by Mandy Baggot
‘I don’t think so … and no.’
The lemur was wrenched from her and she was suddenly left wide-eyed and bewildered, cameras trained on her.
‘I think we should give her a little space, don’t you? She’s been through quite an ordeal,’ Seth began, stepping closer as a wailing Jax was put into a carrier.
‘God, Lara, are you all right?’ Susie came rushing in.
She was all right. She was. It was just that somewhere between jumping out of the tree, hitting the slightly ice-smeared ground and feeling the weight of the crowd all around her, everything had all swelled up like a rising snowdrift. She took a breath, focusing on her friend. ‘I’m fine.’
‘What’s your name, ma’am? What made you decide you needed to rescue the lemur here today? Have you done anything like this before?’
A woman in a dark, woollen coat had stuck a microphone under Lara’s nose and the crush of people were starting to ease forward, inch by inch, enclosing the area around her.
‘I think we need to back up a little here, everyone,’ Seth ordered. ‘Trent, can you make a little room?’
‘Nice touch,’ Trent replied, smiling. ‘Chivalrous.’ He put his hands into the air. ‘Back up, ladies and gentlemen, let’s let the hero of the hour head back to the stage.’
‘Heroine,’ Seth stated. ‘The heroine of the hour.’
‘I really don’t want to go on any stage,’ Lara said, propelled along by the crowd.
‘Don’t listen to Trent,’ Seth replied. ‘We’ll just let him shout and make some space and then we’ll get out of here.’
‘I’m Susie,’ Susie said, hands adjusting her hat as Trent seemed to start succeeding in his parting of the throng.
‘Seth,’ Seth replied. ‘Seth Hunt.’
‘We know who you are, Dr Mike,’ Susie continued. ‘Season after season of dipping Doritos while you cure the ills of Manhattan and solve a few mysteries too.’
‘Well …’ Seth began.
‘Wasn’t he great?’ Trent said, turning his head as he moved them along past a towering Christmas tree, flanked by sparkling rotating angels blowing trumpets.
‘Completely great,’ Susie agreed. ‘And I think it’s also really completely great how you’re helping Lara here.’
‘Susie …’ Lara began. Seth not recognising her, she had decided, was a good thing, a great thing. She could forget it ever happened. Christmas wasn’t that far away and when Dan got back from Scotland everything would go back to normal. Why shouldn’t it?
‘I mean, what Dan is doing to her is downright cruel. He’s wanting his Yule log and eating it, keeping her hanging on, not knowing whether he’s going to swing one way or the other, changing his mind, mixing his signals, it’s so unfair.’
‘I’m not sure I understand,’ Seth answered.
Lara sighed. Now an explanation had to be given. ‘I’m Lara,’ she said. ‘Lara Weeks.’
Seth stopped walking, his expression still a little confused. ‘Have we met?’
Lara shook her head. ‘Not in person.’ She sighed. ‘Susie, this is silly.’
‘No, it’s not,’ Susie countered. ‘She’s laraweekend.’
Trent span around then, the force of his turn almost making an ornamental candy cane tree topple over. ‘Laraweekend!’ Trent exclaimed. ‘You’re laraweekend?’ He grabbed Seth by the shoulders, shaking him. ‘Seth! This is laraweekend!’
Now Seth felt like he had a major part in a sitcom he hadn’t ever seen the script for and everyone was looking at him waiting for some sort of reaction. And Trent was acting like he was a winner on Wheel of Fortune.
‘Oh, laraweekend, Seth … has told me so much about you,’ Trent declared.
Seth went to ask for clarification, but a harsh slap to his back came down between his shoulder blades, then Trent grabbed him forcefully.
‘Wow … this is … really so wow … isn’t it wow, Seth.’ Trent’s head nodded up and down like it was attached to a Slinky spring.
‘It’s a wow from me,’ Seth managed to reply. He was looking at Lara now, desperately trying to recall her. Where had he met her? Was she an actress? Had he worked with her on a film? She had mentioned a pig when she was up the tree, hadn’t she? Had he done anything with pigs … ever?
She was petite, perhaps five five, her short brown hair cool rather than boyish and only serving to accentuate her large chestnut eyes … and there were curves under that short jacket. If he had met her he was sure he would have remembered her. He was usually so good with faces.
‘So, laraweekend, you’re here in NYC and you’ve met my buddy Seth and you’ve … wow, you’ve saved a freaking lemur!’ Trent laughed loud and hard then reached out, grabbing the nearest journalist in the crowd. ‘You! You should really take a photo of these guys right here. Standing for wildlife! Woo! Go lemurs!’
‘Trent …’ Seth began.
Trent pulled him close, like he might want to start slow-dancing with him if Dean Martin kept the Christmas waltz vibe going. ‘I’ll explain everything later, I promise, just … act like you’re Wikipedia.’
‘What?’
‘Act like you know everything. Pretend you know exactly what I’m talking about. And trust me. This could turn into something special, particularly after today’s events.’
‘Trent …’
‘Laraweekend, you stand here and Seth, you stand next to her – a little closer, man, I don’t think she’s gonna bite – grr!’ Trent laughed out loud and performed a hand claw in the air while the journalist set about taking photographs.
‘I am so sorry about this,’ Seth said to Lara.
‘You must think I’m crazy.’ Lara blew out a nervous breath.
‘Given that we’ve both climbed up a tree chasing something from Madagascar, we’re about equal in the crazy stakes.’
She smiled at him. Where could he possibly know her from?
‘So, you should definitely come tonight. Both of you,’ Trent said, parting the crowd again and moving them through the melee. ‘It was Sally, right?’
‘Susie,’ the other girl answered, sounding a little put out.
What was tonight? Where was Trent inviting these virtual strangers? ‘Tonight?’ Seth queried.
‘Excuse my friend who seems to have lemur brain …’ Trent put his mouth to Seth’s ear. ‘It’s your mom’s Christmas open house for the shelter. The annual winter cook-out and half the guests stealing the silverware.’
Seth gasped. He couldn’t believe he had forgotten one of his mom and dad’s most important dates in the calendar. Every year Kossy and Ted invited the regular shelter users, plus the fifty others who turned up on the day of the event, to a winter party at their own home. There was food of all kinds from Italian through to Creole to all-American barbecue. Unlike the Christmas fundraiser for the shelter, which was a couple of weeks closer to Christmas and about making money to keep the centre open, this was about feeding the hungry and making them feel a little bit more human, even if just for one night. And that was probably why Kossy was trying to call him. To tell him what to bring. Just how self-focused was he?
‘Tonight we’re meeting David for dinner, aren’t we?’ Lara said to her friend.
‘I have no idea who David is,’ Trent began. ‘But David can come too. It’s quite the party.’
‘Trent, I—’ Seth started.
‘I can have dinner with David and you can go to the party,’ Susie said as they finally broke out into a bit of space, near to one of the entrance gates of the zoo.
Susie was making the kind of expression that said one of two things. Either she was severely constipated, which was a possibility if her body was reacting to pumpernickel like hers was. Or she was channelling a very excited anime character with a secret to keep. And, at the very first opportunity, as had been one of Lara’s New York holiday concerns, she was being palmed off. Susie and David were a duo. No one wanted to make a triangle when a couple hadn’t seen each other for six months, unless you were int
o that sort of thing already. She shivered.
‘David and I can meet you there,’ Susie continued, nudging a sharp elbow into Lara’s ribs. ‘What time and where?’
‘Crowds have ears,’ Trent whispered, looking over his shoulder at the group of people now refocused on the country star onstage who seemed set to sing. ‘I will …’ He cleared his throat. ‘I mean, Seth, will message you the address. Seven thirty. And don’t dress up, and, if you can, dress down … like way, way down. Most of the guests don’t have much, and last year someone wore Givenchy and never saw it again.’
‘We’ll be there,’ Susie said. ‘Thank you. See you tonight.’
‘Come on,’ Trent said to Seth. ‘We need to get you back onstage before the next Tim McGraw there takes over everything.’
‘See you later!’ Susie said with over-the-top enthusiasm.
‘It was nice to meet you both,’ Seth replied. He sent a smile their way before he was pulled by his shirt towards the front of the festive display.
Susie turned to Lara, giddy, eyes unfocused like she had been drinking more of the mince-pie whisky. ‘I can’t believe this is happening, can you? Seth Hunt! Dr Mike! You and a lemur! The press taking photos! Never mind posting a few selfies on Insta, you’re going to be all over the news!’
Was she? Lara wasn’t sure that was a good thing. She felt the same way about this party tonight too. OK, so Seth Hunt was a celebrity, but she didn’t know him. How could Susie line her up with an evening with someone she didn’t know at an as-yet-undisclosed address that was who-knew-where in New York City, a place she was finding was a lot bigger and more disorientating than Birmingham. And, now she was down from the tree, the only thing on her mind was checking Facebook to see if Dan had gone through with changing his status … and to what?
‘I’m happy to stay in the apartment while you go to dinner with David.’ Lara kicked her boot at a small pile of ice as they walked towards the exit. The sky had clouded over, the temperature a little over freezing, spelling snow.
‘Stay in the apartment.’ Susie said the words like Lara had suddenly confessed she was going teetotal.
‘Yeah,’ Lara said with a nod. ‘We’ve only been here half a day and I’m really jet-lagged and I know you want to eat with David, and then eat David himself probably, so I can cosy up in the apartment and—’
‘Pine over bloody Dan?’
‘I was going to say watch TV.’
‘Like you do at home.’
‘It’s only Day One,’ Lara reminded.
‘Exactly!’ Susie exclaimed. ‘Day One of our NYC adventure and I am not leaving you in the apartment on your own to watch Law & Order.’
‘Not even Chicago PD?’
‘You’ve met Seth Hunt!’ Susie grabbed hold of her arms and shook them. ‘Seth Hunt! Your dreamy Dr Mike!’
Lara rolled her eyes. ‘He isn’t my dreamy Dr Mike.’
‘No, back in 2016 he was everyone’s dreamy Dr Mike and Most Sexiest Star on TV, according to a Facebook poll I looked up.’
‘I’m not saying that he isn’t attractive.’ Or nice. He was very nice. And funny. And he really had looked like he was willing to catch her if she needed help getting down from the tree. ‘But … it doesn’t feel right.’
‘OK,’ Susie said. ‘I’m going to get completely serious with you now.’
Lara swallowed as Susie’s tone took on an edge of Marcella.
‘Dan has told you he’s changing his FB status.’
Lara knew she wasn’t going to like what was coming next. She looked down at her Dr Martens and the ground as it went from zoo to sidewalk and they left the attraction.
‘Dan is going to Scotland with Chloe for Christmas.’
It sounded as if Susie was giving their relationship the last rites.
‘Dan has told you he wants a break.’
Yes. All three of those things were correct. Ugly and hurtful but undeniably true. Lara raised her head.
‘Now, personally, I would be ditching his sorry arse very publicly with every single dodgy photograph I owned of him filtering out at all the most opportune times on social media – ad break for Coronation Street, five minutes before News at Ten, seven a.m. to accompany everyone’s first morning coffee – but I know you don’t want to do that. So …’ Susie heaved in a long breath. ‘You have to take the other route. You have to appear happily disconnected. You have to try and forget what Dan is doing and concentrate on enjoying your life as it stands right now … your holiday here, with me … and your chance to go to a party with Seth Hunt.’ Susie grinned and shook her head at the same time. ‘I can’t believe I said the words “go to a party with Seth Hunt”.’
Susie was right. Lara knew that. All she was doing by going over everything in her mind was moping. Far better to stop moping and engage in ridiculous fantasy with an actor you used to have a crush on …
Lara pulled her phone out of her coat pocket, the screen covered in crumbs of Pringles.
‘Ugh! God, what’s all over your phone? That coat should come with some sort of health warning. Have you ever washed it?’ Susie sniffed then, stopping and propping her behind up against a fire hydrant. ‘What are you doing?’
‘I’m doing what I should have done the second we landed.’
‘Phoning Aldo?’
‘I messaged him.’
‘Phoning your dad?’
‘Aldo will tell him I messaged him. Probably half a dozen times.’
‘You’re checking Dan’s Facebook.’
Lara nodded then pressed at the onscreen icon with pure determination. Super-quickly she searched for ‘Dan Reeves’. It took mere seconds for her to have her answer.
‘Dan Reeves is apparently …’ She handed Susie the phone.
Single. It said single. The tears were right there, in her eyes and sliding up into her throat but she bit them back. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction, especially not here in vibrant New York. Not when there were gorgeous golden, sparkling fountain-shaped lights on a high-rise she couldn’t even see the top of across the street and a newspaper seller dressed as a penguin. Sirens wailed and traffic honked horns and she felt so small but so suddenly awake …
‘I should go to the party, shouldn’t I?’ Lara said, blinking away the hurt and looking straight at her best friend.
‘Yes, you definitely should,’ Susie replied.
Fifteen
Gramercy, NYC
‘I tried to call,’ Seth began as Kossy threw open the door of the partly ivy-covered three-storey brownstone he had once called home. ‘And I left three messages.’ He proffered two large paper grocery bags. ‘So, I got some beers and I got sausage and potato salad and plenty of chips and guacamole …’
Kossy, hair wild and around her shoulders, apron over a long-sleeved, pale-yellow dress, grabbed the bags, dumped them down by the doorstep, then gathered Seth up into a fierce hug before pinching his cheeks. ‘I thought you weren’t coming. I said to your dad, “Seth isn’t coming because I haven’t heard from him since the ravioli” and then we’re making jambalaya and we’ve got the TV on and there’s all these cameras at the zoo … and there you are, with that great new country singer and you’re holding a monkey!’ Kossy let him go and slapped her hands to his face. ‘You holding a little monkey and saying all those great things about the zoo we first took you to when you were four and you tried to feed the seals.’
‘It was a lemur, Mom,’ Seth answered.
She waved a hand dismissively. ‘I’m betting they’re more slippery. Come in! Come in! Everything’s under control in here with thirty minutes before the coach arrives.’ She scooped up the groceries and pounded inside.
He smiled as he stepped into the chaotic but welcoming space, every bookcase, sideboard and chair – and there were plenty of all of those – covered with memories of his mom and dad’s life together. Random pebbles, plants – some clinging to life, others thriving – photographs, ornaments – some missing body parts – gadgets �
�� some from the eighties and broken – and appliance leads no one knew the origin or purpose of. There seemed to be hundreds of strings of tinsel to add to the disorder now too, swirling around the banisters of the staircase, pinned to corkboards, wrapped around china dolls and taxidermy birds … Seth followed his mom towards the hub of the home, the kitchen-cum-diner-cum-lounge that led out onto a deck and their patch of grass in the city.
‘D’you like my trees? You like my trees, right?’ Kossy said, bustling into the kitchen and stretching her arms to indicate two fat spruces that were far too big for the space.
‘I—’ Seth began.
‘Your dad says they’re too big, but I told him that was insulting. Can you imagine if he says that to me one day? “Kossy, you’re too big.” What do I say to that? “Buy me a bigger house?” Can you see that happening, Seth? I ask you!’
‘Where is Dad?’ Seth asked, watching his mom get sucked back into the organised mess of kitchen operations.
‘He’s out back,’ Kossy replied. ‘Do not disturb him. He’s halfway up a ladder trying to get all the Christmas lights to work. What’s the party of the year without Christmas lights on the outside?’
Seth’s phone pinged.
‘Do you want a coffee, Seth? Or shall we go all out and open the Jose Cuervo? You know, just the one, to help us through Party Prep Central.’ Kossy held up the bottle of tequila and swung it in her hands.
‘I’ll have a coffee, if that’s good with you,’ Seth answered, drawing out his phone. It was a message from Trent.
So before the party you need to know @laraweekend is someone you’re helping get over her loser boyfriend. This is gonna be so great. I’m thinking we push this out for an exclusive … maybe an interview with Ellen. Hitting the nice-guy-does-good angle, grabbing all the feels with the twenty-somethings AND their mothers. I know, I’m a genius. BTW it’s a no from the last Netflix audition. IMO I think they’re gonna give it to Michael Fassbender. Sorry, bud!
‘Fuck,’ Seth exclaimed dropping his phone to the counter and putting his hands into his hair.