Summer in the City: The perfect feel-good summer romance

by Emma Jackson

‘I doubt it,’ Stephen muttered under his breath, but he smiled again and waved his thanks to the woman.

  ‘Why d’you doubt it?’ I asked as we got inside the blessedly air-conditioned market.

  He shrugged and turned quickly down the fruit and vegetable aisle, his shoes squeaking on the shiny tiles. ‘After all this effort, it’s likely to be a two-minute conversation.’

  ‘You want more than that?’ I pretended to be focused on picking a carton of strawberries, while watching him from the corner of my eye, but he was pretending just as hard to be interested in the peaches.

  ‘No.’ He grabbed a box of peaches, took my strawberries, and we headed to the cash desk. ‘I just want it sorted.’

  ‘Well, so far so good. One conversation and we already have two – no three – important bits of information.’ I got out my notebook and started scribbling in it as we queued.

  ‘And what would they be? He liked peanut butter and chatting up women?’

  ‘Not where my mind was going but no information should be discounted. You never know when it might become helpful.’

  ‘Should we need to bait a trap?’

  I laughed, then bit my lip to stop myself. I wasn’t sure if finding him funny was permissible in our dynamic. Did that mean he’d scored a point or, worse, that we were moving away from point scoring? I couldn’t let myself fall into his charming trap. Looks weren’t the only tactic he deployed to get women into bed.

  ‘We’ll keep that idea as a back-up plan yeah?’ I retorted.

  ‘To have a back-up plan, surely we need an initial plan.’

  ‘Which I am formulating. Once you’ve paid, I’ll tell you all about it.’

  I waited outside under the awning in the shade, scrolling through my cell phone messages. My sister Lucy had sent me some photos of the baby that were just too cute. Little Brigid was only three months old and they’d been giving her some tummy time. Her tiny face as she arched her back and tried to look around her was so sweet. She was like a little turtle straining to get out of the nest down to the ocean.

  I sensed Stephen coming through the automatic doors even before I saw him and looked up, my smile at my niece’s gorgeousness still firmly in place. He blinked, like he’d forgotten I would be waiting for him and had surprised him. ‘Good news?’

  ‘Family pics,’ I explained, tilting my screen towards him as he joined me. He bent his head to see. ‘My niece. She’s a sweetheart, right?’

  I appreciated the effort he made to lose the grumpiness as he looked at the baby. I was sure she looked just like any other baby to him, but he nodded and offered: ‘Beautiful big blue eyes.’

  I scrolled down to the next photo, which wasn’t much different to be fair, but he politely continued looking. And while he was distracted, hands full of fruit, I tilted my head to see if that photo was still in the back pocket of his pants. I could just see the top corner of it…and the very fine curve of his ass; firm and infinitely grab-able. Was it genetics or exercise that made it that perky and…

  ‘Noelle? Noelle, are you checking out my butt?’

  ‘What?’ I snapped to attention again and almost lost my grip on my phone. ‘No. No way.’ I fussed with my bag, dropping my cell phone back into it, the screen of which I belatedly realised had gone to sleep, tipping him off that I was otherwise occupied. I’d been well and truly busted and his grin was so genuinely joyful at my mortification, I could’ve kicked him. ‘I was trying to get a look at that photo you brought. Why don’t you want me to see it?’

  That wiped the smile off his face, but he lifted a shoulder with manufactured casualness. ‘You can see it if you want. It’s very old. I didn’t think it’d be helpful. The focus is awful, and it’s faded.’

  ‘You must’ve thought it would be some use, else you wouldn’t have brought it. It helped jog that woman’s memory.’

  He shrugged again. ‘We don’t need it at the moment though, do we.’

  ‘It will help with my plan actually.’

  ‘Fine.’ His dark eyes pinned me, daring me. ‘You want it, you can grab it. My hands are full.’

  I hated that the idea was so tempting. I narrowed my eyes at him and took hold of the fruit instead. ‘Problem solved.’

  With a half-smile, like he’d won but wasn’t particularly pleased about it for some reason, he reached back and pulled it from his pocket. ‘There.’ We exchanged goods again. ‘Does any part of the plan involve loitering here all day?’

  ‘No—’

  ‘Do we have anywhere else we can go today to move this search along?’

  ‘No—’

  ‘I’ll walk you home and you can explain on the way then.’ With that he strode off into the sunshine again and I had no choice but to tuck the photo away and hurry to catch up with him.

  Chapter Five

  I was counting on the cool, buzzing atmosphere of the office the following morning to restore me. The whole weekend had left me cranky and off balance.

  I’d heard no more from Noelle after walking her to Bloomingdales on Broadway yesterday where she’d arranged to meet a friend to look for an outfit for her niece’s christening. The same niece she’d used to divert my attention while she contemplated pick-pocketing me. What had I got myself into with her?

  She’d talked the whole way as we walked about her “plans”, that oversized hat making me feel like I was conversing with a flying saucer…though it was preferable to being skewered in the loins by one of her smiles. The one she’d had on her face as I came out the grocer’s had left me dizzier than a ride in a cable car. So bright and brilliant. So obviously not meant for me.

  She was intending to call around all the Italian restaurants once she’d researched how long they’d been established for; fill in the details of her profile and put together some kind of missing-persons poster to distribute around the neighbourhood.

  I really hadn’t wanted to give Noelle that photograph. Particularly after the reaction of the woman outside the market. I hadn’t thought the faded image would show his face clearly enough that it would be so obvious to a stranger we were related. I’d always heard it, from Mum, her best friend, even Nan had commented on how much I took after him, despite only knowing him from around the area before Mum and David got married. But for a stranger to make the connection from a small, out-of-focus picture…I’d been sure Noelle would realise.

  Luckily, it didn’t seem she had. Though, if the people we approached noticed the similarities between him and I every time, she was going to figure it out very quickly. She was too sharp not to.

  Perhaps I should tell her and get it over with? Giving her all the facts, like she kept saying, would likely be the smartest and most time-efficient thing to do. She had such a poor opinion of me already; what difference would it make?

  And yet, I hated to think of the look on her face when she put two and two together. That was why I didn’t want Nick involved as well. Seeing where a man like him had ended up would be like a window into the future for me. I never wanted to promise a woman more than dating because I didn’t want to risk hurting them, and the ease with which I kept things casual had only proven to me through adulthood that I was cut from the same cloth as my father. But my knowing it was one thing; seeing people’s disappointment was entirely another.

  I’d leave it for now. Noelle had her plans and was highly motivated. I supposed I should have been happy too, but mainly I felt frustrated that I’d had to involve her in the first place. And yes, it was annoying that I found her so attractive and she had zero interest in entertaining even flirting between us.

  Work was exactly what I needed. It was a place where things ran as they should. The crisp suits, the office banter, the permeating smell of coffee, aftershave and perfume, made me feel like I was back where I belonged. There were no long-lost relatives to uncover, no disappointingly predictable anecdotes to listen to – well none that were relevant to my family heritage. And there was no red-headed time bomb strolling along beside me, ready t
o start interrogating random strangers and pushing all my buttons.

  That wasn’t to say there weren’t other women making my life difficult though.

  After the morning meetings, Georgina called me into her office for a chat. Patrick eyed me curiously as I went, and I wasn’t surprised. It was hard to imagine what she wanted to talk to me about that he wouldn’t be involved in.

  She shut the door over and motioned to the glass table over in the corner of the office. The windows joined there, creating an amazing panoramic of the surrounding city – but I kept my eyes firmly on the table.

  ‘How are you getting along Stephen?’ she asked, tucking her skirt under her and slipping onto the chair next to me.

  ‘I expect that’s really for you and Patrick to judge isn’t it?’

  ‘No. I’d like to know how you’re feeling. Performance-wise, you won’t be assessed until the accounts are fully in your control. I want to know whether you’ve got everything you need at your disposal. How is Patrick doing, handing over the reins?’ She linked the fingers of her hands together and leaned over them towards me. She was wearing a white cream sleeveless dress with a V-cut at the neckline. I found it a lot easier to keep my gaze from wandering inappropriately with her than I had when I was around Noelle. ‘I’d like to know that you have everything you need.’ She reached out and laid her hand very lightly, very softly on top of my bare forearm for a moment. Brief enough that I didn’t get uncomfortable but long enough that I noticed she’d lingered. Did she do this to everyone?

  ‘Right, well. Yes. Patrick is being very thorough. I hope I’ll be a good fit to take over from him as I understand his logic. Ideally, I would have liked a face-to-face introduction to the top accounts.’

  ‘Have you mentioned it to him?’

  ‘I did the first week.’

  ‘Well, chase him on that and let me know what he says. If it’s a problem with the client’s availability while Patrick is still here, I can always introduce you myself at a later date.’ She tossed her wavy black hair. ‘On that subject, we’re arranging a bon voyage party for him on his last Friday. I’d like you to come along. Your knightly duties will not prevent you from coming, I take it?’

  I searched my mind for what she was referring to and then remembered our conversation when we were leaving on Friday. I gave her a reassuring smile. ‘Of course, I’ll be there. Is it a surprise?’

  ‘Yes. I’m holding it on my yacht.’ She went over to her desk and plucked a business card from a marble dish and a sleek ballpoint pen, one high heel lifting in the air, as she balanced on one leg to lean over for it. I recalled how Noelle had leaned over the back of her sofa when I arrived yesterday morning to get that character template. How her T-shirt had slid up her thigh…

  Georgina was coming back over, but she didn’t return to her seat. She stood beside me, the smell of her perfume encircling my head, and scribbled the details of her yacht’s location on the back of the card, sliding it in front of me, with one finger. ‘I’m there most weekends in the summer. I take it out and watch the sunset over a bottle of champagne. It’s a very relaxing experience.’

  ‘Sounds idyllic.’

  ‘I hope to see you there.’

  I took the card and slipped it in my pocket with another smile, but I didn’t agree out loud. I’d already said I’d be at the party and I wasn’t entirely sure that was what she was referring to this time.

  ‘Do let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to discuss,’ she called after me as I returned to my desk outside her office.

  ‘Everything okay?’ Patrick asked quietly.

  ‘Yes. She just wanted to know how I felt things were going.’

  ‘That’s considerate of her.’ He lifted his eyebrows at me in a way that suggested it wasn’t the way she usually operated. I chose not to elaborate, and he changed the subject. ‘I thought I saw you at the weekend. Out jogging.’

  ‘Oh, you might’ve done. I go out most mornings.’

  He explained he’d been going in the opposite direction on Saturday, that he’d started jogging himself only a couple of months ago, and we were so busy talking about it and exchanging our user profiles for Fitbit challenges I didn’t hear the approaching click of heels until Georgina’s hand was on the back of my chair.

  ‘Have a good lunch, Stephen,’ she all but purred in my ear, ‘perhaps we can schedule in one for ourselves soon.’

  There was no time to answer before she was striding over to the lifts. Patrick cleared his throat and diverted his attention back to his phone. Excellent, he probably thought I’d lied to him about what I went into her office now.

  Or…was I reading too much into it? Did she just want a normal lunch? Would I even have been questioning this if she was a man? Maybe Noelle’s accusation was close to the truth and I didn’t know any other way to see things than through the lens of sexual attraction. Perhaps I was being utterly sexist and assuming too much about our every interaction just because she was an attractive woman?

  ‘I don’t know,’ Nick said over the phone to me, after I’d told him what was happening during my lunch break. ‘She does sound like she’s flirting with you. And it’s not like you’re unfamiliar with being flirted with. You’ve got plenty of experience.’

  ‘Why does everyone keep talking about me as though I’m the office bike?’ I groaned as I walked around the block, no real destination in mind.

  ‘What?’ His laugh was nonplussed. ‘Stephen. I just meant that you’re not some hideous fifty-year-old virgin who takes any smile from a woman as a come-on. Who’s said you’re the office bike?’

  Everybody. Though having Nick confirm that he thought Georgina was flirting with me did reassure me somewhat. ‘Don’t worry. The heat is probably getting to me.’

  ‘Sounds to me like you should take a date on this leaving do with you. For protection.’

  ‘It would certainly help avoid an awkward situation.’ I went beneath some scaffolding and a bookstore caught my eye. ‘Although, I don’t like taking women out under false pretences,’ I added as I pushed the door to the shop open. ‘It feels underhand to ask someone out with an ulterior motive.’ I lowered my voice as I stepped inside. It was cool and quiet, though there were plenty of people browsing the wooden shelving and the tables at the front. There was a small coffee shop at the back too where I’d be able to buy some lunch.

  ‘You could always be up front – ask them as a favour?’

  It was ridiculous how quickly my mind leapt to Noelle.

  ‘Not Noelle though,’ Nick added, and the image popped like a cartoon bubble.

  ‘Why would I ask Noelle?’ I bluffed.

  ‘She’s helping you find your dad, isn’t she?’

  Of course. Noelle and Beth had been chatting again. Thank God I wasn’t dating Noelle; the whisper chain of information between the four of us would have been a nightmare.

  ‘Yes,’ I said quietly, circling a large oblong table with piles of crime fiction organised in a rainbow pattern according to their covers. ‘I think that’s enough to be beholden to her for isn’t it? On the plus side, that means you can forget any obligation you felt to join me on the search when you come over. It should all be sorted by then.’

  ‘That’s good.’ He cleared his throat and I heard him shuffling around; a door closing at his end, like he’d shut himself in a room. ‘Actually, when I’m in New York, I was wondering if you could help me out with something?’ His voice was oddly hushed.

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘I want to go to Tiffany’s. To look for a ring. I was hoping you’d give me your opinion.’

  I paused with my hand on the cover of a book with roses dripping black ink like blood. ‘I’m not sure diamonds would suit you.’

  ‘Fuck off, Stephen,’ he half-laughed. ‘You know I don’t mean for me.’

  ‘You’re planning to propose to Beth?’

  ‘Yeah. I’ve been thinking about it for a while.’

  I frowned. I wasn’t
sure I did want to help him go get a ring for Beth when it seemed too soon. Nick was so like Mum. That’s what people had always said, growing up. How much Nick was like Mum, how much I was like my father… And Mum had obviously got herself in trouble with him. I didn’t want to see that happen with Nick. Admittedly, he was a fair bit older than she’d been and I knew Beth had genuine feelings for him. But if he ran in headlong, wouldn’t he scare her off? I didn’t want him to feel that pain.

  ‘Nick…please don’t overreact but…you’ve only been together six months.’

  He was quiet for a long time and I found myself holding my breath. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he did get defensive, given the fact I’d tried to break them up once.

  ‘I know. It is quick,’ he said eventually. ‘And quick might be scary for her. She was engaged before – and we’re not even living together. Although, we spend as much time together as if we were, considering my shift patterns.’

  ‘It’s not solely about time is it? It’s about finances and sharing the responsibilities of a home and answering to each other’s whereabouts and…many other things I have no concept of, isn’t it?’

  ‘I suppose,’ he said evenly.

  It would’ve been easy for him to throw at me the fact I’d never cohabited with a partner. Never even dated someone past six weeks, let alone six months. But he kept his opinions to himself on that front. Even so, I could feel us dancing close to the edge of the tension I’d caused at Christmas. That was the last thing I wanted.

  ‘I still want to ask her though. She’s just…she’s it. I’m sure of it. Y’know?’

  No. I didn’t know. I started walking around again as a middle-aged man was invading my personal space to see the books I was standing next to.

  ‘Well, if that’s the case, it can wait a little longer. Until you’re certain that she’s ready too. You’re not going to lose her because you haven’t offered her a commitment. There’s no hurry.’

  ‘It feels like a hurry. Now I’ve decided, it’s this constant pressure sitting on my chest.’

  ‘Like a heart attack?’ I asked grimly.