Initially, they told me I was an ungrateful bitch taking off like I did, and if I thought whoring my way through New York was a better solution, not to come home with a kid hanging off my hip.
It was horrible.Some nights I cried myself to sleep.The mornings were hard.I’d open my eyes and wonder if my luck would ever change.
Then they did.
The night I met Adam.
“Enjoying the view?”Adam asked when he joined me, looking at the lights of the city that night.
He’d been watching me most of the night, but to single me out felt exciting.
“Yes,” I sipped my drink quickly, wondering what I could say that would be interesting.“It’s stunning.I’ve only been in the city a few months, but it still takes my breath away.”
He laughed.“It does that.”
“Did you grow up here?”
His eyes dipped to mine.“All my life.I have property in Los Angeles also, but New York is home.”
“I’m from Arizona.”
“Do you miss the desert?”
I shook my head.“No.Seeing the ocean blew my mind.”
“Wow, so this is the first time you’ve seen it?”
I guess I’d drunk a lot of wine, so my lips were loose.I began to chat about how exciting it was to be in Manhattan.I got along with my team at the coffee shop, but no one really got up in anyone’s business, so I’d felt lonely for weeks.It was nice to chat.
I was aware that if my fortune didn’t change, I’d have to head back to Arizona and plead with my parents to take me in.Or I’d be homeless.
New York was a lot more expensive than I’d bargained for.
The modeling gig had bought me a few more weeks.I’d earned more that day than I had in a month of waitressing.
“Have you been out to the Statue of Liberty?”
I shook my head.
That cost money, and I didn’t have it.I’d walked around Battery Park and hoped to one day board the ferry and see it close up.A pipe dream.
“You haven’t?Oh, man, we need to remedy that.”Adam winked at me.
I giggled, figuring he was kidding.
“Tomorrow, I’m taking my yacht out.Join me.”
My mouth fell open; I could not believe my ears.
“You have a yacht?”
And you are inviting me to come out on it?!
“It would be pretty bad form if I asked you on a date and turned up with a tugboat.”Adam chuckled.
It’s a date?
It was then I questioned whether he knew I was just one of the models?I was wearing new Gap jeans and a black Old Navy crop top, but the Kate Spade handbag may have misled him.
