Treading Water: Coming Home Part 38

Now he knew he'd been a fool to stay away from her, and he was determined to make sure that whatever time they got together was as peaceful and happy as he could make it. She deserved nothing less. They deserved nothing less, thus the effort to reach some sort of accord with her father.

He landed at T.F. Green airport outside of Providence, Rhode Island, and rented a car for the thirty-minute drive to Newport. Before he left Nashville, he'd looked up Jack's office online and written down the address that he now punched into the car's GPS.

Although the ride over the bridges that led to Newport was scenic, Reid barely noticed as he followed the directions to the offices of Harrington Booth a.s.sociates. Once there, he sat in the parking lot and stared at the building where Kate's father worked. What if Jack wasn't even here after he'd come all this way to see him?

Reid laughed at that thought and shook his head. Wouldn't that be just his luck? He hadn't wanted to call ahead because he'd been certain Jack would refuse to see him. Hopefully, showing up in person would make a difference.

His cell phone rang, and he checked the caller ID to find the number unknown. Because it might be Kate calling from someone else's phone, he took the call.

"Reid."

c.r.a.p, it wasn't Kate. "What do you want, Mari?"

"Please... They arrested me." She spoke so softly he almost couldn't hear her.

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"Tell them it wasn't me! Tell them I couldn't have done this!"

"But you did do it. You trashed my place and shredded pictures of my son."

"You can't prove that!"

"The police can-and they will."

"If you tell them it wasn't me, they won't charge me."

"Why would I do that when you told your cousin that Kate was at Desi's place and he filmed us having s.e.x? Are you the one who posted it on the Internet, or did you let him do that for you, too?"

"No! I'd never do that!"

"Don't make it worse by lying, Mari. I hope you made enough off the video to pay for a lawyer. Sounds like you're going to need one."

"Reid, please. All you'd have to do is make a call. People respect you here. You know I don't have the money for a lawyer."

"You should've thought of that before your vindictive streak kicked in. I'm already paying the landlord for the damage you did. I'd say that more than makes us even."

"What about me? We were happy together until she showed up!"

"She did me a huge favor by showing up when she did. I had no idea you had this kind of nastiness inside you."

"I didn't mean to hurt anyone, and I'm so sorry about Ashton's picture. That shouldn't have happened."

"You're d.a.m.ned right it shouldn't have happened."

"Are you going to marry her?"

"As soon as I can."

She let out a whimper of distress. "Did you ever feel anything for me?"

"Yes, but I don't anymore. Please don't call me again, or I'll change my phone number. We have nothing left to say to each other." He pressed the End b.u.t.ton and gripped the phone tightly as he took a series of deep breaths to calm down. That call was about the last thing he needed right now with the confrontation with Jack looming.

He stashed the phone in his pocket and got out of the car before he lost his nerve. Inside, a receptionist directed him to Jack's office, where his a.s.sistant was on the phone.

"Hi there," she said a few minutes later, after she ended the call. "Sorry about that. Crazy busy today. What can I do for you?"

"I'd like to see Jack Harrington, if possible."

She studied him with shrewd green eyes. "Is he expecting you?"

"Ah, no," Reid said with a laugh, "he is most definitely not expecting me."

"Your name?"

"Reid Matthews."

Her eyes widened for an instant before she recovered her professional demeanor. "Please have a seat, and I'll see if he's available."

As she scurried into Jack's office and shut the door behind her, Reid took a seat in the reception area to await the verdict.

Lost in his own thoughts, he didn't see Jamie Booth approach Jack's office.

"What the h.e.l.l are you doing here?"

Kate's uncle was tall and blond and clearly furious. "h.e.l.lo to you, too. Nice to see you, Jamie."

"Answer the question."

"I need to speak with Jack."

"He has nothing to say to you."

"That's fine, but I have something to say to him."

"You've got a lot of nerve showing up here after you've ruined Kate's life-again."

"Kate's life is hardly ruined."

"You selfish b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

"I'm not here to fight with you. I'd like to speak to Jack, and then I'll be on my way."

With a last furious look for Reid, Jamie went into Jack's office and slammed the door.

When Quinn came in and shut the door, Jack looked up from the plans he'd been reviewing. It was unlike her to come in without knocking. He'd long ago told her to quit knocking, and she'd refused, which was one of their many ongoing jokes. He was prepared for her to razz him about his perpetually messy desk, but she seemed rattled. "What's wrong?"

"He's here," Quinn whispered.

"Who is?"

"Him. Reid Matthews."

Jack stared at her, wondering if he'd heard her correctly.

Jamie stormed into the room, slamming the door behind him. "Can you even believe this guy? Showing up here like he'd be welcome by any of us? That takes some kind of b.a.l.l.s."

Jack's mind raced as he tried to process what Jamie was saying while still trying to get his mind around the fact that Reid was here. Then he realized Jamie and Quinn were watching him, waiting for him to say something. "Did he say what he wanted?"

"Only that he'd like to see you," Quinn said.

"You don't have to do it, Jack," Jamie said. "You don't owe him anything."

While Jack tended to agree with Jamie, Andi's voice echoed in his mind, reminding him of their conversation a few days ago. "I'll see him."

"Jack-"

"Kate's going to marry him," Jack said. They'd gotten the official word the day before, along with an invitation to a wedding the day after Christmas. He'd been asked to pa.s.s the word to his sister, Frannie, and her husband, Jamie, but this was the first he'd seen of either of them since Kate's call.

Jamie's entire body went rigid with rage. "You gotta be freaking kidding me! She could have any guy she wants!"

"Exactly." He let the word hang in the air between them, the same way Andi had done to him. Some of the starch seemed to leave Jamie's pose as Jack's point registered.

"For Christ's sake," Jamie muttered as he went through the bathroom that adjoined their offices and slammed another door.

"Should I show him in?" Quinn asked tentatively.

"Yes, please."

"Do you, um, do you want me to stay?"

"Thanks for offering, but I've got this."

"Okay."

Steeling himself, Jack stood, ran his fingers through his hair in a show of nerves, and then propped his hands on his hips.

Reid came in, looking much the same as he had the last time Jack saw him on that awful day in Nashville when he caught his friend fooling around with his daughter. His ex-friend, he should say. Reid walked over to Jack's desk and extended his hand.

Jack eyed Reid's hand for a long, long moment before his manners kicked in and he shook Reid's hand.

"Thanks for seeing me."

"Um, yeah, have a seat." Jack was grateful to sink back into his desk chair, because his legs had begun to feel rubbery and his hands had curled into fists that were dying to make contact with something. Reid's face was a little too handy.

When he was settled in one of Jack's visitor chairs, Reid propped his elbows on his knees and leaned forward. "I'm sorry to show up without an appointment, but I really needed to see you, to tell you, to ask you..."

Jack stayed quiet. He refused to make this easy for Reid.

"I'd like to marry your daughter."

What the h.e.l.l was he supposed to say to that? "So I've heard."

"Kate told me I didn't have to come here, that I don't need your approval or your blessing."

Reid rubbed a hand over his jaw in a gesture Jack recognized as nerves. Good. At least he wasn't the only one who was exquisitely uncomfortable. The thought of his gorgeous daughter sleeping with this guy... He pushed that thought far, far into the back of his mind.

"But I wasn't brought up that way," Reid continued, "and even though this is difficult for both of us, I wanted to do the right thing by her. And by you."

"It's a little late to show respect for me or our former friends.h.i.+p, isn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose it is," Reid said with a sigh. "Here's the thing, Jack. I love her. I've loved her from the very beginning. I never stopped loving her during all the years we were apart, and I'm three thousand percent sure I'll never stop loving her for the rest of my life. There's nothing I wouldn't do to make her happy, nothing I wouldn't give her... Whatever it takes. All she has to do is ask, and it's done."

Listening to Reid's speech, Jack had to wonder if that lyrical Southern accent wasn't part of the draw for Kate.

"I know I'm not what you would've chosen for her."

Jack let out a grunt of laughter. Wasn't that the understatement of this century and the last one, too?

"However," Reid continued, seeming determined to present his case in its entirety, "I'm the one she seems to want, and it would mean a great deal to her-and to me-if you and I could somehow reach an accord. That would make someone we both love very happy indeed."

With nervous energy zinging through his veins, Jack could no longer stay seated. He got up and jammed his hands into his pockets to ensure they wouldn't go rogue on him and end up plowed into Reid's handsome face. He turned to look out the window at one of his favorite views of the beach and was quiet for a long time as he tried to figure out what he should say. And then he knew exactly what he needed to say to the man who wanted to marry his daughter.

"When Kate was a little girl, she used to be crazy about the Wizard of Oz. Most little kids, including her sisters, were scared to death of the witch and the monkeys, but Kate loved them. She was fearless. She gave her mother fits by doing cartwheels into the pool and riding her bike with no hands. We had this one particularly intense storm, and Clare found Kate out on the deck, soaked to the skin, watching the lightning like it was a movie rather than something to be afraid of." Jack paused for a moment, lost in the memories of a tiny blonde girl with the heart and courage of a lion king. "And then she grew up far too quickly and told me she wanted to go to Nashville, to find her way in the music business. I remember thinking how scared I would've been to be alone in a strange city where I didn't know anyone-as an eighteen-year-old. But Kate wasn't scared. She was thrilled to be following her dreams." He turned then to face Reid. "She's never been afraid of anything, which is what makes her so supremely vulnerable to being hurt."

"I'd never hurt her. Ever."

"You did once before."

"Did she ever tell you why we broke up?"

"Ah, no. We've gone out of our way to not speak of that time in our lives-ever."

"Do you remember the day you and Kate arrived at my house and you and I went for a walk while Ashton took Kate into town?"

Jack nodded, curious despite his intense desire not to be.

"I told you then I knew people in the business."

"And I said I didn't think she'd want anyone pulling strings for her. She was quite determined to make it on her own."

"Right. She told me the same thing." Reid looked up at Jack, seeming to force himself to make eye contact. "I grew up with Buddy Longstreet. He's my best friend and the brother I never had."

Suddenly, a lot of things made sense. "So you told Buddy about her."

Nodding, Reid said, "Against her express wishes. When she found out what I'd done, she left me."

"And then she went on to have a blockbuster career, thanks in large part to Buddy's support."