Treading Water Series, Book 1

By: Marie Force

Chapter 1

Jack gauged the impossible twelve-foot putt.

Jamie Booth, his best friend and business partner, sighed with exasperation. “There’s no way, Jack, so just putt, will you?”

“Stop rushing me.” Jack took a deep calming breath and aligned his putter as a warm spring breeze blew in off Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay. He tapped the ball, watched in amazement as it dropped into the hole, and pumped his arm like a professional golfer.

While their clients congratulated Jack, Jamie moaned and groaned. “I’ll be hearing about this for weeks.”

“Watch and learn, my friend,” Jack said with a grin. “Watch. And. Learn.”

His cell phone vibrated in his pocket as the foursome moved to the fifteenth tee. Jack checked the caller ID and saw it was his wife, Clare. After the terrible fight they’d had that morning, he was relieved to hear from her.

“Dad?”

The frantic tone of his oldest daughter’s voice stopped his heart. “What’s the matter?”

“It’s Mom.”

“What? What, Jill?”

“She was hit by a car.” Jill was crying so hard, he had trouble understanding her. “They’re taking her to Newport Hospital.”

Her words sent a jolt of icy fear straight through him. “I’m coming, honey,” he managed to say. “I’ll be right there.”

Abandoning his clubs and his clients, he took off running across the golf course.

In the parking lot, Jamie pried Jack’s keys out of his hand. “What’s wrong, Jack?”

“It’s Clare.” Jack told him the news in a flat, shocked tone as they peeled out of the parking lot.

“Oh my God,” Jamie muttered.

During the brief ride, a series of images flashed through Jack’s mind, spanning the nearly twenty years he’d spent with Clare. His stomach ached when he remembered their angry words that morning. She has to be all right. She has to be.

“Talk to me,” Jamie said.

“We fought.” Jack felt detached from the moment, as if he was watching a movie of someone else’s life.

“When?”

“This morning.”

“I didn’t think you guys ever fought.”

“We never used to, but lately…Seems to be all we do.” Jack hadn’t even realized it until that moment, until it was possible he could lose her.

“What happened this morning?”

“She…pushed me away. In bed. Again. I can’t remember the last time she didn’t push me away. It’s been months.”

“You never said anything was wrong.”

“I was afraid to say it out loud until I heard she might be hurt.” He ached with worry and fear over what he’d find at the hospital. “Or worse.” Forcing himself to breathe, he said, “God, what if she’s dead? What if the last thing I said to her was ‘if you want out of this marriage, just let me know?’”

“You’ll work it out. You two are solid, man. Whatever’s wrong, you’ll get through it.”

Provided she isn’t dead, Jack thought. Please don’t let her be dead.