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‘That’s like dropping the ultimate blurb for a book and then saying Out next year! Are you kidding me?’ said Anna.
‘One day, I promise.’
‘Well, we had better stay friends, because I am holding you to that.’
‘So how about you two, how did you meet?’ asked Elsie.
Anna smiled at this and glanced again at her husband. ‘Shall I do the honours?’
‘You tell it best.’
‘Ok. I was living in New York at the time - in a whole other life - working for ACH Holdings as a desk clerk. It wasn’t as glamorous as some might imagine, nor was it as rubbish as others might. I had a nice apartment in Queens, living with another girl from New Jersey. I used to get the subway to Canal Street each morning and then walk seven blocks down the Broadway to Tribeca. I loved it. I felt like I was on the set of Friends every morning.’
‘New York is amazing,’ said Elsie, smiling wistfully. ‘I went there nearly ten years back, when they were building the Sky Line.’
‘You would’ve been there when I was then,’ giggled Anna. ‘Maybe we passed each other.’
‘Maybe,’ smiled Elsie.
‘So, one morning, I’m walking along - bear in mind I’m not a phone zombie - and I’m looking up and around me at all the buildings and how the sun is glinting off the skyscrapers when - wham - I walk into this guy,’ she thumbed towards her husband.
‘No,’ said Elsie, her eyes wide.
‘I was doing the same thing,’ added Tom.
‘I look at him and my first thought is - future husband - it was like a gut punch. I knew it, straight away. I didn’t know how, I didn’t know why, but I knew I was going to marry him.’
‘I was heading up to Midtown for a meeting at the CHB International HQ but I’d never been to New York before so I was meandering along, having taken the ferry from Staten Island, didn’t really know what to do on the subway so I just walked. I hadn’t quite appreciated just how big the city is, so I had no idea how comically late I was going to be, and like Anna I was just in awe of the place.’
‘We made eye contact and both of us immediately smiled.’
‘It was her smile and her eyes that did it for me, I mean she’s gorgeous, anyone can see that, but when she smiled something went off inside me like a firework - this overwhelming feeling that I had to hold on to this girl somehow.’
‘His first word to me was Coffee? I don’t think I actually responded, I just nodded.’
‘That’s so sweet,’ said Elsie, melting.
‘I was late to work, he was late to his meeting but it somehow just didn’t matter. The only problem was that Tom lived in Oxford and I lived in Queens.’
‘What did you do?’
‘For a little while we lived in New York together - Tom asked to relocate, then I got made redundant and around the same time he got transferred back to Oxford and by that time we were engaged and wanted to start a family anyway so it all just made sense.’
‘Serendipity,’ smiled Cole.
‘We nearly called Marlie that,’ laughed Tom.
‘Seren for short,’ said Anna.
‘Maybe the next one?’ he suggested, that quick charm that Elsie found so attractive making her heart beat faster in her chest.
Anna’s eyes went round. ‘How many do you want?’
He grinned.
The more Elsie talked to them, the more she was afraid she was making a mistake. They had such a beautiful relationship, and such a wonderful past, she didn’t want to be the destructive force that ruined their future. She really liked them too, they were fun, and interesting and she felt comfortable around them both, and that didn’t happen often at her age. New friends were hard to come by the older you got.
But there was more going on here than just two couples getting to know one another and enjoying some dinner together.
