Page 32 of Meet Me In Central Park

‘You tried, everyone did, even me. But it’s no good, I can’t just leave my parents behind and start a new life. I need to be where they are.’ I didn’t want to explain everything to Paula, and the truth was I didn’t have the time. If I’d told her that why I needed to get back for New Year’s Day, she’d have told me that my parents weren’t really in that churchyard. And even if they were looking down on me, that they’d understand why I couldn’t be there this time. I knew logically that all of that made sense, but my need to be there for my parents was something only I would probably ever understand. I could still have come back after New Year, but leaving so suddenly felt like I was burning my bridges. I couldn’t spend my life flitting back between New York and Canterbury, I had to choose and, by leaving like this, it felt as if the choice was already made.

‘What about your aunt, and the shop?’

‘Madison and Betty are going to cover until Dottie’s back, and one of Betty’s daughters is going to help out too, for as long as she’s needed.’

‘And do you really think you’ll get a flight on Christmas Eve?’

‘I never cancelled my original flight.’

‘That says a lot.’ I could picture Paula’s expression again, and I was so glad I wasn’t there to see it. Hurting Harry was the worst thing about all of this, but losing the rest of my friends made it almost unbearable. ‘I really think it would be better if Harry heard this first hand. From you.’

‘I can’t, Paula. Please.’

‘I’ll do it. But I want you to know that, in my professional and personal opinion, I think you’re making a huge mistake.’

‘Thank you – for telling Harry and for trying to help. Can I ask you one more thing?’

‘What? Do you want me to break into someone’s house, and steal all their kids’ Christmas presents from under the tree?’ Paula’s tone was tight, and she had every right to be angry. She was going to cause her best friend pain, because of me.

‘Don’t turn down DeShawn’s proposal because I’m going.’

‘Sorry, but a deal’s a deal. And if you can walk away from a good man, then I’m damn sure I can turn down a proposal from one.’ She cut off the call and I put my phone into my bag. It was 6.45p.m. when I locked the door to Candy Cane Lane for the last time. If I ran all the way, I could still get to the Empire State Building in time to meet Harry. But instead, I turned in the opposite direction, to try and find a cab. I was going home, but I had no idea if it would ever really feel that way again.

14

It turned out that trying to get a cab on Christmas Eve wasn’t easy. But the concierge at one of the hotels where I stopped to ask told me that the Columbus Circle taxi stand, on the edge of Central Park, was my best bet. I didn’t want to go near the park, but I had to make my flight. It didn’t make any difference, anyway, it wasn’t as if I could just forget about Harry. I could be in Central Park, or in the washing powder aisle, in the Canterbury branch of Sainsbury’s – he’d still be on my mind. Even as I was walking to Columbus Circle, I kept checking my phone. I don’t know what I expected to see, or even what I wanted to see. Maybe a message from Paula, telling me that Harry was okay, and that he wasn’t that upset by the news that I was leaving. I’d have preferred it that way, even though I felt sick at the thought of never seeing him again, and I wasn’t stupid enough to think that the full weight of my decision to leave had hit me yet.

I stood outside a Dunkin’ Donuts, a few feet from one of the road crossings, and pulled my phone out again. Still no message. Dropping the phone back into my bag, I looked up and saw a large back car speeding down the road towards the crossing. There were a couple of young girls in the road, and it should have been safe to cross, but the car wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down. I’d never been much of a runner, despite the few times I’d been out with Dannie since I’d arrived in New York, and I had no idea how I did it, but I dropped the handle of my wheelie suitcase and ran faster than I ever had before, yelling at the girls and holding my hands out in front of me to push them clear of the car. Maybe it was the adrenaline, but I didn’t even realise that the car had clipped me until I hit the ground in a sitting position. Turning my head, I saw the car mount the kerb up ahead, and hit the crossing sign, knocking it almost parallel with the sidewalk, and raising the two front wheels off the ground.

‘Are you okay, ma’am?’ A female traffic cop was in front of me in seconds, and her colleague was already cuffing the driver of the car.

My heart was hammering in my chest, but I felt strangely calm as I replied, ‘I’m fine. What about the girls?’

‘They’re lucky to be alive, but they’re okay thanks to you. We were following him, but we couldn’t stop the vehicle in time.’ The police car was up ahead, half on the sidewalk and half on the road. I hadn’t even heard the siren, and I shook my head, mainly to see if it hurt. I hadn’t hit it – at least I didn’t think I had, but it had all happened so fast. ‘I don’t think you should move until you’ve been seen by a medic.’

‘No way.’ It had been a bad enough day, without ending it sitting in the middle of the street, with the world watching me, while the police closed the road to stop another vehicle finishing me off. More police cars were already arriving and, if I didn’t get up soon, someone was probably going to force me to stay put. The car had only clipped me, and for once having a well-covered bum had done me a favour. Thank God for Rob’s cheesecakes and pecan pies, otherwise I might have sustained a lot more than bruises. Struggling to my feet, I felt dizzy, but there was no way I was sitting down in the road again.

‘You can at least take my arm, ma’am.’ The police officer helped me to the side of the road and a couple of the waiters came out of a restaurant on the corner, with chairs for me and the two girls who I’d unceremoniously shoved on to the sidewalk. They were both in tears, and there was another police officer comforting them. Someone had picked up my suitcase for me, and someone else brought me a coffee, as the officer sat me down. I winced when my flesh made contact with the hard seat. ‘What’s your name, ma’am?’

‘Liberty, but everyone calls me Libby.’ I don’t know why I said that, but I started shivering as I did. I was so busy hoping that Paula would text me something to let me off the hook that I almost hadn’t seen the girls. I wouldn’t have been there for them, just like I wasn’t there for my parents. ‘If I hadn’t put my phone away when I did, I wouldn’t have got to them in time.’

‘The girls were very lucky you were there, Libby. I hate to think what would have happened if you hadn’t been.’

‘Looks like it’s almost certainly a DUI.’ One of the male police officers came over to us. ‘The smell of liquor was overpowering when he opened the door.’

‘I knew you were going to say that.’ The female officer put her arm on my shoulder. ‘I was just telling Libby how lucky the girls were that she was here.’

‘But I nearly wasn’t, I was too busy looking at my phone over there, and it would have been my fault.’ I pointed to the shop as tears started to roll down my face, and I wasn’t sure why. It might have been the pain, or the shock. Or it could have been because of Mum and Dad, or Harry, or even because I was leaving New York. It was probably a combination of everything. All I knew for sure was that I couldn’t stop crying. It was like that first day in the park all over again.

‘Listen to me, Libby.’ The officer crouched in front of me, taking hold of my hands. ‘Those girls are alive because of you, and that was down to good luck. Their good luck. But even if you’d still been looking at your phone on the sidewalk, the accident wouldn’t have been your fault. The only person to blame is the driver who got in his car drunk.’

I looked up and tried to focus on her face, but the tears just kept coming. Someone was running towards us, and all I could make out were two blurred shapes. For a moment I thought one of them was Harry, and relief flooded through me. But then they ran past us, straight to the girls.

I couldn’t really tell what was going on, because all four of them were crying and shouting, and I still couldn’t stop crying either. My tears were silent, though, and the police officer was still trying to offer me words of comfort. But I wasn’t taking them in either. All I wanted was Harry; he’d find a way of making it all right – he had from the first moment we’d met in the park. But I’d ruined that too.

‘Thank you so much.’ Suddenly a woman flung her arms around me, lifting the front two legs of my chair off the sidewalk for a second. When they went back down, it felt like my bum was hitting the road all over again, and I made a weird noise that didn’t even sound like it came from me. ‘Oh God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t hurt you, did I?’

‘No.’ It was a lie. But she was already crying, and looked even more all over the place than I felt.

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