One New York Christmas

by Mandy Baggot

  ‘And you have no dojo Seth,’ Aldo said.

  ‘Seth?’ Gerry queried. ‘Who’s Seth?’

  ‘You’ll love him, Mr Weeks!’ Susie shouted, getting her face in the frame. ‘He’s a real gentleman. Loves trucks and drinks beer and he likes football too, Aldo!’ Susie had made all that up, apart from the drinking beer part.

  ‘Can he get me the stickers I’m missing?’ Aldo called.

  ‘I don’t know, Aldo, listen, I’ve got to go now but I’ll call you tomorrow and Aldo, if you got it on video, send me the Fitch versus Flora showdown.’

  ‘Henry Grove put it on YouTube,’ Aldo replied.

  ‘Bye!’ Lara said, waving. ‘Bye, Aldo, bye, Dad.’

  ‘Bye, love,’ Gerry said, waving back.

  ‘Bye, Lara,’ Aldo shouted.

  Lara ended the call and took a deep breath of the freezing air. ‘Well, I guess I found my facts. Dan and Chloe at the social club.’

  ‘Some venue for a first kiss,’ Susie said with a tut. ‘Not quite a Brazilian restaurant, is it?’

  ‘And maybe I did the half-cheating first,’ Lara said with a sigh. ‘I should have asked Aldo what time it was.’

  ‘We are not having a who did what first conversation are we? Because I do not expect Dan is giving one thought to that right now. In fact, I suspect he’s in the nineteenth hole with Chloe’s double Ds.’ She patted Lara’s shoulder. ‘He ended things. Break. Break-up. Whatever. He was the one who walked away first.’

  Lara tapped at her phone screen.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Susie asked.

  ‘I’m messaging Dan,’ Lara informed.

  ‘What?! Don’t give him the time of day, Lara!’

  ‘I’m not,’ Lara insisted. ‘I’m making things final. I’m breaking up with him.’

  Fifty-Two

  The Chapel Shelter, W 40th Street

  Seth, I really wanted to reply right away but I took the night and half of today to think about what I wanted to say. What I want to say first is … I might have given you up, but I never forgot you, not for a second. And knowing who you were and where you were and what a wonderful person you seemed to have grown into has made it easier to stay away, if you can understand that at all. What I’m trying to say is, I did the right thing. Kossy raised you right, as I knew she would. She gave you the kind of life I wanted for you. The kind of life I would never have been able to give you. I am not ashamed of leaving you at the shelter, I’m only ashamed of who I was then. Keeping you, making you part of that life would have been selfish and cruel, I hope you see that. And now, you’ve contacted me – something I thought I could only dream about. I’ve seen you, Seth, and not just on film, at the shelter, when I got too curious and a little bit brave. I was checking in, I guess, standing across the street, watching my boy growing so tall and looking so strong and sounding so educated. I am so proud of you, if pride in you is something moms like me are allowed to have … and I am so glad to hear from you! But what happens next is up to you. I want nothing more than to hold you in my arms again like I did in the first moments of your life, but that’s entirely your choice, Seth. And if you choose to know who I am and where I am and not ever meet me, like I did all these years, then I will of course accept that. But if you want to meet then I think that would probably be life-changing, for both of us. Candy x

  ‘You’re here so much these days they’re gonna end up giving you a bed.’

  As Seth entered the shelter he was greeted by Felice who was holding a spanner for a handyman who seemed to be doing something with the radiator.

  ‘Hey, Felice, is my mom around?’

  ‘Did you take Lara on a date yet?’

  ‘I … is my mom here?’

  ‘Did you go on the date already?’

  ‘I went on the date, OK? Is my mom here?’

  ‘You went on a date with Lara?’ The handyman stood up and turned around.

  ‘Hey, Dad, I had no idea that was you. I didn’t recognise your—’

  ‘Butt?’ Felice suggested. ‘I think that’s a good thing or I might be calling welfare.’

  ‘Your mother is in her office on the phone to guys who can fix the heating if I can’t fix the heating,’ Ted said. ‘I know … great show of faith in my skills. But, seeing as I can’t even seem to bleed these ancient radiators, perhaps it’s completely founded.’

  ‘I …’ The words were itching to come out, but he had to quell his excitement just a little.

  ‘You’re gonna ask Lara to marry you!’ Felice exclaimed.

  ‘What?’ Ted said, staring at Seth. ‘You’re going to ask Lara to marry you?’

  ‘No! Don’t listen to her!’

  ‘Don’t listen to her isn’t saying “I’m not going to ask Lara to marry me”. What’s going on, son?’

  ‘I had a message from my mom,’ Seth said. ‘My birth mom,’ he corrected quickly.

  ‘Whoa!’ Felice dropped the spanner.

  ‘Well,’ Ted began. ‘That’s …’ He cleared his throat. ‘I mean, that’s great, Seth, really great.’ He put his arm around Seth’s shoulders. ‘Let’s go and tell your mom.’ Then he smiled. ‘Your other mom.’

  Kossy cried when she read the message, like Seth knew she would. He had got emotional too, reading it while Trent tried to debrief him about the questions he had been asked about The End of Us. In the end, he had had to escape to the bathroom just to get some space and time to digest the message.

  ‘It’s beautiful,’ Kossy said, getting up from her chair and coming around her desk, tears flowing down her cheeks. ‘It’s just beautiful.’ She put her arms around him, pulling him into an embrace.

  ‘Group hug,’ Ted said, joining them in the huddle.

  It was a good few seconds before they all resurfaced, wiping at their eyes with their fingers and sniffing away the obvious emotion.

  ‘So,’ Seth said. ‘What shall I do?’

  ‘Seth, honey, you know what you should do. You know what you want to do,’ Kossy said. ‘You message her back and you tell her you can’t wait to meet her.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Seth said. That was what he wanted to do. But it still wasn’t easy. He had been a long time adopted.

  ‘What’s holding you back, son?’ Ted asked, softly in his slightly obvious but well-meaning high-school counsellor way.

  Seth swallowed and raised his eyes to look at Kossy. ‘Would you come with me, Mom?’

  Kossy let out a sob and hurriedly nodded her head. ‘Sure, honey. If that’s what you want, I’ll be right there with you.’

  Seth nodded, letting go of a breath, together with a lot of apprehension.

  Ted cleared his throat. ‘Isn’t there something else we have to tell your mom?’

  Seth looked at him, a little blank. ‘I don’t think so.’

  ‘Seth’s getting married,’ Ted informed. ‘To Lara. Felice just announced it.’

  Kossy clapped her hands to her mouth and Seth jumped in before anything else was misconstrued. ‘No – Mom, Dad is messing with you. I’m not getting married, but …’

  ‘But?’ Ted said.

  ‘But?’ Kossy repeated.

  ‘But I did take Lara out last night,’ Seth admitted. ‘On a date.’

  ‘I like her,’ Kossy said, nodding enthusiastically. ‘I really like her, Seth.’

  ‘I like her too,’ Ted added. ‘Where did you take her?’

  ‘I, er …’ He wasn’t really sure he wanted to share all the details of their date with his parents. ‘We went to Zabb Elee … and Caffe Napoli … and Brazil Brazil.’

  ‘In one night!’ Kossy exclaimed. ‘I’m surprised you’re not in a food coma!’

  Seth smiled. ‘That was actually something that Lara said.’

  ‘So,’ Kossy said. ‘When can we meet her?’

  Seth was confused. ‘You’ve already met her.’

  ‘As your “friend”,’ Kossy said. ‘Not as your girlfriend.’

  ‘She’s not my girlfriend.’

  ‘Don’t tell
me there’s a new urban dictionary word for it now,’ Ted said. ‘Go on, what is it? Surprise me.’

  ‘I …’ Seth said, feeling a little awkward he didn’t have any cool words for his dad to work with.

  ‘You’ll make sure she’s coming to the shelter fundraiser, and her friend, Susie, and whoever she wants to bring. I’ve managed to squeeze in a couple of extra tables this year for supporters of the shelter who aren’t bankrolled.’

  ‘OK,’ Seth said.

  ‘Good, that’s settled,’ Kossy said before pinching his cheeks. ‘Right, well, what are you waiting for. Reply to … your mom.’

  Fifty-Three

  Chinatown

  ‘This is so amazing!’ Lara exclaimed as she and Seth walked down the middle of Chinatown, following the path of an ornate, dancing dragon, musicians with drums creating the beat. It was how Lara imagined being in the very centre of Beijing would be. Restaurants lit up in red and gold, strings of lights hanging from every frontage, large, bright red lanterns zig-zagging across the road together with displays of icicles, snowflakes and Merry Christmas symbols in English and Chinese type.

  ‘And tonight, we’ll drink Tsingtao beer,’ Seth told her, squeezing her hand. ‘But first, I need to ask you a couple of things.’

  She swallowed as they stopped under the canopy of one of the eateries. She looked up at him, waiting for the inevitable. Something was wrong. Now she was completely free from Dan – not that he had responded to her break-up text – now she was absolutely in the moment, something had to upset things. It was like gravity. What went up would eventually come down.

  ‘You know I got a message from my mom …’

  ‘And you know I think that is so amazing.’ He had called her, sounding even more elated than he had that night at Cafe Cluny.

  ‘It is,’ he agreed. ‘Well, I’m gonna meet her. Tomorrow.’

  ‘Oh my God! Seth, that is huge!’

  ‘I know, I can hardly believe it, but … it’s happening.’

  Lara put a hand to her chest. ‘I thought … you were going to tell me something bad.’

  ‘Something bad? No, why did you think that?’

  ‘I don’t know. Go on,’ she urged.

  ‘I kinda wanted you to come with me,’ Seth said. ‘To see my mom, but I thought it might be too much – for you maybe, and for her – so I asked Kossy to come with me.’

  Lara smiled at him, squeezing her hands in his. ‘Of course. Why were you worried about telling me that?’

  ‘I guess, cos I value your opinion and … I care what you think.’

  She swallowed, drowning in his gorgeous dark eyes. He was so special. She wanted to kiss him. She leaned forward a little—

  ‘No,’ Seth said, edging back. ‘I mean, I really want to, but not yet.’

  ‘Are we scaling back because I mentioned sex last night? Is kissing too soon now too?’

  ‘No,’ Seth said again. ‘Not at all. Come on,’ he said, tugging at her hand and heading back into the throng of the street.

  Seth knew exactly where he wanted to kiss Lara in Chinatown. This part of the city didn’t have a permanent Chinese friendship gate, but they had put in a temporary one for Christmas. It was every colour of the rainbow with intricate patterns and a tiled green roof as if it had been imported direct from Shanghai.

  He manoeuvred them around other walkers, some carrying closed takeout boxes, others eating from theirs already, it was a hub of evening frivolity that felt warm and inviting against the cold of the winter night. He finally stopped when they were right underneath the middle of the archway.

  ‘I know it’s not really China but …’ Seth said softly.

  ‘You want me to kiss you here?’

  ‘Is it stupid? It’s not even a real gate, I know …’

  ‘It’s not stupid,’ Lara replied. ‘It’s nice.’

  This time it was him who leaned forward, wanting to connect them again. Her lips were cold, but the sensations that had flowed over him last night were, tonight, hotter than ever. He held onto her, not wanting the kiss to end. But end it did, when a man in traditional Chinese dress nudged his arm, wanting him to pay attention to his juggling of lucky Chinese cat ornaments.

  Lara laughed as they separated and spent a few moments watching the display. Seth put a couple of dollars in the man’s money belt then turned back to Lara. ‘There’s something else.’

  ‘God, Seth, are we going to get beer and rice rolls soon? I’m thirsty and starving.’

  He took a breath. ‘Do you wanna go to a movie premiere with me tomorrow night?’

  ‘I don’t suppose you mean getting some popcorn and watching something I haven’t seen before.’

  ‘No,’ Seth said. ‘I mean the whole red carpet, photo call outside the theatre and reception before the movie kind of thing. I’m in the film,’ he said. ‘I play Garth, he’s gay. I kiss a great actor called Cole Fielder.’

  ‘Wow!’ Lara remarked.

  Her tone said excitement, perhaps with a hint of nervousness. He couldn’t really blame her, movie premieres weren’t your average night out. They weren’t even his average night out, but at least he had had the experience. For someone who had never even flown before he was guessing this was another life-changing ‘first’.

  ‘Cole’ll be there too. You can, I don’t know, joke about my kissing technique or something.’

  Lara laughed. ‘It sounds like fun.’

  ‘It does?’

  ‘Well, I’m trying to play it down, but inside my mind I’m running the scenario where a rough and ready country girl, who spends her days unloading animal feed from the back of a truck, meets gorgeous, epilated and, of course, supremely talented actresses who are smoother than … smooth peanut butter … and that orange juice without the bits in.’ She suddenly looked anxious. ‘Do I have to wear tights?’

  ‘You can wear whatever you want.’

  ‘Even jeans?’ She swallowed then. ‘No, because I don’t have Victoria Beckham’s arse and there will be photographers doing arse shots won’t there? Victoria won’t be there, will she?’

  Seth looked at her. She was so beautiful, inside and out. He didn’t care if she turned up naked or wearing a nineteenth-century crinoline just as long as she came with him.

  ‘OK,’ Lara answered. ‘Ignoring my dressing-up almost-phobia and body issues, I’ll come. If only to meet someone called Cole and talk about your lips.’

  Seth smiled and kissed her lightly.

  ‘Now can we have beer?’

  ‘There’s just one more thing,’ Seth said.

  ‘God!’

  ‘Mom really does want you to come to the shelter fundraiser next week. You and Susie and whoever you want to bring. It’s a good night. There’s food and dancing and the shelter gets a lot of donations from rich people who need their conscience easing.’

  ‘It’s nice to know you’re in no way cynical about good deeds.’

  ‘Like it or not, everyone seems to do something for a reason these days.’ His mind went to Trent. ‘So, can you come? Because she’ll ask me to confirm. At least every couple of hours until she has a definite answer.’

  ‘I go back to England next week,’ Lara reminded.

  ‘You do?’

  ‘Next Saturday.’

  ‘The fundraiser is Friday night. How early is your start?’

  ‘We have to leave the apartment at midday to head to the airport.’

  ‘So … it’s a maybe?’

  Lara nodded. ‘It’s a definite maybe.’

  ‘OK,’ Seth said. ‘That will have to be enough for my mom.’

  ‘Now, can we get beer?’

  ‘Yes, Lemur Girl, now we can get beer.’ He squeezed her hand. ‘Come on.’

  Fifty-Four

  5th Avenue

  ‘OK, I can’t believe I’m saying this,’ Lara started, eyes closed to the street full of shops opposite, around and beyond the next morning. ‘But, take me shopping.’

  Susie inhaled like a Buddhist ab
out to enter a deep meditation for at least a thousand years, and then she smiled, serenely and a little creepily, before responding. ‘I’ve been waiting years for you to say those words to me.’

  ‘No going mad though,’ Lara insisted. ‘I only need one dress. A great dress though.’

  ‘And a coat,’ Susie added. ‘And a handbag. And a few tasteful accessories.’

  ‘What? No. No accessories.’

  ‘I’m talking about earrings and a necklace, not ugly, really expensive brooches a nana might wear to a bodega.’

  ‘Things with you and David still a little chilly?’ Lara asked.

  ‘Let’s just say that while it was monsoon season when I first arrived here, I’ve now made it a two-day drought.’

  ‘Oh, Susie, do you think you might be being a little harsh? Maybe if you tell him how you feel then—’

  ‘We’ve been dating over a year. He should instinctively know how I feel.’

  ‘But you have been apart for six months of that year. Maybe the Atlantic has numbed his intuition a bit.’

  Susie inhaled again, her messy bun rising up on her head like a celestial doughnut. ‘Did someone say something about shopping?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Lara responded. ‘Apparently someone did. Let’s find a shop before I change my mind.’

  Lara had no idea what you wore to a film premiere when you weren’t a stunningly good-looking actress, but Susie seemed to know exactly what to google.

  Lara was currently wearing a copper-coloured sequinned dress that made her look like a boiler tank. It didn’t matter which way she turned towards the mirror she just looked terrible.

  ‘You see, you could go full-on festive. There’s Kelly Rowland in this all-colours ruffled number that makes her look slightly like a Christmas tree … or you could go classic like Jennifer Aniston … or maybe trendsetting and be like that woman who wore multi-coloured plastic play balls to the Grammys.’

  ‘Can I not just find a nice dress that’s multi-purpose? Something I could wear a second time, you know, in Appleshaw, for my dad’s next work function or for next Christmas?’

  ‘So, you’re not looking for show-stopping, more show-slowing-down.’