‘Hardly, I’ve been busy here.’
‘Should I take that back?’ he nodded to the hot chocolate.
‘No chance, I know which cart you got this from.’ She read the familiar purple writing on the takeaway cup. ‘You’d have to wrestle me to the ground to get this back.’ She seemed awkward with her comment, which left him amused, and she suggested, ‘You could walk me home while we drink these.’
‘Sounds good to me. And we probably need the exercise. These are full-fat, extra cream, real chocolate flakes on top. I saw them being made, and kind of wish I hadn’t.’
They set off past the market stalls, some beginning to pack up, others making the most of trading time, and he recounted his tour of the city. ‘It’s a luxury to be out so much. At home it’s all work, parenting and the daily routine.’
‘I couldn’t agree more. It’s really nice to be away.’
‘Do you mind working while you’re here?’
‘It really doesn’t feel like work and when free accommodation was up for grabs, I leapt at the chance. Cleo made it very hard to say no.’ They walked on in the direction of the East Village and Amelia and Kyle’s apartment. ‘How’s Scarlett?’
‘Talking to me a lot more since I eased up over her and Kyle.’
‘Kyle will keep her safe.’
‘I believe he will.’ His own hot chocolate was going down a treat and sipping it filled any silences, not that there were many of those. ‘Have you heard back from your ex?’ He pulled her out of the way when a taxi drove so close to the kerb they would’ve got splashed with the puddled water.
She thanked him and they stuck closer to the building fronts to avoid a repeat. ‘Not yet. But I didn’t expect to, maybe it’s for the best.’
‘Well, give me a shout when you need someone to go and get drunk with, I’m a willing volunteer.’
‘I’ll try to remember that if I need to drown my sorrows.’ They waited for the pedestrian lights to change and she looked across at him. ‘Kyle told me how interested Scarlett is in art, how good she is.’
‘I’ve always been reluctant to encourage it,’ he admitted. ‘I know, not very supportive. I was trying to do what’s best.’
‘You’re a good dad.’
‘You want to say something else, I can tell.’
She smiled at his astuteness. ‘I don’t know your history, but imagine if you really wanted something so bad and someone stopped you doing it. What would you do? Accept it and move on or put up a fight?’
‘You think she’ll end up resenting me if I push her into something she doesn’t want?’
‘I’m interfering, sorry.’
He put a hand on her arm. ‘Don’t apologise, I like talking to you.’ He took both their empty cups and dropped them into the nearest bin before they crossed to walk through Madison Square Park, pausing to admire the decorated Christmas tree once more. ‘I wanted to have an entirely different career, once upon a time.’
‘Why did you change your mind?’
‘Scarlett came along, it was time to accept my responsibilities. Dawn and I were both so young, I’m afraid I didn’t handle it very well. But in some ways it was the making of me.’ Standing by the tree he told her, ‘I wasn’t always as together and sensible as I am now.’
‘You had a rebellious side?’
‘My brother’s death hit the family like a head-on collision. We were all lost for a while. I watched the pain my parents were in. As far as they knew, I was coping and holding it together. I was doing well at school but outside of that institution I was a mess. I got into fights most weeks, came home with a black eye once and a split lip. I told my parents I’d been mugged on my way home from school but I refused to let them call the police. I could see I was adding to their grief so I backed away from the trouble the best I could. But then I started to drink. I got in with a bad crowd who hung around the local park in the evenings. I’d smuggle out what I could from home – gin, vodka – and everyone brought something. We’d sit there all night and get wasted; I told Mum and Dad I was studying at a friend’s house and they bought it.’
‘How did you keep up with school work?’
‘It was some kind of fluke that my school work didn’t completely fall apart. I guess in some ways it was another source of distraction. I’d throw everything into my days at school, I’d do homework right after, I never put on the television, and I’d only sneak out once I had caught up on everything.’
‘Doesn’t sound like the usual story I hear in my job. Usually school work is one of the biggest casualties.’
‘I figured if I could keep getting good school reports and grades, my parents never needed to know what else I was doing. I couldn’t stand seeing them fall apart, I never wanted to make it worse, and now I’ve got Scarlett I can’t ever imagine what it was like for them.’
‘What about what it was like for you?’
