“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.