Treading Water Read Free Page B

time and shut off the shower.
    He got dressed and straightened the messy
room. Stripping the sheets from the bed, he tossed them into the
washer along with the clothes that had piled up the last few days.
After he remade the bed, he wandered outside to the deck. With only
the relentless pounding of the ocean below for company, Jack sat
there until the sun began to dip toward the horizon, thinking about
his daughters, the huge job his company had been awarded to build
the Infinity Group’s Newport hotel, and the staggering list of
things he needed to do to get his life in order. First on the list
was reconnecting with his kids.
    He eventually wandered downstairs, where
Frannie and the girls were about to sit down for dinner.
    Frannie offered him a warm smile. “It’s good
to see you.”
    “ I’m sorry I punched out
yesterday. I just needed a little time.”
    “ I understand. We’re glad
to see you, aren’t we, girls?”
    Their replies were mostly mumbles: uh-huh,
sure, I guess.
    “ Are you hungry?” Frannie
asked.
    “ I could eat.”
    “ Great. Maggie, set another
place, please.”
    Jack felt like a visitor in
the home he’d built largely with his own hands. Since the girls
seemed to have nothing to say to him, he took the opportunity to
study them, to really look at them for the first time in longer than he could
remember.
    Each of them had healthy tans from long days
at the beach. While he hadn’t been paying attention, Jill and Kate
had become young women, and Maggie had lost the baby fat in her
cheeks.
    Jill was sixteen and the image of him—tall
and dark-haired with gray-blue eyes. Kate, at fifteen, had Clare’s
blonde hair and her shocking blue eyes, but was tall like him.
Ten-year-old Maggie was a combination of the two of them: Jack’s
dark hair and Clare’s eyes. He and Clare had always joked that they
each had a “mini-me” and then, as a surprise, along came a
“mini-we.”
    He hadn’t thought about that in a long time,
and the memory made him yearn for her.
    His attempts to make conversation with the
girls were greeted with one-word answers. Only Frannie seemed glad
to have him there. Clearly, he had his work cut out for him.
    “ I’d like to go out to the
island this weekend,” he said as they were finishing up.
    “ Have fun,” Jill
said.
    “ I want you girls to come
with me.”
    They all spoke at once.
    “ I have plans.”
    “ Meghan’s sleepover is this
weekend.”
    “ I’m
babysitting.”
    “ I want you to come with
me.” Making eye contact with each of them, he added, “It’s
important.” He had no idea what he’d do if they refused.
    His mother owned Haven Hill, a house on the
island, and some of their happiest times together as a family had
been spent there. Jack was counting on the house to work its magic
and help him reconnect with his daughters.
    “ I think that’s a great
idea, Jack,” Frannie said with a meaningful look at each girl.
“Some time away together will be great for all of you.”
    They never came right out and said they’d
go, but they stopped protesting when Frannie weighed in.
    Jack sent her a grateful smile.
    After dinner, the girls scattered. Jack
helped Frannie clean up the kitchen and then set out for a walk on
the beach. Usually, he ran at this time of day, but today he didn’t
feel like it. Taking in the soft late spring air and relieved to be
out of the house, he walked for miles and visited with Clare for a
short time. He returned home well after dark and took a moment to
stare into the dining room, which once again boasted a table and
chairs where a hospital bed had been for more than a year. Even
though he knew he’d done the right thing for his kids, it would
take some time to get used to not having Clare close by.
    He trudged upstairs, halting when he heard
sniffling in Maggie’s room.
    He peeked in to find her tucked into bed
with her favorite sleeping buddy, Froggie. She looked so cute in
her yellow pajamas with her cheeks pink