“I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“It’s okay. Let’s get you out of here and get some fresh air, all right?”
I nodded, not risking another glance at my surroundings. I didn’t need another reminder of everything I’d lost. The man holding me was enough.
~Garrett~
I took her out of the toy store, and her tears dried up rather quickly. She’d tried to hide them as if she were embarrassed by them.
I was just glad she’d stopped crying. I hated seeing her in tears.
As we walked down the street, I knew it would take more than a bit of fresh air to cheer her up from whatever had upset her in that store.
I’d only left her alone for a few minutes. When I’d found her, she looked destroyed. She had been staring lifelessly at the baby-doll accessories, her fingers grasping a tiny pink blanket like her life depended on it.
I couldn’t figure out—and then, it dawned on me.
No, she wasn’t allowed to mourn that. She couldn’t.
It had been her decision.
I glanced over at her eyes, still rimmed in red, and I wondered if something else had happened to her in the years we were apart to make her react that way. Had she experienced some other sort of loss? The thought soured my stomach.
“Hey, I’ve got an idea for dinner, if you’re up for it?” I announced, hoping to cheer her up and pull my mind out of the darkness.
She gave me a ghost of a smile and nodded.
I hailed a cab because it was now well into nighttime, and I didn’t want her to have to walk while feeling upset.
Within a few minutes, we arrived at the place I’d whispered to the taxi driver.
Mia looked up, and she laughed. It was a genuine laugh, and I breathed a sigh of relief. She was coming back to me.
“Wasn’t this place in a movie?”
“Probably several. There was a movie named after it actually.”
She smiled. “I know. I loved that movie. It was about two people finding each other after so long. It was very romantic.” Her eyes widened, and she immediately clamped her mouth shut.
I laughed. “Come on, let’s go inside.” I grabbed her arm, pulling her into the front doors of Serendipity.
The place was always packed. So, we waited our turn and made some plans for the next day. I had to meet a client in the morning, but I had the rest of the day free since I had originally planned on flying home afterward. I bought us tickets to the Statue of Liberty on my phone while we waited, and we planned on eating somewhere in Times Square for dinner.
Our table was called, and we followed the hostess upstairs to a small table in the corner.
“What’s good here?” Mia asked me after we’d been handed our menus.
“I always get the frozen hot chocolate.”
“Frozen hot chocolate? It’s really a thing? I thought they just made that up.”
“No,” I said, pointing to the spot on her menu. “See? It’s right there.”
“So, do you order anything else?”
“Cake.”
She looked at my deadpanned face and laughed. “So, we’re going extra healthy tonight then?” she joked.
I grinned. “You could get pie if you want.”
We ended up ordering a few desserts, and at my insistence, we each ordered our own frozen hot chocolate. Mia thought I was insane when they brought those huge suckers out, but I wanted her to have her own, so she could enjoy the full experience. She ate a few bites of each dessert and declared she was stuffed. I polished off everything else, and she watched in fascination.
“I don’t know where you put it.”
“I’ll work it off,” I said.
She caught me looking at her, and she blushed. I hadn’t meant it in that way, but I definitely wouldn’t mind giving it a try.
Damn it, Garrett. Stop.
Friends didn’t sleep together.
But f**k, I wanted to.
“Thank you,” she said.
I polished off the last bite of pie. “For what?”
“Taking me here…everywhere. Really, it’s been a great day.”
“Well, I wanted you to have some of the fond memories and experiences I had as a child, that every kid should have, when visiting New York. No one should come to a city like this and spend it inside a hotel room.”
She sat across from me and silently played with the straw in her drink. “You always had the best family,” she said wistfully, her eyes downcast as she continued to fiddle with her straw.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “They’re great. My parents used to bring Clare and me here whenever we came to New York. My dad would let us pick anything we wanted off the menu even if it was cake and pie,” I said with a wink.
That earned me a small smile, but I knew her thoughts were somewhere else. We finished up, and I paid the bill. She tried to slip her credit card in there, but I refused.
“My treat. I insist.”
She pouted but let me win.
We caught a taxi outside the restaurant, and I gave him directions back to the hotel. Halfway there, I changed my mind and asked him to take us somewhere else.
“What are you up to now?”
“Just trying to squeeze it all in,” I answered. “Come on!”
She squealed and jumped out of the car when we pulled up to the Empire State Building. I loved this place, and I had hoped she would too. As an architecture major, I’d spent years studying buildings like this. It made my chest tighten in anticipation and warmth to see her giddy with excitement over something that was so near and dear to my heart.
Stop it Garrett. Friends, you’re just friends.
“Oh my gosh, Garrett. I’ve always wanted to come here!”
“Well, here we are.”
We bought our tickets and waited our turn to take the tight elevator ride up.
“Do you ever wish you were making buildings like this?” she asked.
I thought about it for a moment as the elevator went up the eighty-sixth floor.
“Yes. Maybe not quite like this, but I do wish I was still designing.”
“Then, why don’t you do it?” she asked.
I shrugged and chose not to answer. Frankly, I didn’t have an answer. The market had changed in the last few years. There were more jobs now than there were a few years ago, and if I wanted to use my degree, now would be the time to do it. So, why didn’t I?
The elevator came to a stop, and we were escorted out before I had a chance to ponder that question further. We walked out onto the observation deck and the entirety of New York spread out before us.