"Listen, I'm running late for an appointment.Have you seen Ms.Jordan?"
"No, sir.In fact, your suite's been quiet all day."
"She hasn't been back there since she left this morning?"Jay asked.
"Not to my knowledge.Maid service tidied up around ten.I delivered fresh flowers per your instructions at noon, then restocked the bar and mini fridge just before five.From what I can tell, Mr.Avery, she's never returned."
Jay sighed."I guess she didn't make her deadline after all."
"Would you like me to contact you if she returns?"Twigg asked.
"The minute you see her."
He returned the phone to his pocket and silently reassured himself that Claire was fine—just held up at Avi, putting the finishing touches on her long-distance project.That was the main reason she’d come to New York, wasn’t it?She had real work to do.
Jay exited the cab with umbrella in hand and jogged to the main door of the Empire State Building.A soggy crowd shuffled around the lobby.It would be a few minutes to get through security and ticketing.He scanned the people around him, wondering whether the crowd had more to do with escaping the rain than with the view from the eighty-sixth floor.
By the time he stepped onto the observation deck, he was forty-five minutes late.Raincoats and umbrellas cut through his view as he moved with deliberate steps through the throng of visitors.Twice he spotted women with similar hairstyles.Twice he felt the sharp disappointment of realizing neither was Claire.After a few minutes of searching, he told himself she must be running late too—likely caught in the same chaos he’d just fought through in the lobby.He tried her cell again and exhaled sharply when voicemail picked up for the third time.He found a spot near the elevators, leaned against the wall, and waited.His eyes fell closed for a moment as a memory came into focus.
"Just imagine all the free swag you'd have right now if you hadn't left me high and dry at the piano bar."
"And here we go…” She shook her head with a grin.
"You disappeared without a trace.One minute we're ordering coffee and the next minute you’re gone.Was it something I said?Something I didn't say?"
"Sir, are you okay?"an elderly attendant asked.
Jay opened his eyes, looking slightly dazed."Yes, I'm fine."
Jay stepped back outside and found the rain had eased.Couples stood hand in hand, taking in the sweeping view.The streets below glowed as the rain-soaked pavement reflected the city lights like glass.Fighting the pull of defeat, he turned and headed back toward the elevators.Nancy Chen would take the stage in less than an hour.He would need to catch a cab soon to make it on time.He forced his mind away from the place it kept trying to drift—somewhere he couldn’t afford to go.
There's a perfectly good excuse.Her phone died.She got held up at Avi.She's stuck in traffic.Everything’s fine.Nothing bad has happened.
At the elevator, the elderly man spoke to him again."I'm sure there's a logical explanation for why she didn't show.Believe me, you're not the first to wait on that wall."
Jay couldn't help but smile, amused by the attendant’s candor and Irish accent.
“Is that so?”he asked.
The man nodded."I guarantee you'll both be laughing about this tomorrow.You just hold on to that ring.We'll be here when you're ready."
The corners of Jay’s mouth turned up."What makes you think tonight had anything to do with a ring?"
"When you've done this job for as long as I have, you learn a thing or two.Learn to read the signs and the body language.We average about two hundred proposals every year, you know."
"Just how long have you run this elevator?"Jay asked.
"Twenty-nine years this November," the old man said proudly."Proposed to my sweetheart right up there where you were standing.She said yes…and I know yours will, too."
"What makes you so sure?"he asked, just as the elevator doors opened.
"Because you look like the type of man who will fight tooth and nail for her," the man said, tipping his hat.
Jay chose to walk the half mile back to the hotel.The drizzle had now downgraded itself to a fine mist and he closed his umbrella, hoping the night air might help clear his head.With his cell phone in hand, he called the suite once more.No answer.He tried the main desk, but no one had seen Claire enter or exit the hotel since that morning.He tried the contact number she'd given him for Avi but was greeted by a machine.There was only one other person to call, but he hated to worry her father.I guess I could call Molly and Hamish.
Halfway back to the hotel, he confronted the one feeling that he'd refused to let himself explore:She didn't show up because she's changed her mind.I pushed her too hard and too fast and it was too much.The lunches.The gift bags.Showing up here ahead of schedule.The diamond necklace.The constant string of phone calls.
Damn it!What the hell have I done?
