One New York Christmas

by Mandy Baggot

  ‘We always go to the Salisbury Christmas Market together,’ Lara stuttered. ‘He always has mulled wine and I always have German sausage.’ They wrapped up in almost every layer they owned and would spend the afternoon visiting each and every one of the little wooden chalets that speckled the city’s market square. There were bands in a small rotunda, the scent of winter spices in the air and handmade pleasures you couldn’t buy anywhere else. It was always full of smiling faces, crowds joining in with Christmas songs and that feel-good run-up-to-the-big-day vibe.

  ‘I know,’ Susie said again.

  Upset was quickly turning into something else. Anger. Annoyance. With Dan and with herself. What was she doing, close to tears in New York, when he was swanning around Salisbury, festive shopping with the village femme fatale?

  ‘How dare he do that!’ Lara blasted. ‘How dare he!’

  ‘This is good,’ Susie said as Lara wrenched herself from her embrace, flapping her arms in the air and almost getting tangled up in pearlescent baubles. ‘Perhaps it’s time to get angry.’

  ‘He said it was just a break!’ Lara exclaimed.

  ‘I know!’

  ‘He said it was just a time-out and now this!’

  ‘I know!’

  ‘Well, I can’t stand by and take it, can I? I mean, honouring this break was one thing, but letting him have this mini-split so he can work through how he felt and what he wanted, should not involve him calling himself single on Facebook or going Christmas shopping with another woman, should it?’

  ‘Absolutely not!’

  ‘Right then!’ Lara exclaimed, with as much panache as if she were Emma Willis announcing the next The Voice contestant.

  ‘Right then!’ Susie repeated with as much vigour.

  ‘I’m … going to buy something!’ Lara declared. ‘Something I wouldn’t normally buy.’

  Susie grinned in pure delight, retrieved the designer handbag from the floor and presented it like she was centre stage on QVC. ‘Voila!’

  ‘No,’ Lara said, eyes sweeping around Macy’s, trying to pick out anything and everything all at once. ‘I need …’

  ‘Shoes? I saw some beautiful boots with a wedge heel in a mink colour? Or maybe a coat. It’s set to get colder here and that jacket of yours has seen better days and—’

  Then a thought suddenly struck Lara, and she looked directly at her friend. ‘Take me to the scarf section.’

  ‘Ooo yes,’ Susie said, pushing the handbag back onto the first available shelf and clapping her hands together. ‘Something in hot pink or cranberry-red for the festive season. I saw a beautiful one, in foulard, so probably not expensive. This way!’

  Twenty-Two

  The Empire State Building

  As the snow began to fall from the sky of pure white clouds above New York, Lara looked into her Macy’s shopping bag, regarding her purchases like a proud mother hen admiring her clutch of newborn chicks. She was now the happy owner of a dozen scarves in an array of colours. She had let Susie go wild, plucking from a golden Christmas tree display a dozen woollen hats in every shade you could imagine. There were also sunglasses for Aldo’s Christmas present and a set of sterling silver golf tees for her dad her credit card had winced at.

  ‘Put one of the scarves on.’ Susie bobbed up and down to keep warm. ‘The bright yellow one. It’s going to really pop on Instagram.’

  ‘What’s the time?’ Lara asked.

  ‘Nearly two o’clock,’ Susie said. ‘He’ll be here soon.’

  Lara looked at her watch. It wasn’t nearly two o’ clock, it was nearly ten past. Seth wasn’t coming. She took a deep breath, then turned around and looked up at the magnificent building they were standing beneath.

  It was one hundred and two storeys high and built of concrete, limestone and granite with a steel frame – she had looked up the details on her phone earlier. And those one hundred and two storeys stood one thousand four hundred and fifty-four feet, going up in tiered stacks, to the tip of its lightning conductor. Looking at it now, the point of its peak seeming to touch the clouds, she couldn’t imagine being at the top if it did get struck by lightning. The images Google had pulled up of the inside of the structure were nothing short of opulent. She was expecting all kinds of grandeur she hadn’t ever seen in Appleshaw, where the grandest thing in town was the tea set Mrs Fitch got out for pensioners’ scone afternoons at the garden centre.

  ‘We should go in,’ Lara said, eyes going from skyscraper to Susie.

  ‘What? But we’re waiting for Seth, aren’t we? Didn’t he say right outside? Here? Where we’re standing?’

  ‘He did. But he’s probably had to go somewhere else.’

  ‘Maybe he messaged you. Have you checked your Twitter?’

  ‘No, but—’

  ‘Check it!’

  ‘Let’s just go in.’

  Susie put her hands on her hips and looked all arse-kicky. ‘I am not moving from this spot until you’ve checked for a message.’

  Seth was late, and he had glue on his chest that was making his shirt stick to his body. Every time he broke into a jog it was ripping at his skin. Why the casting director had needed to see all the auditionees with a chest wig on as they read the lines, he didn’t know. He was quite certain he didn’t want the part, despite the niggling reminder that he had rent to pay in one of the most expensive areas of the city. He checked his watch again. Almost quarter past two. He hated being late and Lara was going to think he wasn’t coming.

  He quickened his pace as much as he could, but the streets were packed with tourists walking slowly and photographing everything, more hot dog vendors per square metre than was necessary, fire hydrants he seemed to have to swerve for every few metres, plus a layer of snow on the sidewalk hampering his progress, with more falling from the sky.

  His mom had called just before the fake hair was pressed to his chest. He couldn’t answer while he was being glued to death, so he had let it go. He’d listened to her voicemail before he descended into the subway, which had been full of apologies about the previous evening, as well as the news that Kossy had found a photo of his mother. That information had knotted his insides. He was about to see what his birth mother looked like. Was she going to resemble him? Would he gaze into the photo and feel some sort of connection? He texted back, saying he would drop into the shelter. And he would. After he had gotten over feeling scared to death about this whole scenario.

  Thirty-fourth Street. He was here. He rushed towards the entrance of the Empire State, hoping that Lara was still there. Despite this odd set-up – Twitter, a lemur up a tree, drinking beer in broken chairs – he felt a strange thrill about showing this British girl the sights of his city. She had never been to the US; she had never been out of the UK. And here she was in this metropolis for her first overseas trip. NYC wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was, in his opinion, one of the coolest places to be on the planet. And he was interested to know if she would feel that way too. He liked her. He hadn’t taken to someone as easily or as quickly in … possibly forever.

  He heard Lara’s voice. ‘No message. Direct or otherwise. Can we go in now? Before my pizza-high wears off?’

  Seth smiled as he approached the two women. Susie noticed him straight away and he waved a hand.

  ‘Lara,’ Susie said.

  ‘What? You want me to check my Snapchat now? He doesn’t have my Snapchat … or my Facebook, or my mobile number or—’

  ‘Hey,’ Seth said, stepping into Lara’s line of vision.

  Lara slipped back into the path of a boy on a scooter and the boy skidded, sliding towards a lamppost. Seth reached out quickly, getting a hold of the boy’s coat and straightening him up before he toppled. ‘You OK?’ he asked the tween.

  ‘Yeah,’ the boy replied, with the almost-teenage attitude that Seth had possessed at that age, before scooting off with the line of pedestrian traffic again.

  ‘Are you OK?’ Seth asked, turning his attention back to Lara who was stamping
her boots to the concrete as if to remove stubborn balance-altering snow.

  ‘Yeah,’ Lara said, quickly, her cheeks pinking up a little. ‘It’s slippery around here with the … snow and everything.’

  Seth nodded, smiling. ‘That’s New York in winter.’ He clapped his gloved hands together. ‘I’m real sorry I’m late. I was being David Hasselhoff.’

  ‘Really!’ Susie’s eyes lit up.

  ‘I echo the really,’ Lara said.

  ‘Really,’ Seth said. ‘I swear to God. I have body glue stuck to my chest and everything.’

  ‘Oh my!’ Susie said. ‘Can we see?’

  ‘Susie!’ Lara exclaimed.

  Seth laughed. ‘I can’t say I’d recommend it. I didn’t quite make the gym this morning despite Trent’s orders, so I’m a little out of shape.’

  ‘Oh, I doubt you’re as out of shape as half the population of where we live,’ Susie stated. ‘The only decent pecs in Appleshaw belong to the chickens.’

  ‘It’s more Countryfile than fitness,’ Lara answered. ‘Um, Countryfile is a TV show about … the countryside.’

  ‘It sounds nice,’ Seth said. ‘There’s not a whole lot of green around here. Apart from the parks. Which we’ll have a great view of from up there.’ He pointed a finger skywards. ‘Shall we go in? Get outta the cold?’

  ‘Yes!’ Susie agreed quickly. ‘But first we need a photo, don’t we? You and Lara outside the entrance of one of the Big Apple’s landmarks.’

  ‘Sure,’ Seth said, looking to Lara. Susie had given her a shove and she was suddenly propelled next to him looking a little awkward. ‘You OK?’ he asked her.

  She nodded, giving him a small smile. ‘She took me shopping in Macy’s. I made her buy pizza to help me over the trauma.’

  ‘Look this way!’ Susie shuffled backwards like she was trying to create space in the ever-flowing sea of New York’s walking population – no easy task.

  ‘Your friend seems happy today,’ Seth remarked, his eyes on Susie’s camera phone.

  ‘She spent the whole night getting no sleep with her boyfriend.’

  ‘Oh,’ Seth said. ‘Totally got the vibe now.’

  Lara laughed. ‘TMI? As they all seem to say on Twitter.’

  ‘No, I think you explained it perfectly.’

  ‘Can you get a little closer?’ Susie shouted above the honking of New York cabs. ‘You know, perhaps seem like you’re standing in the same block? Otherwise it’s going to look like a desperate fan photo and that’s not the look we’re going for at all.’

  Seth moved in tight to Lara, putting his arm around her shoulders. He felt her flinch a little.

  ‘I’m really sorry about her,’ Lara said. ‘About this. If you want to turn around and run down the street then …’

  ‘Hey, if I start running anywhere, this glue is gonna be pulling out every fibre of my shirt.’ He hugged her into him. ‘It’s gonna be fun. The Empire State is so cool. I want to show it to you.’ He smiled at Susie, camera-ready. ‘Call it a thank you for Saving Primate Jax.’

  He watched her smile then and loosen up a little.

  ‘He was a beast,’ Lara replied.

  ‘If I wasn’t now part of Stand for Wildlife I would probably never feel the need to look at another lemur again.’

  ‘Don’t look at the arse again,’ Lara replied. ‘I think he fogged me. I can’t seem to get the smell of animal out of my hair.’

  Seth laughed out loud, then winced as the movement of his chest made glue stick to material again.

  ‘That’s perfect!’ Susie exclaimed, hopping up and down. ‘Perfect!’

  Twenty-Three

  ‘Wow!’ Lara exclaimed, bursting through the doors and down the ramp towards the fenced outer edge on the eighty-sixth floor.

  ‘Lara, hang on,’ Seth called, rushing after her.

  ‘You won’t be able to stop her,’ Susie said. ‘One thing she’s definitely not afraid of is heights. You think the tree in the zoo was impressive? She’s a regular roof scaler if something needs rescuing from the farm next door.’

  ‘I can hear you, you know!’ Lara called out. She sucked in the cold air as it buffeted her face. It was windy, and the wild force was steeped with icy snowflakes. The inside of the Empire State had been everything she had hoped for. It was wall-to-wall art deco luxury with a touch of Christmas. From the spectacular lobby with its sparkling twin Christmas trees to the almost chocolate marble-and-gold coloured walls, each level gave itself over to near-majesty and told the tale of its concept right through the construction to completion – with a little dash of movie moments – King Kong had been Lara’s favourite. But it was this that she had wanted to see the most. The scene from here, the outside view. Not the very top – where it was enclosed – but the expanse of city from this vantage point with the winter weather circling around her. And it was breathtaking.

  Lara dropped the Macy’s bag to the ground and wrapped her fingers around the metalwork, pressing her face into the gap, wanting to get as close to the view as she could. Here you could see everything. Other skyscrapers that looked so monumental from the ground were now dwarfed by the Empire State’s stature. Steam was mingling with the winter weather and there were small squares of snow-dappled green in between the slender heights of steel and glass. It was so far removed from Appleshaw. It was busy and vibrant and buzzing with energy, and Lara felt completely alive in the midst of it.

  ‘Susie,’ she called, not taking her eyes off all that was in front of her. ‘You have to come and see this.’

  ‘Oh no.’ Susie’s voice told Lara she was a least a few metres away. ‘I can see fine from back here. It’s beautiful. Lots of buildings.’

  ‘Come on, Susie! You can’t see anything from back there! You have to come closer!’ Lara finally turned to find her friend, Susie’s eyes apparently fixed on the iPhone in her hand. ‘What are you doing?! There’s this amazing view of New York and you’re—’

  ‘Googling medication I can take for vertigo.’

  ‘You don’t have vertigo!’ Lara said. ‘Vertigo isn’t really a fear of heights, you know, it’s an inner ear imbalance.’

  ‘It will be more than my inner ear that’s imbalanced if I go anywhere the edge,’ Susie replied. ‘I’m going to go and get coffee. Do you want one?’

  ‘Not really,’ Lara answered. ‘I want to rip down this fence and get a better look at the Hudson River.’

  ‘Seth? Coffee?’

  ‘No, I’m good,’ Seth replied.

  ‘You’re not scared of heights, are you?’ Lara asked as Seth arrived next to her.

  ‘Lara,’ he said. ‘I thought you were a real Manhattan Med fan. Don’t you remember the scene on the roof of the hospital? When I stopped grouchy Dr Crowther from spiralling to his certain doom?’

  ‘Of course I remember it. I just assumed you’d had a double for that scene.’

  ‘What?’ Seth put a hand to his chest like she had delivered a heart-stopping blow. ‘So while I was scaling dizzy heights, you thought I had a stunt double? I’m appalled.’

  ‘Actually, I thought it was a fake rooftop. Something about the skyline didn’t look quite right.’

  Seth nudged her arm with his elbow. ‘OK, I confess.’

  ‘Fake rooftop?’ Lara asked.

  ‘Fake rooftop. But I’m not afraid of heights. I also wanna move the fence and breathe in the city.’

  Lara watched him close his eyes for a second, taking a lungful of the snowy air before opening them up again and looking out at the scene falling away below them.

  ‘So how does it feel?’ Seth asked. ‘Your first trip to America. Your first trip anywhere.’

  ‘It feels …’ Lara began. How did it feel? Scary? Thrilling? There was a whole mixture of feelings currently going on inside her and all of them were unprecedented. How did you choose words to describe that? ‘How did you feel the first time you came up here?’

  ‘Well, I’m told the very first time I came up here I was one and I sat ins
ide one of those baby backpack things. My dad walked the eighty-six flights up here and I barfed in his hair.’

  ‘No!’ Lara exclaimed, putting a hand over her mouth.

  ‘The first time I remember coming up here I was seven and I had to do an art project for school. I carried this giant notepad and coloured pencils up here and it rained for about an hour.’

  ‘So, you couldn’t draw anything?’ Lara guessed.

  ‘No,’ Seth said. ‘I was kind of a determined kid. I watched the rain and I drew and I realised it was a waste of time bringing up those coloured pencils. I sketched the city in different shades of grey and I got the best mark of my whole class.’

  ‘Show off,’ Lara said with a laugh, eyes going back to the view, snow dashing past her vision.

  ‘And now are you gonna tell me how it feels to be up this high, in a foreign country with the snow hitting your cheeks?’

  It should have felt completely alien. Being here was so far out of her comfort zone. But instead she felt both deeply content and stimulated beyond belief. This was New York City and she, Lara Weeks, truck driver from Appleshaw, was bang smack in the centre of it.

  ‘I feel like I’m … not standing still,’ Lara began, eyes roving over the cityscape. ‘Like I’m flying, or paragliding or freefalling or something.’ She took a breath. ‘Like I’m floating over everything, but not in a frightening way, like I might crash to my death at any minute, in a kind of totally in control way.’ She smiled out into the city. ‘I want to shout at the top of my voice. I want to say, “Hey, New York! I’m here! And … I want to be a part of it!”’ She laughed out loud. ‘And everyone would think I’m a crazy girl from England and they’d look into their coffees and wish me away.’

  Seth swallowed, unable to take his eyes from her. She was beautiful to watch. There was an energy coming from her that he’d never seen in anyone before. She was coming to life right before him, completely uninhibited, free, sucking up NYC like it was the most glorious place she’d ever been.