Page 4 of Meet Me In Central Park

‘I don’t usually tell people that!’ I forced a smile; it was true. Back when I was younger, I’d kept it quiet because I’d been embarrassed about being named after a massive green statue. But lately, it was because it reminded me so much of Mum, and the fact that she’d never got to see the statue, or the city she’d loved from afar for so long, for herself.

‘Libby it is then, sugar. I’m Betty.’ Hugging me as if I was her long-lost great niece, she reminded me so much of Nan that a pang of homesickness for my grandparents unexpectedly hit me. I’d been so worried about being in New York for two months, and working in a Christmas shop of all places, that I hadn’t even thought about missing them. But before I could dwell on the feeling, Dottie clapped her hands together.

‘Now that the introductions are out of the way, I think the best way for you to get to know the shop is to unpack the stock that arrived this morning.’ Aunt Dottie made it sound like an order, rather than a suggestion, but anything that kept me busy was fine by me. I thought she might have given me a day or two to get over the flight, before she put me to work, but I’d forgotten that my great aunt had boundless energy, and expected everyone else to be the same. ‘You can put your bags up in the apartment and then Madison will show you what’s what. I need to borrow Betty for a long-overdue lunch, but I’m sure you two youngsters can cope without us.’

‘Of course we can.’ Madison was already passing Betty her handbag. ‘We’ll be fine by ourselves, won’t we, Libby?’

‘Absolutely.’ Giving Dottie a kiss goodbye, and leaving Madison to watch the shop, I took my cases up the narrow staircase to the rooms above. Calling it an apartment was probably stretching it a bit – it certainly didn’t look like any of the New York apartments I’d seen in the movies. The boiler was making a growling noise as I put my cases in the small bedroom that was just about big enough for a double bed. At least I hoped it was the boiler. The bathroom was even smaller than the bedroom – but it would do the job – and the living room had windows that looked down on to Seventh Avenue. Mum would have loved it. Just being amongst the buzz of the city, which had been at the top of her wish list to visit, would have been more than enough for her. So who was I to complain?

For just a split second, when I turned back towards the bedroom, I thought I saw a female figure in the corner of the room. ‘Oh God.’ I breathed the words out in a rush of relief when I realised it was just a dressing gown, hanging on a hook. But for the briefest of moments, it had felt like Mum had been right there with me. If this was what jet lag could do to you, then Dottie’s decision to put me straight to work might turn out to be a big mistake. With my head all over the place like this, I could end up giving customers more in change than they’d paid in the first place.

I shook myself, and my stomach rumbled as the smell of pizza wafted in from the Italian restaurant across the street. There was a kitchen area in one corner of the living room, but with the gorgeous aromas drifting in from the deli next door too, I wasn’t anticipating doing a lot of cooking during my time here. My only worry was whether my hips would still be able to make it down the narrow staircase by the time I left New York. But that was a problem for another day; for now, my priority was to get to grips with managing Candy Cane Lane.

Madison turned out to be a good teacher. By the middle of the afternoon, she’d shown me how to use the till, explained the ordering system, and helped me unpack a shipment of wooden gingerbread men, which could be personalised with stencils. I wasn’t sure I was quite up to that yet, but luckily Madison enjoyed that part of the job best. So I was hoping I’d be able to leave most of that to her, on the days she was in the shop.

The real reason she’d been so keen for Dottie and Betty to go off to lunch soon became clear – she wanted to ask my advice about her boyfriend – and from the moment she started to speak, I knew I was going to be almost useless in giving her the guidance she was looking for.

‘He’s made some mistakes, sure. But I think all guys my age are gonna do that, right?’ Madison didn’t even wait for my answer. ‘I tried to talk to Betty about it earlier, but she’s kinda old school, you know? I thought with you being a bit younger you might think differently about whether cheating’s just cheating, or if there are different levels to it?’

I was tempted to tell her that what I knew about men could have been written on the back of one of the little gingerbread men’s buttons. But I wasn’t planning to start a conversation that might lead to me revealing more than I wanted to. Just because I hadn’t had a boyfriend in over two years, it didn’t mean I couldn’t offer advice. And the truth was I was still reeling from Madison’s comment about me being ‘a bit younger’ than Betty.

‘I’ve got to say that cheating, in any form, has always been a deal breaker for me… What exactly did he do?’

Madison sighed. ‘Drank too much and woke up in some girl’s dorm room, but he says he can’t remember doing anything. So I don’t even know if he did really cheat.’

I suddenly felt every bit as old as Madison clearly had me pegged for, and I wanted to take hold of her by the shoulders and tell her she could do so much better. ‘Does it really matter if he did or not? He either had the intention to go back there with her, or he got so drunk he can’t account for his actions. Neither of those things paint him in a very good light.’

‘He did say he’s sorry and he’s never been in a situation like this before.’ Madison looked all wide-eyed and hopeful, which somehow made my response come out all the sharper.

‘Oh, well that’s okay then.’

‘So you think he’s for real?’ She clearly hadn’t picked up on my sarcasm. ‘I just can’t decide whether I believe him enough to give him another chance, or if I should do what my sister says and bail while I can.’ Madison frowned as if this really was a dilemma that needed careful consideration, and I tried to imagine what it was like to be her age and in love. The trouble was, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever actually been in love, and certainly not when I was that young. Aunt Dottie was probably the one Madison should have turned to for advice – we’d already established she was far more successful with the opposite sex than me – but I ploughed on anyway.

‘If it was me,’ I said gently, ‘I wouldn’t give him a second chance to do anything like that again.’ I really wanted to shout, ‘dump him and run’, but I held my tongue.

‘That’s what Cherise said. But I really don’t want to be on my own for the holidays.’ Madison pulled a face, and I was about to tell her that, at her age, worrying about being single should be the last thing on her mind, but then the door to the shop swung open.

‘It’s true then? There’s another Brit on the block!’ It seemed Madison wasn’t the only one in Manhattan with a Hollywood smile. The two men who’d come into the shop grinned at me, seeming to know exactly who I was, and I wondered how much Aunt Dottie had said. The last thing I wanted was sympathy or knowing looks.

‘Libby, this is Dannie and Rob; they run the deli next door.’ Madison turned to me. ‘And you’ll never guess what, Dannie’s from England too! So I’m sure the two of you will have lots to talk about.’

‘Welcome to the Big Apple, chicken.’ Dannie had a distinctive Yorkshire accent with just the edge knocked off. ‘This is my partner, Rob, but he prefers to be referred to as the hot older guy.’ Dannie laughed, and Rob shook his head.

‘You make a joke after a few too many beers and Dannie never lets you forget it.’ Rob smiled. ‘He’s been so excited that he’ll have someone to talk about the weather with, since Dottie told him you were coming over. That’s what passes as entertainment for you guys, isn’t it?’

‘He doesn’t really believe in all those stereotypes, you know! He’s just trying to get his own back. Although, I’ve got to admit, New York provides plenty of scope for talking about the weather. Sometimes we get all four seasons in one day.’ Dannie picked up a Swarovski crystal bauble, putting it back when Rob shook his head.

‘See what I mean? He can’t help himself. He’s a typical Brit; he even pays a small fortune to have Yorkshire teabags flown in. He went cold turkey once when the delivery didn’t show up. Never again!’ Rob pretended to shudder, and I had to laugh. I was with Dannie on that; I couldn’t function without a good cup of tea in the mornings. But I wasn’t about to confess. Madison would be shipping us off to lunch with Betty and Dottie at this rate. Although I had a feeling my great aunt was more of a Long Island Iced Tea sort of girl.

‘It’s good to meet you both. I was planning to come into the deli later anyway to stock up. I’m not much of a cook, so you might be seeing a lot of me.’ I took after Mum in that respect. I couldn’t even cook plain pasta without burning half of it onto the bottom of the pan. I’d inherited her colouring too – fair with blonde hair, and blue eyes. But I had dad’s dry sense of humour – at least I had done, when there’d still been things to laugh about.

Dannie’s eyes lit up. ‘We’ll cook for you, next week. How about that?’ Dannie looked at Rob and laughed again. ‘Okay, to be fair, Rob will cook for you, and I’ll pour the drinks. That’s much more my forte, isn’t it darling?’

‘Sure is, but it’s a great idea anyway. How about you, Madison, are you free for dinner next week?’

‘I’m supposed to be doing stuff with Scott next week, so I’ll let you know.’ Madison had been furiously texting the whole time Dannie and Rob had been talking. I hoped she’d see sense about her cheating boyfriend. But I had a feeling it might take her a while.

‘Let us know then, Mads.’ Dannie didn’t look the slightest bit offended that dinner with him and Rob was only her backup plan. ‘Shall we say Thursday then, Libby? I might even dig out a Yorkshire teabag for you, if you play your cards right!’

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