‘Wow.’ The word was out of my mouth before I could stop it and I saw him smile.
‘Are you going to let me buy you that glass of wine, then?’ he asked, placing a guiding hand on my elbow and steering me towards the bar. Through the window I could see a sample of the bar’s clientele and I changed my mind about going in. I was sporting a red woolly bobble hat, jeans and my long black padded coat. All very warm but not hugely flattering. I stopped dead as we approached the door and Daniel walked straight into the back of me. His body was pressed up against mine for only the briefest of seconds, but it was enough to flood me with a strange feeling.
‘I can’t go in there looking like this,’ I said. A petite blonde woman was perched on a stool at the bar wearing a backless mini dress that looked as if it were made from liquid gold; it shimmered seductively as she laughed and flicked her hair.
‘Why not? You look fine to me,’ said Daniel.
‘Underneath this lovely padded coat, I’m wearing plain old jeans and a jumper. I look like I should be going hiking, not hanging out in a trendy New York bar. They probably won’t even let me in. They’ll think I’m delivering something and send me round to the tradesmen’s entrance, you watch.’
Daniel laughed loudly, drawing some attention from a few people waiting outside the bar. ‘You always were the funniest woman I knew, Evie. Don’t be daft, you’ll be fine. Now come on, I’m freezing my nuts off out here.’ He nudged me gently towards the door and we stepped inside.
A smartly dressed and very tall woman was standing behind a podium, looking at a clipboard when we walked in. She looked me up and down, with only the vaguest hint of a smile, before she spoke.
‘Can I help you?’
‘Yes, I have a table booked,’ came Daniel’s voice over my shoulder. I watched with amusement as the woman’s frosty expression melted into a beaming smile as she realised who was standing behind me. It was hilarious to think that Daniel, skinny little Danny Roberts from Dagenham, could have that kind of effect on people.
‘I’m so sorry, sir, I didn’t see you. Yes, please, come this way,’ she gushed, practically tripping over her own Laboutins to welcome him in. Daniel placed his hand at the small of my back to guide me through the crowds and I felt a crackle of sparks snake their way up my spine. Even through my ridiculously unattractive padded coat.
The hostess pointed towards a table in the middle of the bar, but Daniel shook his head. ‘Something a bit more private, if you don’t mind? Maybe further towards the back, one of the booths.’
‘Of course, Mr Roberts, this way, please.’ She carried on walking and we followed her to a table for two tucked away in a curved booth. The lighting was dimmer and the noise from the main bar was muted. ‘Can I take your coat?’ she asked Daniel.
‘Ladies first,’ he said, helping me out of my coat and handing it to the hostess, before he took off his own. I swear I thought I caught her take a surreptitious sniff of Daniel’s woollen coat before she regained her composure and put two menus down on the table. I stifled my rather unkind urge to giggle; the poor woman, it wasn’t her fault. It appeared that Daniel Roberts had the ability to reduce even sensible women like her to a gibbering mess with just a look. Was he even aware of it? I wondered. He didn’t seem to be, but I couldn’t be sure. I slid into the booth and Daniel sat across from me. He picked up a menu and opened it.
‘I’m bloody starving. How about you?’
‘No, I’m fine,’ I said, just as my stomach rumbled loudly. ‘Okay, I might be a bit peckish. I’ve had a busy day,’ I explained, picking up the other menu. We sat in silence for a few minutes, both of us perusing our menus, until a waiter appeared beside our table.
‘Good evening, my name is Andre, and I’ll be your waiter this evening. Can I start you off with a drink?’
‘We’ll have a bottle of the Barolo and I’m going to have the burger. Evie, what are you having?’
I couldn’t think. I’d just spotted the price of the bottle of wine he’d ordered, and my mouth had gone dry. ‘Yes,’ I squeaked, ‘the burger will be great for me too, please.’
‘Excellent choice, madam. I’ll be right back with your wine.’ He took our menus away and we were alone.
‘That bottle of wine you just ordered is almost three hundred dollars,’ I hissed at him.
‘I know but it’s the best. You’ll love it. My treat.’
‘No, it’s fine. I can pay my own way,’ I said.
‘I’m sure you can but this is my treat. I dragged you in here. You can pay next time.’
Next time? I thought. Why would there need to be a next time?
‘So, tell me everything, Evelyn-Marie – what’s been happening in your world? You hardly told me anything the other day when we met.’
‘It’s Evie. No one calls me Evelyn-Marie. It’s just Evie.’
‘Right, got it, sorry.’ Daniel shifted uncomfortably in his seat. I didn’t know why I was being so stroppy.
‘Only Mum and Dad ever called me Evelyn,’ I said. ‘Since they passed away I don’t hear it much any more. It sounds weird.’
‘Fair enough. I’m sorry, about your mum and dad, I mean. How long has it been since they passed away?’
‘Mum died in 2001, about six months after my daughter was born, and Dad passed away almost a year to the day later.’
Daniel reached over and touched my hand gently, before placing his hands back in his lap. He fiddled around with his napkin and I was surprised to see how nervous he was. The waiter arrived with the wine and we waited as he made a big show of removing the foil and unscrewing the cork. He poured a little of the wine into Daniel’s glass; Daniel smirked at me and then swirled it around for a bit before taking a sip. ‘That’s perfect, thanks.’ The waiter nodded and then poured two glasses before leaving the table.
‘Between you and me, I don’t understand what all that swirling around does but it looks good,’ he said, smiling. He picked up my glass and handed it to me, before picking up his own and clinking it against mine. ‘To old friends,’ he said.
‘Old friends.’ I raised my glass and then took a sip. ‘Jesus,’ I murmured. The wine was amazing; I’d never tasted wine like it. Then again, the wine I usually drank didn’t cost this much money. Back home I thought spending eight quid on a bottle was splashing out. I took another sip and felt my whole body relax. The wine was warming me from the inside, taking away the last traces of the chill I’d felt after trudging around the block.
‘I told you, didn’t I? It’s good stuff.’ He took a mouthful and then waved at someone across the bar. I tried to see who, but there were too many people.
‘Were you supposed to be meeting someone? Have I crashed your plans?’
‘No, not meeting anyone. Lucky for me.’ He smiled, ‘So, you have a daughter?’ said Daniel. ‘That’s amazing. What’s her name?’
The mention of my children always made me smile; they were my world. ‘Grace,’ I said. ‘Her name is Grace. She’s eighteen.’
‘Wow! That’s great, Evie. I bet you’re a terrific mum.’
‘You’d need to ask my kids that. I couldn’t possibly comment,’ I said.
‘You have more than one?’
‘Yes, I have a son, Samuel. He’s twenty-one.’
Daniel shook his head in disbelief. ‘I don’t know why, but the idea that you might have children never entered my head. I suppose their father is looking after them whilst you’re here?’ he asked. He was back to looking a bit nervous again. I nearly choked on my wine.
‘They’re adults, they’re both at university, so they kind of manage to look after themselves now.’
‘Yes, of course, sorry. That was a stupid thing to say. To be honest, it was just my clumsy way of finding out whether or not you’re married.’
‘No, not any more.’
Daniel just nodded and gave me a relieved smile.
‘I’m a widow.’ I watched the smile fall away, to be replaced by the thing I hated most in the world –
the sympathetic head tilt.
‘Evie, I’m so sorry,’ he said, putting down his glass and reaching for my hand again. I let him take it; I’d discovered that in situations like these it was better to let people feel as if they were consoling me in some way, rather than for me to tell the truth. The truth was that the sympathetic nod, or the patronising pat on the hand, made me want to punch the person in the throat. I’d rather have someone say, ‘That’s really shit,’ or, ‘Fuck me, you must feel awful,’ than all the stupid platitudes about them being sorry or assuming that they understand what I’m going through. Even Judy’s effusive hug in the diner the other day was an improvement on the usual non-committal pat on the arm or sad smile that I’d come to expect from people when I told them I was a widow.
I slid my hand out of his grasp and picked up my glass. I took a large mouthful and prayed for the food to get here quickly, anything other than try and make more stilted conversation. We lapsed into silence again. I could see the envious looks I was getting from some of the other customers, men and women, all wishing they were in my shoes, no doubt. Say something, Evie. He’s been nice enough to buy you dinner – at least try and be good company.
‘What about you? Wife, kids? Husband?’ I threw the last one in for good measure; I knew very little about him now so it would be wrong to make assumptions. Daniel laughed out loud, slapping his hand down on the table.
‘Jesus, Evie, you never were one for beating around the bush. No, I don’t have a husband.’
‘But you do have a wife?’
‘It’s complicated,’ he said, scratching at something on the table top with his thumbnail.
‘That means you have someone but she’s not your wife.’ A sudden thought occurred to me. ‘Is she someone else’s wife?’
‘No, nothing like that. I have someone I’ve been with for a long time, but we recently decided to end things.’
‘What’s complicated about that?’ I asked.
‘She’s currently playing my wife in the play I’m in on Broadway. The director cast us when we were a couple, good publicity for the play, but now we’ve decided to call it a day. The show’s producers don’t want word to get out until we finish the run, so for now we have to keep up appearances.’ He finished his glass of wine and poured himself another, then he topped up my glass.
‘Okay, I agree, that does sound complicated.’
He nodded sadly. ‘It’s a bit tricky. We broke up because she told me she was in love with someone else and now I have to go on stage and pretend she’s the love of my life every night.’
‘That sounds horrendous,’ I replied. Daniel gave a wry laugh. ‘How much longer does the play run for?’ I asked.
‘We finish on December twenty-third, thank God. And then we’re both free to tell the world that it’s all over and we’re going our separate ways.’
‘How long have you been together for?’
‘Ten years.’
‘That’s a long time.’
‘It is but, if I’m being honest, it should have ended after five. These last few years have been pretty shit. I’m not surprised she found someone else.’
We fell silent again. Thankfully the waiter distracted us by bringing over our food. I marvelled at the size of my burger; it was the size of a bloody maisonette.
‘There’s no way I’m going to be able to eat all this,’ I said. ‘There’s enough here to feed a family.’
Daniel just grinned at me, before picking up his burger and taking a huge bite. Not one to be outdone, I opened my mouth as wide as I could and bit down. I had so much in my mouth I could hardly chew, and I could feel ketchup sliding down my chin. I looked across to Daniel and he looked as if he was struggling with his mouthful too. I had a sudden flash of what the pair of us must look like to anyone watching: like two zoo animals at feeding time. For some reason that thought just made me laugh and as I did a piece of burger got lodged in my throat briefly. I coughed and then watched in horror as the lump of meat flew out of my mouth and across the table. For a second or two we both just sat there in stunned silence, looking at the half-masticated piece of cow on the table. And that was the thing that finally broke the ice between us. I couldn’t stop laughing, the tears were streaming down my face, and Daniel was holding his stomach in agony. Neither of us could speak, or breathe, properly for a good five minutes. Daniel laid his napkin over the offending mouthful of burger, like a CSI covering a corpse.
‘I can’t look at it. My sides are hurting too much,’ he said, wiping away tears.
‘I’m so sorry,’ I said. ‘I can’t believe I did that.’
‘I can,’ Daniel said, pouring us both the last of the wine. ‘That’s the Evie I remember.’
‘Socially inept and unable to behave herself in public?’ I replied.
‘No. Straight-up funny and full of life and joy. A woman who doesn’t give a shit what the rest of the world thinks.’
He said it so matter-of-factly I almost believed he meant it.
‘Yeah, yeah, whatever,’ I said, trying to wave off his remark.
‘You were never any good at taking a compliment either. That hasn’t changed, obviously.’
‘And you’re still an annoying little shit,’ I replied, smiling at him over the rim of my glass. Our five minute cackling fit had drawn some attention to us; I could see people whispering and at least one person was trying to sneak a photo with their phone. Daniel noticed them too, and I saw his back stiffen and the smile drop from his face.
‘Everything all right?’ I asked, reaching across to touch his arm.
‘Yes. Occupational hazard.’
‘Yeah. Must be pretty annoying though, always being watched.’
‘It’s fine. People are nice, for the most part. It’s the journalists and paparazzi I have more trouble with. They like to make stuff up. I only have to be pictured standing next to a woman and they say I’m shagging her.’
I thought about the picture of the two of us in the bookstore; I wasn’t sure if he’d seen it, so I figured it was better not to mention it. Anyway, I knew what he meant; my experience with the press might have been relatively brief by comparison but it was more than enough to last me a lifetime. I could still remember the sheer frustration and anger I’d felt reading the lies they’d printed about me.
‘Well, there’s no danger of that whilst you’re with me,’ I said.
Daniel looked angry all of a sudden. He reached across the table and took my hand. ‘You’re beautiful, Evie. Why wouldn’t they think I was shagging you? Don’t put yourself down.’ He looked so sincere, as if he really thought he was saying something nice. I pulled my hand away from his.
‘I’m not putting myself down. I know I’m gorgeous – in fact, you’d be lucky to have me. My self-esteem is just fine, thanks. What I meant was I’m not a celebrity and, since you actor types only seem interested in other actors or models, no one would think for a minute that you’d be up to anything with an ordinary woman you used to go to college with. That’s all I was saying.’
‘Oh, I see.’
‘Blimey, Dan, I think you might need to check your ego, mate.’
Daniel just sat there shaking his head. ‘God, Evie, I’m so sorry. I’m so used to being around insecure actors, I just immediately assumed that’s what you were saying. I forgot who I was talking to for a minute. Please, forgive me. I didn’t mean to sound like a total wanker.’
‘You didn’t sound like a total wanker,’ I said. Daniel smiled. ‘Just a little bit of one. I think you’ve been away from real people for too long, Danny Roberts.’
He raised his glass. ‘Cheers to that,’ he said.
As I took a sip of my wine I felt my phone vibrating in the back pocket of my jeans. I pulled it out and saw my sister’s face and number flashing up on the screen.
Oh, shit! I realised it had been almost an hour since I’d left her to go for my quick walk around the block. I pressed the button to connect the call and then had to hold the phone away f
rom my ear as my sister proceeded to scream expletives down the phone at me. I could still hear her, even over the noise of the bar.
‘Where are you? I’ve been worried sick!’
‘I’m so sorry, Kate, I lost track of time. I—’
‘Lost track of time?’ she screamed. ‘I wish I had. I’ve been sitting here counting the minutes, waiting for you to come back. Where are you?’
Daniel grimaced and then mouthed, ‘Shall I get the bill?’ I nodded. Daniel got the attention of our waiter.
‘I’m having a drink in a bar around the corner. I’m leaving now. I’ll be back in about ten minutes.’
‘You’re in a bar?’ squealed my sister. ‘I’ve been stressing and you’re having a drink somewhere? That’s so—’
I ended the call. I would be back in the apartment soon enough, I figured she could yell at me in person all she liked then. Daniel was just typing his pin number into the card machine the waiter was holding as I finished the call. I noticed him slip the waiter what looked like a fifty dollar bill, and then he stood up. ‘Shall we?’ he asked, holding out his hand.
I stood up and looked down at his outstretched hand. ‘I’m not fucking fifteen,’ I mumbled, as I pushed past him and headed for the door. I heard him chuckle.
‘That told you, Daniel, my boy,’ he muttered.
The hostess was already waiting for us with our coats by the time we reached the door. She practically threw mine at me and then held out Daniel’s for him to put his arms into. He shook his head at her, before taking my padded coat from my hands and helping me into it. Only then did he take his coat from Miss Frosty Knickers and put it on himself. Our hostess looked distraught and I couldn’t help but smile. As we passed her to leave I couldn’t resist. I leaned in and whispered, ‘Don’t be too upset. He just can’t keep his hands off me.’ I gave her a patronising pat on the arm and then left her standing there with her mouth open.
City of Second Chances Page 18
