even have the ring.”
“Where did you get it? A Cracker Jack box?”
“It was my grandmother’s. My father wanted to give it to my mother, but he never got a chance. It’s a diamond, with two rubies on either side—”
“Wait a minute,” Matt interrupted. “Katie is someone you play basketball with. She’s not the type of girl you fall in love with. And marry? Come on!”
“She’s who I want,” Jack said. “Who I’ve always wanted.”
Matt fell silent again. Then he said, “Does she know?”
“No. I can’t tell her yet. Not now.”
“Why not?”
“Because we’re too young. Katie and I aren’t going to end up like my parents.”
Matt was silent.
