‘I’ve spent years trying to give Scarlett the world.’
‘Maybe that’s half the problem.’ She smiled up at him. ‘She doesn’t need the world, she just needs you on her side.’
‘Maybe.’ He shook his head. ‘But they’ve only just met…jumping into bed together. I can’t get the picture out of my head.’
Time for some honesty. ‘It wasn’t Kyle who bought the condoms and it wasn’t him who suggested they go upstairs at the inn. According to Kyle, who had no reason to lie about it, Scarlett was the one who had the condoms and wanted to take things further.’ She put a hand on his arm when he winced. ‘I’m not trying to upset you. I just think having all the facts is important. Kyle was the one who said he didn’t want to.’
He had no time to react before Kyle and Scarlett came along with the hot chocolates. Amelia waited, held her breath to see whether the drink Kyle handed Nathan ended up being thrown all over him in another rage. But it didn’t.
The awkward silence in the group was only broken when a man carrying a Christmas tree walked right through the middle of them.
‘I’m going to grab a hot dog,’ said Kyle. ‘Want one?’
Amelia shook her head.
He looked at Scarlett, Scarlett looked at her dad, the silence deafening until Nathan had Scarlett hold his hot chocolate, pulled out his wallet and exchanged his drink for a few notes. ‘You both go get yourselves some hot dogs. I’ll see you back at the inn by five o’clock, don’t be late.’
Scarlett took the escape route while she could and Kyle only glanced Amelia’s way once in hesitation as he went with her.
‘I guess I need to accept the fact she’s growing up,’ Nathan admitted when the kids left them to it. His gaze was fixed on the street Scarlet had disappeared along, the market stalls providing a glitzy fringe to the sidewalk.
‘Give me one second.’ Amelia had a word with Cleo, checked it was all right to leave for the day. ‘Want to walk?’ she offered Nathan, who looked as though he’d dropped fifty bucks and found a quarter. She knew it must be hard for him to loosen the reins with Scarlett.
‘Sure.’
They bustled between shoppers until they reached the end of the markets where Mitch was busy at work at the Christmas tree stall, netting a tree for a customer. ‘I’m sorry I stormed over to your apartment last night,’ Nathan began as they crossed the street. ‘I know I came down on Kyle too harshly. Again. But it’s hard having a daughter, I don’t know if I’m supposed to talk to her about boys, or, if I am, how I’m supposed to do it.’
‘I’m not a parent but I suppose it must be like trying to find your way out of a strange building in the dark. You might turn the right way and find daylight, you might take several wrong turns, stumble over in the pitch black, but you get up again and carry on.’
His laughter rumbled on the foggy air enveloping Manhattan. ‘Sometimes it really does feel like that. I worry about making a move in case it’s wrong, other times I leap on in without thinking.’
They wandered, chatting about girls versus boys, the perils, the rewards, and when they came to one of the access points that would take them up to the High Line, it was Nathan who suggested they walk it.
It was busier than she’d thought it would be, plenty of tourists waiting for Instagram- or Facebook-worthy shots of Manhattan with its juxtaposition of new and old buildings, street views totally different from this vantage point. He pulled her in close to him and crouched down, pointing to a plant that looked bare until she spotted perfectly round red berries in a cluster and a bird noshing on them. ‘Look at that.’
‘A bit of colour,’ she smiled. ‘And festive too.’ Suddenly aware she could smell his shampoo or aftershave and see the faint stubble on his jaw up so close, she stood and looked around them. ‘Imagine this place in the snow.’ By now the sun was fast descending and it was amazing to be up this high, take it all in.
It didn’t take long for the moon to come out from its hiding place and the whole city to take on another personality as the lights of the city glowed near and far. ‘Spectacular,’ he said.
‘I’m coming back next year,’ she grinned. ‘Cleo’s getting married.’
The city carried on about its business below. ‘Will Paul come with you?’
The elephant on the High Line with them had finally been addressed. ‘I’ve no idea.’
‘When did he show up?’
‘About twenty minutes before you did.’
‘Bad timing on my part, sorry.’
Or good, depending on how you look at it.
They carried on walking, past an elderly couple sitting on a bench, weaving their way through a crowd chattering about the public park elevated above the streets of Manhattan and built on what was once a freight rail line, saved from demolition.
‘Is he staying at the apartment with you and Kyle?’ Nathan asked as once again they were able to walk side by side.
‘He’s in a hotel in Times Square. He wants me to go for dinner with him tonight.’ He’d sent another couple of texts. He’d never been this communicative when they were together and she had a hard time reminding herself that the Paul she knew rarely took such an interest in the mundanity of life, tourist traps of a new city.
