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“Someone very special to me said it’s their favorite movie.”
A lump formed in my throat. I turned back to the window, not sure what to say that wouldn’t end up with me in a crying heap, telling Andy I’d changed my mind.
After a mercifully short flight, we landed in a small airfield outside the city and were quickly ushered into a waiting black SUV to ferry us to Manhattan. I’d collected myself somewhat and re-pledged not to turn this trip into something romantic. I didn’t think I could tell Andy no a second time, and I couldn’t survive another heartbreak.
“What’s on my schedule for today?” I asked, keeping my voice light. “Dinner with Brad?”
“Ah, dinner later,” he said vaguely. “But nothing this afternoon.”
“Oh, well, that’s no big deal. I’ll take a nap, maybe wander around the hotel for a bit,” I said, trying not to sound peeved that Andy not only had sprung this trip on me last minute but didn’t even need me until later that night.
“No,” he said, shaking his head as the car pulled onto Manhattan Bridge, the skyline in the distance. “I meantwedon’t have anything to do. I thought we’d go sightseeing. Take in some things we missed on our first trip.”
I softened, thinking back to that first weekend with Andy and how wonderful each day was. “What were you thinking?”
“Can I surprise you?”
His words dripped with promise, and the fluttering in my stomach warned me I shouldn’t have come back here with Andy. I should have told him I was busy. I should have stayed at home.
But now that I was here, I couldn’t say no.
* * *
By the end of the day, my feet hurt and my resolve was in tatters. Our first trip to New York had been magical, but this time Andy had constructed a full day of things I hadn’t even known I’d been dying to see. We ate lunch by Central Park before wandering through the Metropolitan Museum of Art and even swung by a small art house where I got to see my big brother’s exhibit in person.
The sun set over the skyscrapers and the hint of cold in the air turned frigid.
“We should probably head back,” I said regretfully, already dreading the morning when Andy would have a million meetings and I’d be alone.
“One more stop,” he said, tugging my hand away from the hotel. “It’s not a long walk.”
We walked down the street, turning a corner and finding the Empire State Building directly in front of us. A gasp caught in my throat. I craned my neck, looking up at the building and longing to go up it.
“Should we go to the top?” Andy asked.
I nodded, unable to speak.
For the first time that day, I let him take my hand and lead me across the street. We lined up at the entrance, Andy slipping two tickets out of his pocket and presenting them to the attendants who let us through the turnstile into the elevator.
The elevator doors slid closed with the two of us and the attendant inside. It zipped up to the 86th floor so fast I couldn’t tell whether the heaviness in my chest was from the elevation or from Andy’s hand on mine, clasping me tight.
I swayed on my feet, letting my head graze his shoulder and pausing, inhaling cedar and lemon and wishing we’d come here under different circumstances.
What if I hadn’t lost my job that night? What if I had just gone to Len and asked him for the money for the surgery? Maybe then, I’d be right here, with Andy, but reallywithhim. Maybe we’d be dating. Maybe this would have been a romantic trip for two and not a convenient arrangement for us both.
Or he never would have asked me out at all. I certainly wouldn’t have asked him. Maybe, if none of this had happened, we’d still have the same relationship as before: friendly acquaintances.
Somehow, that thought made me even sadder.
Tears sprung from my eyes. I refused to pull my hand away from Andy’s to wipe them. When the doors opened, he pulled me into the interior atrium. A few people milled around, waiting to descend back to the ground.
My breath caught in my throat as my eyes settled on the city skyline through the giant windows.
“You okay?” Andy asked, worriedly searching my face.
I shrugged, loosening his grip on my hand now that tears spilled down my cheeks. “Sorry, it’s just the closest thing to heaven in this city.”
“I didn’t want to make you cry.” He placed his palm on my shoulder, his other hand wiping the tears off my cheek that now flowed in earnest.
