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“Well, now’s your chance,” Tom said.
“Pardon me?” I replied.
“Jamie’s coming to see us at Cape Cod!” said Tom. “She’s gonna love it. You know lobster’s her favorite food, right?”
“But I don’t understand,” I said. “I thought Jamie was working in PR.”
“Oh sure, she is. But since we started this new business, it’s pretty clear Jamie’s got a future in metals tech.”
“Huh?” I didn’t like the sound of where this was going.
“Remember last year, I told you she was working for Alan Morgan atHPO Industries? Well, Alan referred her to Mark fromPlatotech, so Jamie went to work for them. Anyway, I don’t know what it is about that daughter of mine, but she’s made so many friends that they invited her to the convention this year!”
“What?” I said furiously, looking around to make sure there was no one nearby who could see the expression of confusion and anger on my face. I couldn’t believe it. Jamie was coming? I’d never agreed to be the keynote speaker if I’d known that attending the convention would mean seeing her again.
“Well, don’t get all bitter about it, Eric,” said Tom awkwardly. “You had the chance to snap her up once, and you blew it, right?”
“Right,” I said, trying to conceal my feelings from Tom. I didn’t want him to get even an inkling of the dark feelings that were clouding my brain as I boarded the steps of the plane, waving hello to my pilot. “So, she’s staying with you?”
“I wish. I’d have insisted on it if she was bringing Cassie. I don’t get to see my granddaughter often enough. But Jamie didn’t find out she was coming until the last minute, so they put her up in the Hotel St. Martin.”
“Nothing wrong with that. I hear it’s a top-notch place,” I said, making conversation for the sake of it. I wanted this call to be over, but at the same time, I knew that it would seem suspicious if I didn’t say something nice. “I’ll be sure to say hi to her while there.”
“Would you?” Tom said eagerly. “I’m sure she’d be happy to see another friendly face there. Where are you staying?”
“I’m renting Mark Eismann’s cabin from him,” I said. I’d wanted to be somewhere isolated from the main group attending the convention, and I’d selected the cabin, a beautiful old building from the 19thCentury to get some much-needed alone time from the convention.
“The Eismann place?” said Tom.
“That’s right,” I said. “You know it.”
“Know it?” said Tom and chuckled. “Sure, I know it. I think you ought to give Mark a call.”
“What do you mean?” I growled.
“The cabin’s ruined,” said Tom. “Didn’t you see it on the news?”
Theminutewe’dtoucheddown I’d called Mark. By the time we were taxiing on the runway, I was talking to him on the phone.
“What do you mean, ‘collapsed’?”
“What can I say? Sorry about it, Eric old boy. There’s nothing I can do. Jennie and I are going to have to go to the Hamptons this Summer after all, it seems.”
“You’re kidding,” I said. “I can’t believe this.”
“You’re telling me. I ought to sue those contractors I had to reinforce the roof last winter. But you know how it is. Storms come in pretty strong this time of year.”
This trip was going from bad to worse, and I’d only just touched down in Cape Cod. I’d called Mark on the way and he’d explained the situation. The luxury cabin where I was supposed to be staying had just lost its roof. An enormous storm coming in off the Atlantic had severed a vital support beam over the master bedroom. I was lucky I hadn’t been staying there when it happened.
“Well, sorry to hear about your bad news, Mark,” I said. “I’m going to get into town and find somewhere to stay. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”
“You do that. Have a good trip, Eric. I’m sure a man like yourself will be able to find something.”
I put the phone down and stepped off the plane, shaking my head in confusion. I got into the black sedan which had come to meet me at the airport. My driver was a local man. Paul was refueling the helicopter before flying it over to Cape Cod, where he’d be on standby should I be called away.
But what was I going to do? I knew I’d need to find a hotel, or another guesthouse, in time for the convention. I was supposed to be giving my speech tomorrow night. On top of that, I had several hundreds of pages of technical documents from Steve and the lab guys to review.
In the car, I mulled over my options as we drove down the hill from the airfield and towards Barnstable. My eyes drifted over the landscape, wild and barren, as we made our way along the northern shoreline of Cape Cod. And I began to brood about Jamie Reed. The last person I wanted to see at a time like this.
