Page 108 of Manhattan Kiss

Aurora

I don’t know how it’s going to go, but Avril and Poppy are due over in about ten minutes. Darcy and I have been on video call for the last two hours, so I haven’t baked the muffins I’d planned.

“Oh, I didn’t tell you,” Darcy says. “I went to The Rookery on Saturday. I took Daphne to a birthday party there.”

They would have been happy to book a child’s birthday party. There aren’t many day events that mean the ballroom can get used twice in one day. Although the ballroom isn’t booked every Saturday night either.

“How was it?” I ask.

“Oh good. Nothing’s changed as far as I could see. Peter was on reception.”

Peter’s always on reception on a Saturday during the day. He’s another person who started while he was still at school and has just stayed. He’s getting married next year in the ballroom. He’ll probably have every major life event at The Rookery.

I’m not sure if that’s nice or a little sad.

“I wonder if they’ve found anyone to replace me?” I ask, not expecting Darcy to know the answer.

“I asked Peter,” she says. “He says they’ve divided your role up between a few of them until you come back.”

A shiver runs down my spine. I’m not sure if it’s because my role that I worked so hard at is being divided up and not given to someone else, or that they’re just assuming I’m coming back.

It’s a compliment. I think. But it doesn’t feel good. It feels like they’re just assuming that New York won’t be a place that I’ll be able to deal with, and I’ll come home with my tail between my legs.

And not only does the manager of The Rookery think I’m not going to be able to handle New York, so does Darcy. And she doesn’t even know that I’ve broken up with Deacon.

“Are you still coming back?” Darcy asks. “I know you and Deacon are…you know…”

I know that Darcy wants me home because she loves me. But she knows I wasn’t happy in Chilternshire. She knows that I’ve always wanted a husband and family and that there was nothing like that on the horizon for me back home.

But she still thinks that’s my trajectory.

Going back home.

Back to the same workplace I’ve been in since I was a teenager.

I’m going to hit forty in a few years, and I don’t see how anything will change if I stay in Woolton. But I want to go back to heal the wounds I’ve endured in New York.

“I just noticed the time,” I say. “I have to go because Avril and Poppy are coming over any minute.”

“The owners of the hotel?” she asks. “How come?”

“Just to hang out. Anyway, I really have to go,” I say, before she can ask any more questions. “Give Daphne and William a kiss from me.”

I hang up and head to the window. The view isn’t anything like the view Deacon and I had from the rooftop on our first date, but I can still see the yellow cabs on the street beneath and hear the honk of horns. It’s not Chilternshire. I don’t know every nook and cranny. But it feels like there are possibilities here that there just aren’t at home.

New York has proven to me that it brings new opportunities. I’ve already been offered a promotion and had a wild summer fling, which was so much more than a wild summer fling. Deacon is the closest I’ve ever come to a soulmate. And even though my heart still feels heavy with the weight of the sadness I’m carrying around not being with him, New York has healed me far more than hurt me. It’s brought so much more to me than I ever thought it would.

The buzzer sounds and I whip around and let Avril and Poppy up.

When I open the door, they’re both grinning at me, and Avril lifts up her leg to show me she’s wearing pajamas.

“I love this for us,” she says. “No contouring and an elastic waist. How come we don’t spend all our evenings like this?” she asks, as she steps into my apartment.

“Because occasionally I’d like to have sex,” Poppy says, giving me a one-armed hug as she passes by carrying a paper grocery bag like I’ve seen in the movies, and still can’t quite believe people use. Carrier bags are so much more practical.

“We brought snacks,” Poppy says.

“I have some too,” I say.