One New York Christmas

by Mandy Baggot

‘I’m sorry, Carlson. But it’s the right thing to do,’ Seth said, patting the man on the shoulder then striding to catch Lara up.

  ‘It’s almost an hour to Central Park from here, by foot,’ Seth stated the moment they were off the wasteland and onto the sidewalk away from the disappointed crowds Carlson was trying to placate with free burnt offerings from the food truck.

  ‘An hour,’ Lara said with a gasp. ‘Is it really?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Seth answered. ‘I know the subway makes everything seem like it’s right there on your doorstep but …’

  ‘Well, we’d better make a start,’ Lara said, tugging a little at the rope. ‘Come on, boy.’

  ‘Lara,’ Seth said, following her. ‘We can’t walk an hour in NYC with a reindeer.’

  ‘What do you suggest?’ she asked. ‘We’ve called the zoo, they won’t answer. We can’t leave him there at that awful place where they’d probably put people on his back for rides or feed him some of whatever was coming out of that food van.’

  ‘I know, but it’s New York,’ Seth reminded. ‘And he’s a reindeer … on a lead.’

  ‘But, newsflash, he doesn’t fly! So, what’s the alternative?’

  There were already a group of people across the street, mobile phones trained on them, laughing, pointing and taking photos. She didn’t care. Just as long as they got the animal somewhere more appropriate, somewhere safe.

  ‘We’ll walk,’ Seth stated. ‘For as long as it takes me to get hold of my dad.’ He slipped his mobile phone out of his pocket. ‘He’ll know someone with some kind of transport. OK?’

  She took a breath, meeting his gaze and nodding. ‘OK.’

  Seth shook his head at her, a smile on his lips. ‘You really are something else, Lemur Girl.’

  She nodded. ‘Yeah. I know.’

  Thirty-Six

  The Chapel Shelter, W 40th Street

  ‘Lara, you’re freezing! Come and sit right by the heater!’ Kossy began sweeping around, moving boxes that had been made into multi-faith tableaus – some depicting the Christian stable birth scene, others with festive takes on Hanukkah and Eid-ul-Adha. With chattering teeth, Lara let herself be guided towards a long, ancient-looking radiator where a few people were already sat around, their coats still on.

  ‘We … took a … reindeer to the zoo,’ Lara told her, the words barely escaping her freezing lips.

  ‘I know, sweetheart. Ted told me.’ Kossy looked up from helping Lara onto a chair. ‘Seth, bring coffee over here. Felice, go get some more blankets.’

  ‘Coffee coming up,’ Seth said, stamping his feet on the bare boards and blowing on his hands.

  ‘Seriously!’ Felice remarked. ‘We sleep out all year round and the princess needs a blanket!’

  ‘She’s right,’ Lara said, going to stand up. ‘I’m fine. I can go back to our apartment and get warm. I don’t want to take anything away from anyone here.’

  ‘You sit down!’ Kossy ordered in no uncertain terms. ‘No one is taking anything away from anyone here. We’re a community. All-comers. No judgement.’

  ‘I liked things better when it wasn’t all politically correct. Can’t a homeless person get any benefit any more?’ Felice tutted, but moved towards the shelving housing the blankets.

  ‘That girl has way too much sass,’ Kossy remarked to Lara. ‘And she’s been getting a bed here every night for five years, lottery or no lottery.’

  ‘She can’t find somewhere more permanent?’ Lara asked.

  ‘Here’s the thing,’ Kossy said. ‘The second I mention that if she stays here too long I’m gonna have to recommend she talks to someone about a transitional housing programme I don’t see her for a week.’ She sighed. ‘And I worry.’

  ‘I worried about the reindeer,’ Lara admitted. ‘Because my almost-brother was worried about the reindeer.’

  ‘So, you froze yourself half to death trying to walk it through the streets of the city.’

  ‘We only got halfway until Ted and Morris came with the horsebox.’

  ‘Take off this coat,’ Kossy ordered. ‘It’s soaking wet with snow.’

  Lara nodded as she attempted to remove her arms from the sleeves. ‘I didn’t realise New York was so cold all the time. Or that it snows so much.’ She sniffed. ‘I would have done more research, but I didn’t know I was coming almost till I came and—’

  ‘I got it,’ Kossy said, nodding as Seth arrived with a steaming mug of coffee. ‘And as for you! Are you crazy? Letting her wander around Manhattan leading a reindeer? Wearing something that looks about as waterproof as a club sandwich?’

  ‘Mom, I did say that—’ Seth began.

  ‘I don’t wanna hear it.’ Kossy took the coffee from him and handed it to Lara. ‘Go tell Bernadette we need some soup.’

  At the mention of food Lara’s stomach took flight and she had to swallow to get it to chill out a little. She was starving … no, not starving … just hungry.

  ‘Sometimes I wonder if I taught him any sense at all,’ Kossy remarked with a scoff as Felice arrived back with a blanket. Kossy made a show of wrapping the rough, yet warm material around Lara’s shoulders, then handed Felice the damp coat. The girl looked at it, holding it with two fingers like it was contaminated, then crossed the room with it.

  ‘It wasn’t Seth’s fault I got cold,’ Lara insisted. ‘I was the one who forced the rescue and he kept offering me his coat and I kept saying no and performing lip-trumpet to Camila Cabello’s “Havana” to keep warm.’

  ‘Well,’ Kossy said, sitting down next to Lara and putting an arm around her. ‘You’re here now and getting warmer.’

  ‘And the reindeer is safe,’ Lara stated. ‘They said they would get the vet to check him over, get him somewhere for tonight and then find another zoo with reindeers already to take him.’

  ‘That’s good,’ Kossy answered. ‘Another stray soul saved.’

  There was something about the tone of her voice that made Lara realise Kossy wasn’t referring to the caribou. ‘You’re thinking about Seth … and his other mum.’

  Kossy immediately shook her head, so fast and furious that eventually, after a good ten seconds of bouncing curls the negative shake finally turned into a nod. ‘He told you.’

  ‘Yes,’ Lara said. ‘And I know it’s none of my business, but I suggested, if he wants to find her, he should start by searching on Facebook.’

  Kossy continued nodding, tears welling up in her eyes. ‘That’s good advice.’

  ‘I wasn’t trying to put my nose in. I just said it would be the first place I would try if I was looking for my mother.’

  ‘You’re adopted too?’ Kossy gasped, hands going to her mouth.

  ‘No,’ Lara answered. ‘Just abandoned, by one of my parents at least. But it was a long time ago and …’

  ‘You’ve never forgotten the loss.’

  That hadn’t been what she was thinking. In most ways her life felt good, it was just the lack of explanation of her mother’s absence that was missing. And as each year passed it became more and more irrelevant to her.

  ‘I know I haven’t known Seth very long,’ Lara began. ‘But I don’t think he will ever get up the courage to look for his mum on his own.’

  ‘You don’t?’

  Lara shook her head. ‘I think he wants to. He’s just second-guessing his reasons for doing it when he has such a great mum already.’ Her teeth chattered. ‘But, I think, if someone were to, maybe, look for his mum on Facebook, or find her, by some sort of chance, then it might not be as hard a decision for him to make.’

  ‘You think I should look for her on Facebook?’ Kossy whispered, eyes darting around the room as if expecting Seth to be at her shoulder.

  ‘I don’t really know,’ Lara said. ‘But I think something is holding him back, despite him wanting to know who she is.’

  Kossy nodded, seeming to take on board what she had said. Then she wiped at her eyes and gave Lara a smile. ‘I think you know my son well already. I think you must
come to our annual fundraiser.’

  ‘Is there beer?’ Lara asked with a grin.

  ‘It’s nothing like the cook-out at my place,’ Kossy told her. ‘It’s wall-to-wall swanky and involves all the people with money I’ve courted all year long to donate to the cause.’

  ‘Do I have to wear tights?’ Lara asked.

  ‘Do you have to wear what?’

  ‘Never mind,’ Lara said with a smile. Her stomach rumbled. ‘What flavour is the soup?’

  ‘Well, today actually we have a treat,’ Kossy said, getting to her feet. ‘It’s reindeer.’

  Lara’s eyes widened as she felt the icy feeling return to her every part. And then she realised Kossy was laughing and shaking her abundant head of hair again.

  ‘It’s winter vegetable, sweetheart. What would pull St Nick’s sleigh if we ate them all?’

  ‘You know, if you look at her any longer you’re gonna have her face imprinted on your retinas for the whole of eternity,’ Felice said to Seth.

  ‘What?’ he asked, the bowl of soup hot in his hands.

  ‘I mean, each to their own and everything, but you might miss out on looking at Emma Stone or Charlize Theron, or that soup.’

  ‘You want the soup?’ Seth asked, offering the bowl to her.

  ‘Hell no!’ Felice exclaimed like he had just suggested she eat a New Year’s firework. ‘I don’t take charity. It’s not dinner time … and apparently she’s as cold as Jack Frost.’

  ‘You don’t like Lara?’ Seth queried, a little confused.

  ‘I don’t not like her,’ Felice answered. ‘I think she’s crazy, stupid, weird but I don’t not like her.’ She took a breath. ‘I think she’s kinda cool, in a first world kind of way, you know, if you like that sort of vibe.’ She sniffed. ‘And you obviously do.’

  ‘Felice, I’m getting really lost in this conversation,’ Seth admitted.

  ‘Will you take her out?’ Felice asked. ‘On a date. Because I can’t stand to watch you both being like you are with each other and hip-hopping around the fact that what you really wanna do is rip each other’s clothes off, and then have a meaningful talk about it like real people do, in real relationships, or in Manhattan Med, so someone told me.’

  ‘I …’ Seth looked back to Lara then again at Felice, thrown by her straight-talking. ‘She has someone.’

  ‘Not according to Facebook.’

  ‘Felice, do you have a phone?’

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘But I have friends. And this Dan she used to go out with seems like a real a-hole.’ She shrugged her shoulders. ‘What can I say? I wanna look after the people I don’t not like.’

  ‘It’s not a clear-cut situation,’ Seth said, moving his fingers as they started to warm with the heat of the soup.

  ‘Wake up, Actor Boy, this is life and you’re sitting on top with a great view. Don’t waste it.’

  Thirty-Seven

  Waitress, Broadway

  ‘I can’t believe we’re on Broadway!’ Susie exclaimed. ‘Going to see a show on Broadway!’ She grabbed David’s arm, looping it through hers and squeezing tight.

  Neither could Lara. She had got back to the apartment and was just telling Ron, Hermione and Harry how exhausted she still felt as some sort of reindeer-pulling, ice-skating jetlag combination caught up with her and Susie had burst in with screams of ‘Broadway’ and ‘Waitress’. At first Lara thought Susie had given up her dreams of hairdressing and was getting into catering, until Susie had told her about a play based on a film and it became clear they were taking in a show at the most famous theatre strip in the world.

  ‘I tell you,’ David said. ‘You come to New York and I will make all your dreams come true.’

  ‘That’s so sweet,’ Susie answered with a sigh.

  Lara swallowed, moving her gaze from the glowing-with-love couple to the street around her. It was busy despite the spiralling snowfall, the wind a little fiercer than earlier, everything glowing like the bright lights she had seen on films. Whole walls of moving advertising interspersed with Christmas wishes and more festive signage and the sound of the Rat Pack filled the night. She sighed contentedly, but then realised something didn’t feel quite right. Something was missing. And, bizarrely, it wasn’t Dan. It was Seth. Crazy! Mad! She was still – kind of – in a relationship, the only relationship she’d ever had. She was in a foreign land with a holiday, first-time-over-the-Atlantic, mindset. That had to be it. Except it didn’t stop her wishing he was here by her side, telling her a fact about the area or laughing at her naivety about everything.

  ‘Hey.’

  Now she was imagining him so hard it looked like he was actually in front of her. She blinked and blinked again as she stopped at the entrance to the Brooks Atkinson theatre. Leather brogues, smart dark blue trousers, thick winter coat, hair perfectly in place, that firm jaw and plush-looking lips …

  ‘You made it!’ Susie breathed.

  Lara could tell Susie was looking at her, but she couldn’t meet her eyes. Susie had said nothing about this trip to the theatre being a foursome.

  ‘When someone offers you great seats to one of the hottest shows in town you don’t say no,’ Seth stated with a smile. ‘I don’t know how you did it, David.’

  ‘I have my contacts,’ David said, touching the side of his nose with his finger and looking suitably pleased with himself.

  ‘He knows a prince,’ Susie added.

  ‘Can we go in?’ David asked, ducking under the signage. ‘I want to check out the merch stand. I need a T-shirt that says, “It Only Takes Taste” in my life.’

  ‘Do you think they have bags?’ Susie asked, rushing to follow him through the doors.

  Lara smiled at Seth and shook her head. ‘My friend with the bag obsession.’ She didn’t know what else to say. Her realisation that the event wouldn’t be complete without him here had made her feel a little awkward about the fact he was here.

  ‘Is this OK?’ Seth asked, stepping up to her, snow catching in his hair. ‘Me coming along here?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Lara admitted as if he could read what was going on inside her mind.

  ‘Listen, I can go, if you want me to, I just—’

  He looked nervous. Like he didn’t know what his next lines were in this improvised script. As if he could see through her and knew that he was the absent part of the equation she had been thinking about.

  ‘I don’t want you to go.’ She swallowed. She needed to make her voice sound way less romantic drama and a lot more Ex on the Beach. She attempted a laugh. ‘I feel I owe you a night on Broadway after I made you rescue the reindeer.’

  He shrugged, snowflakes scattering. ‘We’ve almost got our own literal pet project going on, don’t you think? First lemurs, then a reindeer, what’s next?’

  ‘I’m quite happy if there isn’t a next,’ she admitted.

  ‘Are you two coming in?’ Susie asked, appearing at the doors.

  ‘Shall we?’ Seth asked, offering her his arm.

  She slipped her arm through his and smiled. ‘Fill me in on everything I need to know about Broadway.’

  Thirty-Eight

  ‘All that pie!’ David announced a couple of hours later. ‘It made me so hungry.’ He pushed open the doors to the outside.

  ‘Don’t tell me,’ Susie said. ‘You want to go back to that Spanish restaurant and eat more pigs’ feet.’

  ‘I would eat any part of the pig right now.’

  Lara felt like she was in some sort of musical herself. As she stepped out after Susie, she didn’t feel the freezing air on her skin or really notice the thick two inches of snow greeting them on the pavement, she was lost, surrounded by the atmosphere of the theatre, the drama, lights, songs and pure emotion that had bled from the performers. She hadn’t experienced anything quite like it before. It was on a whole different level from the Appleshaw Players attempt at Oliver With a Twist.

  ‘You OK?’ Seth asked softly as she stopped under the canopy, half paying attention to
David and Susie’s kissing.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Lara admitted with a sigh. ‘Some of me feels like singing and dancing and filling myself with a double chocolate cherry torte and the other bits feel like …’

  ‘Jenna’s character really resonated with you,’ Seth suggested.

  ‘Yes!’ Lara said, turning to him. ‘I mean, I’m not saying she was me or anything but there were parts of her story that made me think, wow, I can relate to that.’

  ‘I could tell,’ Seth replied. ‘You wiped some of your tears on my sleeve.’

  ‘Did I?’ Lara put her hands to her mouth in shock. ‘I’m so sorry! I … thought it was mine.’

  Seth laughed. ‘It’s OK.’

  ‘Come! There is a food truck just over there!’ David said, performing an elaborate sashay and point.

  ‘You hungry?’ Seth asked her.

  ‘Bernadette’s soup was good but … yes,’ Lara admitted.

  ‘Come on,’ Seth said, smiling and following David’s lead.

  ‘This food truck is one of the best,’ David announced when they were all gathered around the orange and black tiger-striped, Korilla BBQ van. ‘I follow it around on Twitter.’

  ‘You mean you follow them on Twitter,’ Susie said.

  ‘No,’ David insisted. ‘I literally follow them around on Twitter.’ He grinned. ‘They post the location of their van. I go there, you know, if it isn’t the whole other side of the city.’

  ‘What type of food is it?’ Lara asked, enjoying the fragrance that emanated from the van. There were definite notes of ginger, soy sauce and spiced meats.

  ‘Korean,’ Seth answered.

  Lara turned to look at him. ‘You’re a fan of the van too?’

  ‘It’s great food,’ Seth told her.

  ‘They do burrito or a rice bowl or a salad bowl … pick a protein, pick a rice … you choose anything,’ David explained as they moved up the queue. ‘I like mine with crack.’

  ‘What?’ Susie and Lara exclaimed in unison.

  David laughed. ‘Relax, it’s a lime sauce.’

  ‘Usually I’d play it safe and have something I’ve had before but …’ Lara began, edging forward and trying to look over someone’s shoulder towards the van’s hatch.