Margaret Allison – At Any Price (страница 3)

The waitress arrived with their lunch and placed it in front of them. Plates laden with spaghetti and meatballs and the most delicious-looking garlic bread Katie had ever seen.

She picked up her fork, wondering how she was going to eat without splashing marinara sauce all over herself.

But it hadn’t seemed to bother Jack. He was swirling his spaghetti on his fork and chomping away.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Do you want something else?”

“No,” she said. She stabbed her fork into the mountain of spaghetti and popped it in her mouth. One of the noodles fell out and, with a rather loud noise, she slurped it back in.

Jack was grinning. “No one eats like you, Devonworth.”

She doubted the women Jack dated ate much of anything. Those pictured with him in the newspapers and magazines all looked willow thin and perfectly coiffed. Well, thought Katie. I’m a real woman and proud of it. She broke her garlic bread in half and took a big bite.

“Do you like it?” Jack asked, pointing toward her plate.

She nodded.

“There’s a lot of great restaurants in the city, but there’s something about this place. It kind of reminds me of Macaroni’s back home.”

“It’s good,” she said, her mouth only half-full.

Jack grinned again.

She finished chewing and said, “But Macaroni’s isn’t there anymore. They went out of business a couple of years ago.” Macaroni’s wasn’t the only business to fall victim to Newport Falls’ economy. Jack wouldn’t recognize the once-vibrant Main Street. Many of the stores that had been there since Katie could remember were gone or leaving.

“Oh?” Jack said. “That’s hard to believe. They’d been there forever, hadn’t they?”

“It sure seemed that way,” Katie said.

Neither said anything for a while, focusing on their lunch. But Katie couldn’t relax. She knew she had to ask Jack for money. And she had to do it soon.

Finally Jack said, “Do you ever hear from Matt?”

So Jack knew about her divorce. It didn’t surprise her. The Newport Falls grapevine ran far beyond the borders of the city.

“Every now and then,” she said. “I spoke to him last week. He thinks he might come home soon.”

“Come home?”

“He lives in the Bahamas.” A marriage devoid of passion had not been what Matt had bargained for. She hadn’t loved him, truly loved him, and he’d sensed that. She blamed herself for his philandering, blamed herself when he left town with a secretary from the bank. Their divorce had been fairly amicable. There were no property or children to dispute. They simply left the marriage with whatever they brought into it. She got the newspaper and her parents’ house. He got his freedom.

Jack glanced away. “I meant, well, you said he was coming home. Does that mean returning to you?”

Katie shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She didn’t want to discuss this with Jack. Not now. Not ever. “No,” she said. “It means he’s returning to Newport Falls. We’ve been divorced for almost three years now.”

“I’m sorry,” Jack said, his eyes meeting hers.

“Thanks. But I’m not here to discuss the failure of my marriage or my personal life.” Immediately, Katie regretted her words and the tone of her voice. She didn’t mean to sound so nasty. Jack had been friends with both of them. She had expected him to mention the divorce. But her feelings toward Jack and her reactions to him had never been rational.

He leaned back in the booth and crossed his arms. She could see the muscles in his jaw tighten. “All right, Devonworth,” he said. “Or should I call you O’Malley?” he asked, referring to Matt’s last name.

“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.