They were handed menus and Amelia soon decided on a burger with bacon and peppers, Kyle of course wanted a double and chose the cheeseburger, and they ordered a couple of portions of fries too.
‘Quick, grab that table.’ She spotted a young couple standing up about to leave one of the many busy tables right next to a flowerbed. ‘You take the cases, I’ll wait here for the order and bring it over.’
Service was speedy and before long, with a tray in front of her and her tummy rumbling in anticipation, Amelia bustled past the people still waiting to order and went to join Kyle. He’d got the table but he’d also attracted the attention of some guy who seemed to be giving him a piece of his mind.
‘Everything all right?’ She set down the tray and stood next to Kyle and this man, ready to go between them if either put their hands on the other one. It had looked heated from a distance and the conversation up this close had definitely taken a turn for the worse.
‘He’s a thief.’ The man jabbed an accusing finger in Kyle’s direction.
Good job it hadn’t made contact with Kyle because given past behaviour it would’ve no doubt ended up in a fist fight and although this guy was tall, chunky enough to have a bit of muscle on him, Kyle had youth on his side and had to be half the man’s age.
Please don’t let them be in trouble on their first day in the city. They hadn’t even reached the apartment yet.
She stood her ground, never afraid to speak up. ‘I hope you’ve got a good reason for your accusations.’ She’d met enough people like this one in her job, men and women who leapt to conclusions and assumed the worst.
‘I’m not a thief.’ Kyle looked at her briefly before turning his glare back to his accuser.
The accuser looked Kyle in the eye. ‘You really don’t recognise me?’
‘I’ve never seen you before in my life.’
‘Yes you have. I met you in St Ives once.’
Judging by Kyle’s face, a realisation had dawned.
The man turned to Amelia. ‘He stole my wallet when I was down in Cornwall on holiday in the summer. I caught him at it too and I thought I’d give him another chance, told him to hop it before I called the police.’
‘And now you want revenge, is that it?’ Amelia demanded as Kyle’s reaction told her this man’s claims held an element of truth. ‘Bit late now, you should’ve done something at the time. I’m not condoning what he did, and I thank you for not pressing charges, but that doesn’t give you the right to start on him here.’ Talk about a small bloody world. Bet Kyle never thought he’d lay eyes on this guy again.
‘The woman who left this table dropped some money and your kid scooped it up. I saw it with my own eyes. I’ve never seen anyone move so fast. And he made no attempt to return it.’
‘Not true!’ When Kyle yelled, Amelia did her best to calm the fire that was raging inside him.
She’d give him the benefit of the doubt, she had to. ‘What happened, Kyle?’ She held up a hand when the man tried to talk again. And she didn’t bother correcting his reference to Kyle as hers; she’d had it plenty over the years and didn’t mind one bit. It made her feel like most other women her age – well, she’d have had to be pregnant as a teenager to have Kyle, but still, it was nice to be thought of as someone who had a family of their own rather than the lonely old spinster she was starting to become, with nothing but work and meals for one to look forward to and the odd trip to the pub when the coupled-up friends who lived locally were allowed out on their own.
Kyle at least matched her calmer tone when he replied to her. Over the last year she’d been trying to educate him about thinking before he reacted, something she knew he found a constant battle. ‘I came to get the table before someone else did, and the girl who was sitting here dropped a twenty. I picked it up and was about to run after her when I realised our luggage was at the table with nobody to watch it. I didn’t think you’d want to lose our stuff on day one of our holiday, so I hesitated, and he started having a go at me.’
‘A likely story,’ the man muttered, his dark eyes anticipating more trouble.
Amelia stood between him and Kyle. ‘Kyle has explained his side of the story, so unless you have proof to show otherwise, I suggest you leave us to our meal.’ And bugger off. ‘We’ll stay here until we’ve eaten. If the girl comes back we will pass her the twenty; if she doesn’t, rest assured it’ll go in the first charity collection we see.’
He harrumphed as though he wanted to say Bullshit! but thought he’d better be more polite.
‘You have a nice day!’ she called sarcastically when he walked away. She used the best American accent she could muster and the filthy look she got in return suggested she hadn’t made a friend.
When she sat down, Kyle was clearly doing his best not to smile. ‘What’s so funny?’
‘Auntie Amelia, you’re a badass!’ He put up a hand and she couldn’t help smiling and high-fived him back.
‘Did you really steal from him in Cornwall?’ The fact he wasn’t meeting her eye was enough of an answer. ‘Kyle…’
‘It was in the summer, I haven’t done anything like that since, promise.’
‘And how many times have you done that sort of thing?’ She dismissed her own question with a shake of her head. ‘Actually, I don’t want to know. I only want you to promise all that has stopped. You’re a good kid, do your best not to prove me wrong.’ It was the firmest she’d been with him in a long time and she was expecting it to backfire but, instead, she watched as he calmly unwrapped the burger and took a generous bite.
‘I won’t do it again. Derek told me all sorts of things about being inside. No way would I do that to myself.’
She started on her own food, grateful to be miles away from Kyle’s so-called friends.
‘For the record, Auntie Amelia, this time I’m telling the truth.’
She looked him in the eye. ‘I know you are. And can we make a deal?’
‘What’s that?’
‘For this holiday you call me Amelia. Auntie makes me feel too old now.’ Amelia also sounded more of a friend, less of an authority figure, and perhaps he’d respond better this way. She was willing to try anything.
The twenty was still in full view, its corner beneath the box of fries so it didn’t blow away in the winter winds that seemed to be picking up now, reminding them of the season they were in. ‘If the girl comes back we’ll pass her the money,’ said Amelia. ‘Otherwise, charity, like I told that horrible man.’ Who hadn’t exactly been hit with the ugly stick.
‘Not a collection bucket though, you never know whether the person holding it pots some of the cash.’
The burger warmed her hands and the peppers were delicious, smothered in a special dressing. ‘That isn’t very trusting.’
‘Yeah, well, when you’ve been doubted enough times in your life it kind of makes you a bit pessimistic.’
It was a shame for kids like Kyle who had to prove themselves to all those who didn’t believe in them. This evening was supposed to be pleasant, a stop on their way to their accommodation. They should be smiling and chatting below magical rows of twinkly lights and bunting that looped from the Shake Shack across the sky above them, not defending Kyle’s honour to someone who had adopted the guilty-until-proven-innocent philosophy.
During their time here Amelia would love to reach Kyle in a way nobody had managed to do in the last few years, and she needed him to learn to believe in himself even though she wasn’t the best role model in that respect. Because while she was assertive and even a bit pushy at work, when it came to life outside that environment she didn’t have the same confidence. Paul had ended things with her because he said she never put their relationship first. Maybe if she’d been more headstrong and had learnt to say no to her sister, no to overtime demands at work, been more invested in their relationship, they’d still be together and she’d be well on her way to having a family of her own. Until now she hadn’t really seen how it must have made Paul f
eel, to come second best.
And now it was too late. He hadn’t called or emailed her, he’d gone from her life almost as quickly as he’d come into it.
Chapter Three
Nathan
‘This place is dreamy.’ Scarlett looked up above them at the lights looping in the sky in Madison Square Park. ‘I love all the bunting too.’
‘Well done for picking a table with a view of the tree.’
She snapped back to teen mode, which meant a shrug as though his comments didn’t matter much at all. ‘You took ages.’
‘That’s because I caught some kid stealing. He thought it was OK to pick up a twenty dollar note dropped by a woman when she left the table. He claimed he hesitated about running after the girl because he had luggage with him and didn’t want it nicked.’
‘And did he have luggage?’
‘Yeah,’ Nathan admitted. ‘But I still didn’t believe him.’
‘Just because your wallet was stolen once, doesn’t mean everyone’s out to get you.’
‘I beg to differ. It was the same boy.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Same kid, from Cornwall.’
‘No way.’
He harrumphed. ‘I saw the panic in his eyes when he recognised me too. Guilty.’
‘Dad, you can be scary sometimes, doesn’t mean this time he wasn’t telling the truth.’
‘Your problem is you’re too innocent, you haven’t been out in the real world as long as I have.’
‘Here we go again, the Dad lecture.’ She rolled her eyes.
When the buzzer he’d brought to the table vibrated it at least stopped a fight in its tracks and he went to grab the burgers and fries they’d ordered. They were sharing cheese fries at Scarlett’s insistence, and seeing as he wanted this to be the trip of a lifetime for his daughter, he wasn’t going to argue. At least not on day one, at least not about something so petty.
All animosity had gone when he set down the food and they tucked in. He’d been absent far too often as Scarlett was growing up, and ever since it had become just the two of them he’d spent every waking moment wishing he could make it up to her. He hoped this holiday was a start. Here in New York for the first time, they were embarking on the longest holiday they’d ever taken together. Finances were good – Nathan had worked hard over the years – but he’d decided that with Scarlett having finished her GCSEs and in her first year of sixth form, he didn’t have long left to whisk her away and try to rebuild bridges before she lost interest in him altogether. He got the impression she’d do her A levels, go off to university and she’d never look back. And the thought of that scared him every single day.
Every year, around this time with Christmas fast approaching, Scarlett showed a softer side and would spend more time with her dad, less hidden away in her room. She didn’t have a television up there but she adored Christmas movies and so it was either be together with your uncool dad or miss out. Thankfully she always chose the former and they’d exhaust all their favourites, sitting together on the worn maroon sofa in their two-up two-down home in Hove, East Sussex. They’d write the titles of all their favourite movies and jumble them up, then pick one. It was always a winner, no matter what it turned out to be. And with some set in New York, they’d got to talking about the city that never sleeps and last year he’d begun to wonder whether it might be time to plan a visit. He’d been on Facebook, scrolling through friends’ updates, and saw his ex-colleague Myles Cunningham’s post from earlier in the year with Central Park buried under snow, him and his wife, Darcy, posing for a selfie as they rode in a horse-drawn carriage, and another picture of them indulging in cupcakes from a famous bakery that according to Scarlett was featured in Sex and the City. Nathan also remembered that Myles had had a strained relationship with his father and although they were on good terms now, Myles could’ve easily come here to New York and severed all ties.
Nathan never wanted that to happen with Scarlett, and with no mum or siblings to help mend rifts, it was all down to him.
‘Are you going to meet up with your friend while we’re here?’ Scarlett took a bunch of fries from the cardboard container and dipped them into the tomato sauce.
‘Of course. But he’s busy, he works hard.’
‘That’s the job, right?’
He shuddered, remembering how he’d yelled that at Dawn more than once when Scarlett was young. It was true, a job as an investment banker didn’t come without a lot of hard work and commitment. Often, he’d been in meetings, and that was why he was putting in more hours, but at other times he’d been socialising and avoiding the responsibilities waiting for him when he got home. ‘It’s hard work, but well paid, so all worth it.’ He hoped his summation would stop this from escalating into an argument. ‘And I’m sure Myles and I will get together soon – I need to buy him a drink to thank him for his help in finding us a good hotel.’ Myles’s wife, Darcy, co-managed the Inglenook Inn where they were staying, and earlier they’d got to meet her when they checked in. Darcy had captured Myles’s heart when he’d never once so much as hinted he was the type to settle down, and Nathan found she was every bit as kind and welcoming as he’d been told.
‘I’m so glad I got out of school already,’ said Scarlett, dragging another fry through the sauce.
‘Don’t get used to it. You’ll have to work extra hard when we’re back.’
‘Relax, Dad, we get three weeks anyway, I’m only missing five days.’
Nathan had taken leave from work and had it agreed by the powers that be at Scarlett’s private school, for which he paid through the nose, that she could have the extra time off. He’d expected them to make a fuss and was ready with arguments about how this trip would be educational, but they’d not objected at all. Maybe that was one thing that truly was all about the money. And, now, he hoped this would be a trip that cemented their relationship some more. If he could, he’d give his daughter the world. Except of course he couldn’t, because Dawn wasn’t around anymore.
He bit into his double cheeseburger that oozed with flavour and left him in no doubt as to whether he’d have a few more of these before they returned to the UK in a month’s time right before New Year’s. ‘Valerie at work was right, these are the best burgers ever.’
‘Valerie seems nice,’ said Scarlett with a hint of mischief he chose to ignore. Scarlett had met Valerie at the office a few weeks ago when she came in to collect Nathan’s house key after losing her own, and Nathan hadn’t missed the way his daughter had looked at the woman, hoping that perhaps there was something going on romantically between the two of them.
‘She’s coming to New York. And she’ll be staying at the same inn as us for Christmas.’
‘Are you and she…?’
‘Don’t get any ideas, we’re just colleagues. She’s planned a last-minute trip and I sorted the accommodation side out for her, put her in touch with the manager of the inn. That’s all,’ he reiterated.
‘Are you sure? She always seems to be after you.’
‘If you’re referring to the phone discussions we have, or when we go out for drinks, that’s because we’re friends.’ And Valerie had a daughter slightly younger than Scarlett who was doing the same things as Scarlett, pushing her parent away, making her wonder if one day she’d leave for good. Between them they weren’t sure whether it was regular teen behaviour or if their daughters were being particularly brutal. But he and Valerie understood each other and it was a relief to have another adult who completely got where he was coming from.
‘Can you believe we’re actually here, in Manhattan?’ He directed the conversation away from his love life, smiled across at his daughter and she didn’t glare at him or roll her eyes as she might have done at home.
She grinned, a megawatt smile in place. ‘Thank you for bringing me here.’ She offered him the last of the cheesy fries but he declined. ‘It’s amazing, and all decked out for Christmas too. I feel like a kid again.’
‘Of course I will. I’ll never be too old for a Christmas stocking.’
‘I’d better get thinking of some gift ideas then.’
‘Don’t let me down.’
He’d done that too many times, he never wanted to again. ‘I won’t. Are you happy with the Inglenook Inn?’
‘I love it. I’m so glad it’s a brownstone, I feel like a proper New Yorker. I thought we’d be staying in a dive of a bed and breakfast. Remember that place you took us to on the Isle of Wight a few years ago?’
‘How could I forget?’ It was what you might class as an epic fail. Run by an odd couple who liked to bicker in front of their guests, the accommodation had a poky bathroom with cracked tiles and a stained sink that made him gag when he cleaned his teeth, and the owner insisted on vacuuming first thing every morning, usually when they were still in bed, the vacuum whacking up against their door every time she moved it back and forth across the carpet outside.
Their accommodation here in New York was everything he’d hoped for. He’d seen enough pictures on the website for the Inglenook Inn to know that it would be, but he hadn’t shared them with Scarlett – he’d wanted to see her face as they crossed the city in a cab, made their way to Greenwich Village and saw the exterior of the brownstone building they were going to stay in. And her reaction hadn’t been a disappointment. She’d been in disbelief, gasping, saying she felt like Carrie from Sex and the City – he dreaded to think which of the female characters that one was – and inside they’d been greeted by Darcy in the communal lounge at the front with its stunning Christmas tree that could be seen from the street outside and an inviting, cosy fireplace that guests were free to enjoy should they want to, perhaps with a drink from the small bar in the corner near the office desk. Nathan already had his eye on that if Scarlett turned the teenage angst to full volume during their holiday, and it was slightly less sad than getting a bottle of something in a brown paper bag and drinking it all alone. On the top floor of the inn was their suite, which was enormous and ideal for a man and a teen who really didn’t want to be living on top of each other for the duration of their stay, and Nathan was kind of glad he’d missed out on staying at Myles and Darcy’s rental property in the East Village, which had already been reserved for another friend. The Inglenook Inn was perfectly situated, they’d got a reasonable discount for their stay, and Darcy was a hostess who had already made them feel more than welcome with the little tray of treats in the suite upon arrival. Scarlett and he had devoured the croissants with jam and some fresh fruit before unpacking and finally setting off here to Madison Square Park.
Christmas Promises at the Garland Street Markets: A feel good Christmas romance (New York Ever After, Book 5) Page 4