Page 86 of One Life to Loathe

“I’ve never really walked around Manhattan. I just … go where I’m supposed to go.”

“Then this is going to be fun.” I shifted from one foot to the other, excited. “There are a lot of places to see.”

“Like what?”

“There’s Rockefeller Center, Central Park, Chinatown. Although, do you know what they do have?” Something had stood out when I was researching our options while waiting for him. “They have the Museum of Ice Cream. I wouldn’t mind seeing that.”

He blinked as he regarded me. “You want to go to the ice cream museum?”

“I just want to see stuff. With you.”

His expression was hard to read, but I was almost positive it was yearning I saw in his eyes before it was replaced with amusement. “Fine. Let’s head out and do it all.”

“Really?” I couldn’t help being dubious. “What about what you want?”

“I want to see you happy. I’ll be getting what I want.”

“Are you absolutely sure?”

He held out his hand to me, and I didn’t hesitate to take it. “I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life. Let’s walk around. Let’s see it all.”

“And then you can pick where we go to dinner, okay?”

His smile evaporated in an instant. “Is this your way of ensuring that you don’t accidentally pick an expensive restaurant?”

I was the picture of innocence. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“That’s what I thought. We’ll figure out dinner later. Let’s see Manhattan?—”

“And Chinatown,” I interjected. “I never actually made it there when I lived here, and it feels like a travesty.”

“And Chinatown,” he conceded. “We’ll just see where the day takes us.”

That was exactly what I had in mind when I suggested it. “Let’s get going. We only have a few hours. We have to leave at a reasonable time tomorrow because we have to get to bed early for Monday’s shoot. We have a lot of scenes together, and it’s going to be a long day.”

“Let’s not think about work,” he chastised. “Work is Monday’s problem. Let’s just have fun.”

“I can multitask.”

“No. Fun.” He was stern. “I want to see that smile all day. That’s what I want. No work.”

“Fine. We’d definitely better hit the ice cream museum then.”

“It’s funny, but you read my mind.”

WE HIT ROCKEFELLER CENTER FIRST.It was a beautiful spot, but I preferred it in winter.

“I spent my first Christmas alone here,” I explained to Leo as we looked around. “The tree is magical, and I just … sat here for hours looking at it. I was lonely even though I was surrounded by people, but it was somehow better here.”

He was thoughtful as he regarded me. “Is that why you don’t like LA? Because it’s easy to be lonely there even when you’re surrounded by people?”

I shrugged. “I don’t like LA for a litany of reasons. That’s only one of them.”

“What are the others?”

“The architecture.” My hand was firmly encompassed in his as he led me out of Rockefeller Center.

“I’m kind of hungry,” he said. “How about we hit the park next and get those hot dogs and then we’ll catch a cab over to the ice cream museum.”

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