At Any Price. Margaret Allison
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someone else’s arms.
And Matt? Matt wasn’t interested in Katie until he found out how Jack felt about her. He remembered the night in junior high when he told Matt he loved her. They were lying in Old Man Kroner’s field, arms crossed, looking up at the sky. Just the two of them. Matt had been teasing him about some girl in school when Jack told him he had it all wrong.
“What do you mean?” Matt had asked.
“I mean,” Jack said, “that I love someone else.”
Matt rolled over. Love was a big word, and being in tenth grade, neither had ever used it to describe a feeling before. “You?” Matt asked. “Who?”
“Katie,” Jack said. “I’m going to marry her one day.”
“Katie?” Matt laughed. “Oh, right!”
“What’s so funny? I have it all figured out. I even have the ring.”
“Where did you get it? A Cracker Jack box?”
“It was my grandmother’s. My father wanted to give it to my mother, but he never got a chance. It’s a diamond, with two rubies on either side—”
“Wait a minute,” Matt interrupted. “Katie is someone you play basketball with. She’s not the type of girl you fall in love with. And marry? Come on!”
“She’s who I want,” Jack said. “Who I’ve always wanted.”
Matt fell silent again. Then he said, “Does she know?”
“No. I can’t tell her yet. Not now.”
“Why not?”
“Because we’re too young. Katie and I aren’t going to end up like my parents.”
Matt was silent.
“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