Page 56 of Snowflakes Over Starr's Fall
To stall, Jenna took a sip of wine. “It feels serious to me,” she said at last. “And I think it might be for him, too. But… it’s early days.”
“That sounds promising,” her mother told her with a smile.
“It feels promising,” Jenna returned with a smile of her own.
The sound of the kitchen door opening had them both staring at each other, wide-eyed, before Zach called out, “Hey, anybody home?”
Jenna relaxed back into the sofa. “We’re in here,” she called, just as her brother sauntered into the room.
“Hey, who started the party without me?” he demanded as he clocked their glasses of wine and the half-empty bottle.
“We did,” their mother returned teasingly, “but you’re welcome to join us.”
Zach bent down to kiss her cheek and for a second, Jenna envied how uncomplicated his relationship with their parents seemed… But then he didn’t know about what their marriage had really been like. It wasn’t Jenna’s job to tell him, but she knew Zach would most likely be furious and hurt when he realized what their dad had gotten up to. Jenna was still trying to figure out whether she could have any kind of relationship with him, not that she’d had much of one to begin with, but at least things were better—a lot better—with her mom. That was certainly something to be thankful for.
Actually, she decided as Zach helped himself to a glass of wine and joined them on the sofa, she had a lot to be thankful for. And that was what she was going to focus on from now on, starting with her relationship with Jack. At Christmas, Jenna decided, she would tell him how she felt. She might even use the L-word. Why not? A sudden, heady sense of recklessness seized her. Annie was right, she decided. Life was not just for the living, but the grabbing, the savoring and reveling. She’d spent far too much time hiding in the shadows. On Christmas Day, she was coming out in full strength… and telling Jack how she really felt.
* * *
“Nice to see you, Jack.”
Jack shook his friend Will Bryant’s hand firmly as he smiled. “Good to see you, too.”
“Come, sit down.” They were in Will’s corner office at Sterling Fund Managers, near Wall Street. Twenty years ago, they’d both started there. Jack had left after four years to start his own firm, and Will had stayed and worked his way up to VP. They’d been friends for all that time, although occasionally it had veered into a not-always-friendly competition. But Jack genuinely liked Will, had time for him, which was why he’d agreed, less than a week before Christmas, to head into the city to meet him for lunch.
Also because Will said he had something to talk to him about, and Jack was curious. Jenna had been super busy with Miller’s Mercantile and her mom, and while he was very glad for her on both counts, it had left him, in the last few days, feeling like he was at more of a loose end than usual, and that was saying something. Six months of cultivating hobbies had been good for hisphysicalhealth, if not always his mental health.
The truth was, Jack wanted to feel busy again. To have something in his life that wasn’t just a hobby or helping someone else. If he didn’t develop something, Jack had mused morosely, he’d be old before his time, the highlights of his day making model airplanes and doing the crossword, maybe an episode ofJeopardyto round out the evening. Truth be told, he was more than halfway there already. He was only forty-two years old. He needed more in his life. He needed a purpose.
“So, I have a proposition for you,” Will stated without preamble once they were seated in leather armchairs in front of a picture window that overlooked the Freedom Tower.
“Hit me,” Jack replied easily. Already he felt like he was getting into his groove, and it felt good; he was wearing an expensively tailored suit, he’d had an espresso that morning, and the energy in the city had been like an IV straight into his veins, giving him a sense of purpose and focus.
“This is totally confidential,” Will told him with a serious look as he steepled his fingers in front of him.
“Of course,” Jack replied as he sat back into his chair. “That goes without saying.”
“Good.” Will paused, and Jack stayed both relaxed and alert, his hands resting on his thighs. What was his old friend about to say?
“You know I’ve been at Sterling for over twenty years,” Will began.
“Yes…”
He cocked his head. “I think it’s finally time for a change.”
Jack experienced a pulse of adrenaline-fueled excitement as Will gave him a significant look over his steepled fingers. “Fair enough,” he replied easily, keeping his tone casual. “What did you have in mind?”
Will leaned forward, dropping his voice, although no one was in the huge corner office but the two of them. “Starting over, doing it my way.” He paused. “Ourway.”
Again Jack felt that pulse, but he merely raised his eyebrows in inquiry.
“You’ve done it once already,” Will continued. “I need your expertise, yourenergy, Jack. And this won’t be just another boom-or-bust startup. I’m talking about somethingintentional, considered, focusing on ventures that are sustainable and innovative. Cutting edge as well as responsible.” He leaned forward even more, his eyes alight. “I don’t want to just be the new guy swaggering around the block. I want to be the face of the future. Between the two of us, I think we can do it. You were the first person I thought of, Jack, when I started considering this. I don’t want to leap with anyone else but you.” Will sat back, dropping his hands to his lap, his eyebrows raised. “Well?” he asked. “Initial thoughts?”
Still Jack did not reply. His mind was reeling, but in a good way. He’d been waiting for something like this, he realized. Waiting and hoping. No matter what he’d told himself—or others—there had been no way he was going to stay in Starr’s Fall for the rest of his life, pottering about and helping local businesses here and there. The realization slammed into him, making him realize just how much he’d been fooling himself, thinking he could be happy working on a bunch of other people’s projects, staying in Starr’s Fall without any purpose of his own. He wasforty-two. He still had at least twenty years of career-defining work left in him. He was ready for this.
“I know you’ve been taking a break,” Will said into the silence, “for your health. But I hope you’re ready to get back into the saddle.”
“I am,” Jack replied carefully. The last thing he wanted to do right now was bang on about his health woes, but neither did he want to sign his death warrant. “I like what you were saying about being sustainable,” he finally said. “I’m not a twenty-two-year-old who can pull all-nighters three nights a week anymore, and I doubt you are, either.”
