Her spoon clattered into her empty cup and her frown set in. His lack of an answer about her seeing him again must have pushed her one step too far. ‘We’re just having fun, maybe you should try it sometime.’
He gulped the last of his hot chocolate and settled the bill. ‘Now you’re just being rude and I don’t appreciate it.’
‘What is your problem?’ Her voice had gone up so much they were getting stares and, coats on, he bustled her out of the café.
‘Don’t make a scene. I’m tired, let’s go.’
‘I’d rather stay out. It’s not even eleven.’
‘And I’m saying we’re going back to the inn.’
Her phone pinged and she read a text before shoving it into her pocket when he tried to see who it was from.
‘Was that him?’
She started walking but then turned on the spot. ‘I can’t remember which way to go.’
He put an arm around her and hugged her. ‘I’m sorry if you think I make rules that are unreasonable, it’s hard being a single parent sometimes. Hard to know what to do, especially with a girl when her mum isn’t around anymore.’
‘You’ll let me see him again?’
‘I’ll think about it.’ He hooked a thumb backwards. ‘We need to go this way, head that direction,’ he nodded towards the way she’d been going, ‘and you’ll end up in Central Park. See, you still need your old dad for some things.’
They passed a pretzel cart and Scarlett insisted on waiting in line for one, having not had many of the canapés at the inn tonight. Nathan almost made a comment that perhaps she should’ve talked to more people other than Kyle, but who was he kidding? Given a choice he could’ve talked to Amelia all night and ignored everyone else. It’s just that the kids’ immaturity, or perhaps confidence, had made something happen between them far quicker than it ever would for the adults.
‘Not my thing,’ he said when he tried a bite of the pretzel at her insistence he eat something so iconic to New York, ‘although not as bad as I thought it would be.’
‘You’re way too fussy.’
They made their way back to the Inglenook Inn, an easy route on foot past the Empire State Building, past Madison Square Park, which reminded him of the first time he’d met Amelia. He still had a bad feeling about Kyle’s suitability when it came to his daughter but perhaps if he let them meet up a couple more times while they were here they’d get it out of their systems and then, once they were back in England and Scarlett was at school and geographical distance made it too hard, it would fizzle out.
‘That Kyle again?’ he asked when Scarlett’s phone pinged.
She didn’t answer but judging by the look on her face he’d guessed correctly.
‘I know you think I’m too strict with you, but you’re at an important stage in your life with school. Plenty of time to be distracted by boys later.’
‘I’m sixteen, and when Mum was my age she was pregnant so I’d say it’s about the age where it’s normal to be interested in boys.’
They crossed the street and once they were on the other side walked briskly to get away from the crowd for now. The shivering temperatures couldn’t battle through his big down-padded jacket plus scarf and gloves, and it was nice to be outside. It was probably far better than sinking back beers at the inn too.
The snow had stopped but some of the cars still had it clinging to their roofs or bordering windscreens like frames of a painting. He continued their conversation as they walked on, past shoppers in the festive spirit, another guy collecting for a homeless charity who thanked him for pushing in a donation. ‘Having a baby so young changed the course of our lives completely,’ he admitted.
‘Babies have a way of doing that,’ Scarlett replied.
‘We both missed out on a lot, we didn’t get the freedom that comes when you grow up, and it was harder than I’d ever thought it would be. We struggled financially, I changed career direction altogether.’
She looked at him and nearly walked into a woman coming the other way who wasn’t so polite in her rebuke. ‘You never told me. I can’t imagine you being anything other than an investment banker, you seem to enjoy it. You spend a lot of time at the office.’
He ignored the subtle dig at his absence.
‘What did you want to be? Wait, let me guess. An architect?’
‘Whatever makes you think that?’
‘You got really into it when we redid the house, bossing those builders about, getting everything the way you wanted.’
‘They were cutting corners, that’s why.’
