Treading Water by Marie Force Read Free Book Online Page B

Chicago.”
    “ She was so nice to the girls and
genuinely interested in them.”
    “ I know what you’re
thinking, Fran.”
    “ And what’s
that?”
    “ He might look, but he
won’t touch. You know how devoted he is to Clare.”
    “ So he’s supposed to spend
the rest of his life alone?”
    “ That’s the bitch of this
whole situation. Who knows what the rules are?” He glanced down at
her. “What about you? How do you plan to spend the rest of your
life?”
    Stunned, she could only stare at him—tall,
blond, and devastatingly handsome. She’d loved him her entire adult
life but had never acted on it because of his friendship with Jack,
not to mention the groupies who followed him around like useless
fools. She had no desire to join the parade. “What are you up
to?”
    He shrugged. “I think about you. A lot.”
    A lump formed in her throat, and her heart
pounded when she looked up to find his blue eyes trained on her. “I
think about you, too. Far too much.” The craziness of this sudden
shift in their relationship filled her with nervous laughter.
    He hooked an arm around her to pull her
close to him and kissed her cheek. “We’ll have to talk about this
at a more appropriate time.” Calling to Jack and Andi, Jamie said,
“Hey, you guys, we need to come about, and you’ll get wet on this
tack.”
    Jack held Andi’s elbow to steady her as they
made their way to the boat’s spacious cockpit.
    Frannie tossed a look to Jamie to draw his
attention to the gentle way Jack handled Andi. As Jamie rolled his
eyes at her, Frannie held a hand out to help Andi down to the
sitting area.
    “ Thanks, Frannie. How about
that sunset?”
    “ We ordered it just for
you,” Jamie said.
    Jack refilled everyone’s drinks before he
joined them on deck. He caught Andi stifling a yawn. “Did I run you
ragged today?” he asked with a grin.
    “ No, not at all, but my
flight was early, and I’m turning into a pumpkin. Will your wife
mind the long day alone with the baby?”
    The three of them stared at her in stunned
silence.
    Andi’s face radiated with embarrassment.
“What?”
    “ Maggie is my
baby.”
    “ Oh God, Jack, I’m sorry. I
thought when they said you were on family leave…I thought you’d had
a new baby. I have no idea how I leapt to that
conclusion.”
    “ It’s an obvious
conclusion,” Jamie said. “You shouldn’t feel bad.”
    “ I’ve really put my foot in
it. I apologize.”
    “ That’s not necessary,”
Jack said.
    “ Hey, girls, we’re about to
dock,” Jamie called to Kate and Maggie in the cabin. “Can you come
give us a hand?”
    “ Sure.” Kate avoided eye
contact with the adults when she came up the stairs to help her
father lower the sails.
    Awkward silence hung over the group as they
docked, cleaned up, and prepared to head home.
    “ I can do the rest,” Jack
said.
    Jamie gave Andi’s shoulder an affectionate
squeeze. Then he put a hand on Jack’s arm, and their eyes met.
    Jack nodded, and Jamie left with the
others.
    “ I’ve obviously upset
everyone,” Andi said. “I’m so sorry.”
    She was so distressed that Jack couldn’t
help but reach out to her. He took her hand. “It’s my fault. I
assumed everyone knew what happened. You did nothing wrong, so
please don’t be upset.” He guided her to sit next to him. To ward
off the sudden chill, he tossed his jacket over her shoulders and
took her hand again. “Look at me.”
    The impact of her soft brown eyes meeting
his was like a punch to the gut.
    “ You didn’t know,
okay?”
    She nodded.
    “ Just over a year ago, my
wife was hit by a car. She’s in a coma and, well, she’s lost to
us.”
    Andi gasped and clutched
his hand. “ Oh! What I said! The girls, they heard me… I made such a big
assumption!”
    “ They’re much better than
they were. We all are.”
    “ Where is she
now?”
    “ In a home of her own with
twenty-four-hour nursing care.” He braced himself for the blast of
pain that never