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“I have to wait,” Jack said. “I have a plan. I’m going to make a million dollars and then I’ll marry her.”
“If you make a million dollars there’s gonna be a lot of women you can marry.”
“I don’t want a lot of women. I want Katie.”
Jack should’ve known that Matt would then want her, too. Matt had always competed with him. Jack never understood it. After all, his friend had such a head start in life. He came from a good family, was a natural athlete, went to all the best schools. Yet he always seemed to be looking over his shoulder at Jack.
Shortly before Jack returned from Europe, he had called Matt. He was worried about Katie. Her father’s death had been extremely hard on her, and she’d had to leave college to take over the reins of his struggling newspaper. Jack couldn’t stand to be so far from her, knowing that she was in pain and not being there to provide comfort. So even though he had not yet acquired the financial position he’d hoped, he could no longer wait to propose to Katie. He was coming home. It was time to tell Katie how much he loved her and ask for her hand in marriage.
Matt, his best friend, had betrayed him, rushing forward with his own proposal. He and Katie were married the day Jack returned. Jack had attended their wedding with his grandmother’s ring still in his pocket.
But it was not a clear victory. On the day of the wedding, right after Matt had gloated over his “win,” he had asked Jack to stay away from her. To break off contact. “You’ll only confuse her,” Matt had said.
“Confuse her?” Jack had asked. “What are you talking about? I thought you said she loves you.”
“She married me, didn’t she?” Matt had said, before walking away. But Matt needn’t have worried. Jack could no longer stand to be around Katie. Even when he heard about their divorce, he convinced himself that it was best not to call her. Still, he’d hoped she might call and tell him she’d made a mistake marrying Matt. That it was he she had loved all along, not Matt. But the call never came. And so he Jack attempted to exorcise her from his mind and his life. He had no choice. His love for her was poisoning him and his relationships with other women.
But today she reappeared, asking for help. And he realized immediately why he had never called her. He couldn’t. His love for her was every bit as strong as it had been that day down by the creek. But unlike that day, it was unrequited.
Jack found himself stopped in front of his office. Still, he thought, looking up at the towering building that bore his name, he owed Katie. Because if it were not for her, he doubted he would’ve been able to channel so much fire and energy into his work. He would never have succeeded.
And so he would try to help her. He’d give her a chance, but that was all.
He’d go to Newport Falls, as promised. It was only a day, eight hours max. He could handle being back in Newport Falls, being with Katie, for a day. Especially now. After landing an international deal, he was moving to London in several weeks to open a European branch of his company.
Once again, he thought of the day at the creek, the day that Katie had said she loved him. How intoxicating it had been.
He should’ve known that chances of a lifetime don’t come twice.
Two
“Don’t read too much into it,” Marcella warned her. Marcella was the director of advertising for The Falls, as well as Katie’s friend. “He said it was good to see you. I’m sure he meant it.”
“What makes you think I’m reading too much into it?” Katie asked. After a fitful night, she’d arrived at the office at 5:00 a.m., pulling files and getting everything ready for Jack’s visit. To make matters worse, Matt had called and she’d made the mistake of telling him about seeing Jack. Surprisingly, he had morphed into the big brother once again, warning her to be careful. But careful of what?
“Because of the look in your eyes whenever you mention his name.”
Katie thought of Matt’s admonition. Was this what he’d insinuated? That despite her marriage and the years that had passed, she was still in love with his former best friend? “What look?”
“The he’s-so-dreamy look.”
“The man every gossip columnist refers to as the Iceman?”
“I thought it was Heartbreak Kid,” Marcella retorted.
Katie nodded. Jack was a constant figure in the society columns across the country. He was a known playboy, beloved by gossips everywhere.
She shook her head and sighed. “He sure didn’t act as if he was happy to see me. He was so…distant. He didn’t even talk to me directly when I called. And he kept me waiting for forty-five minutes—”
“And then he offered to bail you out.”
“He didn’t offer. Not yet, anyway. He wants to see me jump through hoops first. And even then, there are no guarantees.”
Marcella shrugged. That was all Katie needed to keep going. She said, “It is nice of him to come all the way out here, but I had to beg him to help. And I can guarantee you he’s not excited about it. You should have seen him at lunch. It was obvious he doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore.”
“Like I said, you’re reading too much into this.”
“Am I? He made me wait and then he kept me twiddling my thumbs while he ignored me. He never even bothered to apologize. I knew he would be late today.” She pointed to her watch. “It’s four o’clock.”
“But his office said his morning meeting ran a little longer than expected.”
“It’s all part of his schtick.”
“What schtick?”
“The I’m-a-big-deal-now schtick.” Like most of the people who worked for her, Katie had known Marcella her whole life. They’d gone to school together, and Marcella had not only witnessed Katie’s crush on Jack but had seen how devastated Katie had been when Jack hadn’t reciprocated her feelings.
“He is a big deal. And he’s giving you a chance. That’s more than any of the other people would do.”
“Humph.” Katie shrugged.
“Maybe there are some unresolved feelings.”
“No way. If he still cared a hoot about me he would’ve called or written.”
“I wasn’t talking about Jack.”
Katie stared up from her desk. “I may have cared for the old Jack Reilly, the one without the fancy suits and high-rise office, but I couldn’t care less about the new version. He’s not my type.”
“He was for a very long time.”
“That was before he left town, before he stopped writing, stopped calling. Before he forgot who he was.”
“I think thou dost protest too much.”
Katie felt her cheeks heating up. “I guarantee you, whatever feelings I had for Jack Reilly are no more. Sure, he may still make me nervous,” she said, remembering the way her heart had accelerated when she first saw him again, “but that’s normal.”
Marcella raised her eyebrows.
“My interest in Jack Reilly is purely professional. I called him only as a last resort. I mean, wait till he gets here. You’ll see. It’s no accident that we’ve had to wait a gazillion minutes. Jack’s so cocky now, so arrogant, so full of himself…”
“And so behind you,” Marcella said.
Jack stood in the doorway. He’d heard almost every word of Katie’s litany against him. But it hadn’t angered him. In fact, he was flattered he could still squeak genuine emotion out of the normally reserved town sweetheart.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” he said. “My meeting ran a little long this morning.”
He pretended not to notice the look of absolute horror in Katie’s eyes. He saw her glance at Marcella. “No problem,” Katie said quickly.
“And then my pilot had some last-minute things to take care of before we took off.”
“My pilot?” asked Marcella. She shot Katie a look, impressed. “You have your own plane?”
Jack nodded. “Anyway, I can see I’m interrupting. I’d be happy to wait, though. How long do you think you’ll be? A gazillion minutes?”
“Nice to see you again, Jack,” Marcella said, rushing past him.
“Look, Jack,” Katie said. Her normally pale face was beet-red. “I’m sorry about that. You know me. I never liked to wait.”
Jack’s smile faded. “Yes,” he said. She certainly had not waited for him. “I know.”
“Well,” she said, breezing past him. Jack recognized her perfume. It was soft yet enticing, the same scent she’d worn in high school. She turned to face him. Then she flashed him the smile he had committed to memory. “Let’s get started, shall we?”
Katie had the sudden urge to throw up. How could she have been so stupid, talking about him like that when he was due any time? Whatever her history was with Jack, she had to get over it. After all, she needed him. This paper needed him. Without him, the entire town was sunk.
But still… She thought of the way he’d mentioned his pilot. It was as if he wanted her to know that he didn’t fly commercial anymore. He had his own private plane. Well, big deal! He may be a hotshot in New York, but she would always be able to cream him with a snowball.
She showed Jack around the offices. He seemed unimpressed, almost bored. He sat through the various meetings with a stone face, every now and then interrupting to ask a question.
At one point, when she and Marcella escaped to the ladies’ room, Marcella grabbed her arm and said, “Oh, my God, he’s so gorgeous…I mean, he was always gorgeous but not like that. What happened to him?”
“It’s the suit,” Katie replied, trying to convince herself. And they both laughed. For it was apparent that underneath the expensive suit, the crisp, starched shirt and the pearl cuff links, Jack was every bit the muscular hunk he had been in school.
At the end of the day, she led him back to her office. “I’d like to meet with some of those reporters you talked about,” he said.
“Right,” Katie replied. She picked up her phone and dialed Luanna Combs, her most recent coup. Luanna had worked at the Baltimore Sun for ten years before joining The Falls. But Luanna didn’t pick up her extension.
Katie hung up the phone, distressed. She checked her watch. It was almost six. Except for today she wouldn’t expect Luanna to be at the office past five-thirty. After all, that was part of the deal, part of why she was able to woo high-level staff. She promised flexible work hours and little overtime, a family-friendly environment.
She glanced at Jack. He crossed his arms.
She swallowed and tried another extension. Bobby, the assistant for the reporters, picked up. “Where’s Luanna?” she asked.
“She left. Said she was really sorry, but she got a call from school. Her kid’s got red spots all over—they think it’s chicken pox.”
“What about Brett?” she asked. Brett Wilson was her top reporter, whom she’d somehow snagged from the Los Angeles Times.
“Tanker overturned on Route 44. Brett’s covering it.”
“And Shelley?” she asked, already anticipating the answer.
“Gone. Her husband got the stomach flu so she had to pick up her kids from day care. Turned in her story, though. Damn good.”
When she hung up the phone, Jack raised his eyebrows and said, “Well?”
“They’re not here.”
“None of them? Where are they?”
“The three I wanted you to meet aren’t… Well, they’re not available right now.”
“This newspaper’s future is riding on three employees? That’s why you haven’t increased revenues? Because you’re paying top dollar to only three—”
“They’ll be in tomorrow,” she said crossly. “If you can’t stick around to talk to them, well, I guess I’ll just thank you for your time and see you out.”
He hesitated a moment. “They’ll be available tomorrow—guaranteed?”
“Guaranteed,” she said. Even if she had to watch their kids for them and cover the newsbeat.
“Okay,” he said.
“You’ll stay?” she asked, surprised.
He nodded as he flipped open his cell phone and called his office. She could hear him talking to his secretary, rearranging his schedule. “And call Carol,” he said. “See if you can reschedule her for another night.”
Jealousy stabbed her heart. Carol? He was obviously canceling a date.
She cleared her throat, as if trying to rid herself of poisonous feelings. She had no business being jealous. Instead, she should be feeling sorry for the poor woman. After all, he didn’t even have the decency to call himself, his secretary did it for him.
He shut the phone and told her, “One more day.” He looked at his watch. “Does Mrs. Crutchfield still run the inn on Main Street?”
“Yep,” Katie said. But she didn’t see this new Jack Reilly comfortable in a simple country inn. She was certain he would prefer accommodations that offered room service. “But there’s a nice Hyatt in Albany.”
“The inn will be fine. I’ll ask Greg to drive some clothes over.”
“Who’s Greg and what clothes?”
“Greg’s my pilot. He does a bunch of things besides just flying planes.”
“You mean he’s a valet, too?” She couldn’t help the sarcasm.
Once again, she saw the grin creep up his lips. “If needed. I keep an extra set of clothes on the plane, just in case.”
“Of course,” she said. After all, who didn’t?
When she stood up, Jack surprised her and said, “Do you have plans this evening?”
“I, uh, no,” she stammered.
“Good. I’d like to take you out to a nice dinner. Pick any place you want. We can catch up.”
“Sure,” she said. She had just the place in mind.
Joe’s Diner was located on the corner of Main and Howe Streets, almost directly across the street from the paper. It had been in existence ever since Joe Pecorillo first arrived in Albany from Italy in the late 1920s. Since then, it had stayed in the family, passing from Joe Sr., to Joe Jr., to Joe the third. Joe the third, otherwise known as Joey, was about sixty years old and had managed it since Katie was a kid. She, Jack and Matt had spent many hours at Joe’s sharing milkshakes and burgers. Jack even worked there his senior year before college.
If Jack was surprised by her choice, he didn’t show it. In fact, she thought he seemed relieved, almost happy that she had not chosen a more romantic and quiet place.
After Jack had shaken hands with Joe they settled into a worn, yet cozy booth by the window. Jack looked around and said, “It’s kind of quiet for Thursday night, isn’t it?”
