by Dora Dresden
“Don't let Madeline bother you, she's like that with everyone. She talks more than she listens. I'll remind her gently but firmly that you prefer Abby.”
“It's alright, it doesn't really bother me,” Abby said waving it away.
Still it lingered in the back of her mind as they wandered around the rooftop getting a feel for the BBQ. They met a few more of William's friends from the group, including the host of the party who graciously accepted Abby's pie. By then the sun was beginning to set over New York's skyline and everyone began to settle in and find spots to watch the show.
William found a blanket for them to share and they draped it on the cool concrete a bit away from the crowd and close to the roof's fenced edge. William sat down first and Abby leaned back against his chest, both of their heads craned back as they watched the sky turn beautiful sunset colors as it darkened.
As they waited, they spoke to each other in quiet tones and Abby loved the feeling of William's voice vibrating in his chest and against her back. The subject turned to Madeline and how she and William had met in the church's under thirty group.
Abby couldn't help it. She had to ask. “Did you date her?”
The sudden still silence behind her was answer enough. She wished she could twist around and see what sort of expression William wore, but he held her firmly in his arms and she was reluctant to break the embrace.
“We did,” he answered finally. His voice was soft and distant. “We started dating a little bit after I first moved to New York. We were together for about a year. We had some things in common, some shared interests and we got along well. But it was missing something for me. Madeleine was happy but for me it was lacking and after a while I ended things.”
“Lacking?”
William didn't speak for a long while and then he said. “She wasn't the girl I wanted.”
Abby wanted to ask more but she didn't have the words, and anyway full darkness had fallen around them and the first of the fireworks was exploding in the sky.
Chapter Nine
“It was stunning,” Abby said. She was holding William's hand, swinging it back and forth between them, expressing her excitement. “I've never seen anything like it.”
William chuckled. “They play it on TV every year.”
“Yes, but it's better than on television,” Abby said with a laugh. She remembered when she had commented on the skyline of New York City in the exact same way when she had first seen it, much to the amusement of her cab driver.
That seemed a lifetime away though it had only been a month. Still, so much had changed since then. For the better, she decided.
The rest of the rooftop barbecue had gone wonderfully. They enjoyed hotdogs and hamburgers and the usual barbecue fair, and Abby's apple pie was the talk of the party. Aaron would be glad to know that she had won him a crowd of new customers. The fireworks show over the Hudson River had been the best she had ever seen, a million times more impressive than the mediocre one they held in South Meadow every year over the town's man-made lake.
After it was done, quite a few people had left but the ones that remained gathered around the fire pit and roasted marshmallows over the flame. They made delicious gooey s'mores and someone produced a guitar. Soon the crowd was singing along and swaying and Abby added her voice to theirs, a soaring Soprano, not as sweet and high as her twin's had been but still lovely to behold. Abby was half-way through a song before she realized she was singing alone. The crowd had become her audience. She was startled but she didn't stop, instead filling the rooftop with her sound. When she finished, the crowd cheered and applauded. Abby blushingly accepted their praise.
As midnight crawled closer Abby felt very much like Cinderella leaving the ball. They made their goodbyes and William whisked her off into the night. They had decided to walk home again, and Abby knew her unsteady gait in her uncomfortable shoes was slowing them down but William didn't complain or comment, instead he matched his step with her smaller ones.
The streets were busy with activity but the night was cool. The heat wave had finally broken and the wind blew between Manhattan's thin streets and avenues carrying with it the heady smell of smoke from the fireworks.
For a while they did not speak, just enjoyed the city's noises and each other’s company, but there was still the uncomfortable niggling memory of their earlier conversation and finally William turned to her.
“I want nothing more than to be honest with you Abby. Do you know that?”
It was such a sudden comment that Abby didn't know what to say, so she only nodded.
“About Madeline,” William began but Abby interrupted him.
“You don't have to tell me about that. It wasn't my place to ask,” she admitted. As the party went on she had realized that her jealousy of Madeline was unfounded and based in her own insecurities. She did not want to be second place to William.
“I want you to feel that you can ask me anything,” he argued.
“I do,” Abby said.
He smiled at her but the expression seemed tinged with sadness.
“Like I said, I made a lot of mistakes with Madeline,” William explained.
Somehow, without their knowledge they had come to a complete stop on the sidewalk, the ebb and flow of New York weaving seamlessly around them. Time went on but they were paused together. Abby heard her own heart beating in her chest and imagined she could hear William's too. He wouldn't meet her eyes.
“It wasn't her fault. It was mine. I wasn't ready to be with someone. I hadn't healed,” William shook his head and a wave of blonde bangs fell in front of his eyes. He moved to bat them out of the way but Abby gently caught his hand. She brushed aside his bangs for him and finally he looked at her, startled, like he had forgotten she was there and was just now realizing she was in front of him. “I lost someone important to me and it made me scared to love again.”
Just like me, Abby thought.
“But that was a long time ago,” William said with a shuddering sigh. “Years passed. For a while I couldn't even remember what she looked like. And I began to heal. To trust. And then you came along.”
A girl, Abby thought. A girl he'd loved and lost. Before she knew it, she was speaking.
“Am I lacking William?” It had been on her mind since he'd said it about Madeline. It had been on her mind her whole life. “Am I missing something? Whatever it is you're looking for. What you lost. Do I have it?”
William leaned towards Abby in sweet slow motion. He cupped her face with his large strong hands. He was so close to her that they shared one breath. He smelt warm and sweet, melted chocolate and of course that swirling cologne.
“Abby,” he said, his voice gone deeper, almost a whisper. “You have everything. You are the answer to my prayers.”
Then he pulled away and Abby was left shaking, missing him, wanting him. He began to continue to walk down the street but Abby found she couldn't move, her legs turned to jello and useless.
“William,” she called out in a voice so soft she was afraid he'd never hear. He was a few steps away but he turned around and came back to her.
“Abby?”
“We-we might have to take a cab,” she said in stuttering starts. She pointed to her feet. “I'm sorry, my shoes are killing me. I'm so stupid but I don't think I can take another step.”
He moved so quickly that she thought she was falling and almost screamed. But she wasn't falling, she was rising, cradled in his strong arms. He was lifting her, carrying her.
“What are you doing?” She half squawked, half giggled. He was walking down the street again, baring her extra weight like he was carrying a feather. “William!”
“We're only a block away,” he replied laughing too.
“William! Put me down. You're going to hurt yourself!” She yelled, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Nope!” he said as he moved briskly down the street. People were glancing at them but no one seemed too surprised. Nothing was ever too unu
sual in New York, it would appear.
By the time they were back at Home Sweet, they were both laughing so hard, tears were in their eyes. William deposited her gently back on her feet at the entrance with a satisfied sigh.
“How's that for door to door service?” he asked, that naughty boyish gleam in his eyes. “And look, you're not even late.”
“I hope you're sore tomorrow,” Abby said giving him a playful smack on the arm.
“I won't be. You don't weigh a thing! Remind me to fatten you up with more chocolate cake dates.”
“I'm going to hold you to that,” she said.
They shared a long, lingering wonderful hug and he whispered in her ear, “Later,” before turning and departing down the street. She watched him go, smiling giddily to herself. It had been a perfect night.
Inside, the diner was just as hectic as Aaron promised it would be, if not more. He and Noelle were both serving customers left and right. Still Noelle had the time to give Abby a naughty wink from across the room and yell out, “someone looks pleased with themselves!”
Abby could only blush, before heading into the backroom. There was an extra uniform and thankfully a pair of flat shoes that she'd left there earlier, and she changed into them before heading back out into the melee. She had her battle face on, she was ready for anything.
Except for what she did see. There was William standing in the doorway, craning his already tall frame over the sea of customers, searching for something. He grinned when he caught sight of Abby. She rushed over to him.
“William? What's wrong?” She said as she reached him.
“I forgot something,” he said looking down at her. He tugged her into his arms.
“What?” She asked dimly.
“I forgot this.”
Then he was kissing her, his lips on hers gentle but insistent. It was just as thrilling as Abby had imagined, flavored by s'mores and passion and she could feel his arms around her, and little bursts of excitement ran through her like thunderbolts. It was over too soon and she was breathless.
She looked up into his ice blue eyes, which were hooded and honed in on her, and for one whole instant only they existed in their happiness. And then behind her the restaurant exploded in applause and whistles. They pulled apart and both of them were blushing.
Noelle was whistling the loudest and Aaron was shaking his head. “Alright, nothing to see here,” he said, but he was laughing too.
Abby turned back to William, her cheeks still inflamed even as the restaurant quieted back down to its usual din.
“I better get back to work now if you'll let me,” she said softly. They were holding hands, swinging it between them like children. “Promise you won't come running back in here in five minutes to kiss me again or sweep me off my feet?”
“It'll be difficult, but I'll resist,” he said.
William left again and Abby missed him more than ever the first time. Even as she worked she was distracted, looking up at the door hoping he'd be there to catch her off guard, to kiss her again. Their first kiss had been magical but the words he had said earlier were even more important and she repeated them to herself over and over.
You have everything, he had said and now she really did.
Chapter Ten
Under the onslaught of a thunder storm, New York City was beautiful, a gleaming spectacle alight in neon and glowing street signs once and repeated infinitely in puddles and beading droplets of rain. NYC glimmered and winked like it was sharing some shining secret. It was beautiful but it was annoying.
Abby could never really get the hang of navigating the slick city sidewalks in the rain. There were too many people in New York City as it was, but on a rainy day everyone became wider under the awkward circumference of their umbrellas. On the streets, cars and cabs skidded by each other without concern of the peril, and one even drove straight through a puddle sending up an arc of dirty rain water that Abby just narrowly avoided. It hardly mattered anyway, she was already soaked through.
The skies had been blue and cloudless when she'd gone into her shift at work earlier that day. But life was as unpredictable as the weather; one cloud had appeared and then another and by nightfall a torrential downpour had begun. Of course Abby didn't have an umbrella. That would be practical.
Lately her life had been filled with this sort of chaos. She had decided that if she couldn’t resist spending all her free time with William, she would make up for it by going on even more auditions. That plan had clearly worked for Noelle. Her coworker would be leaving the next day and Abby had already been picking up the extra shifts. The combination left her feeling beyond exhausted but once she started she couldn’t stop. She had to maintain this pace to make her dreams a reality, never mind if it cost her a little sleep and a few meals.
Abby reached her apartment building, shivering and dripping in the lobby. She looked wearily at the elevator then decided against it. Three people had gotten stuck in it for an hour last week she had heard, and the last thing she needed right now was to be the next. She headed for the narrow, un-air-conditioned stairs and gripped the handrail tightly as she ascended, weary of the steps that were becoming slick with her every step. Abby reached the eighth floor, out of breath and light-headed, and went straight to William's door.
The door was unlocked as it usually was for her lately and she went right in. Music was playing faintly as she entered, that same soft classic song.
“Valle symphony number 94,” she said, humming along to the song. “Surprise Symphony.”
William had finally told her the name of the song he liked to play while he wrote. He would get so immersed, almost in trance-like state and the song seemed to add to that condition. It was a lovely song and she imagined it was what kept William so cheerful all the time. She'd taken to humming it to herself at work and it did keep a smile on her face, not so much because of the sound of it but because it kept her thinking of William.
He was sitting at his desk and as she entered he stood to greet her. First they hugged and then he kissed her tentatively but oh so sweetly on the lips.
“Got caught in the rain?” He asked.
“Oh just a little,” Abby said. She flicked her wet hair at him playfully to emphasize just how soaked she was.
“Why don't you go change?”
“I wanted to see you right away,” she said sheepishly. It was true. Ever since they'd made their relationship official with a firework-fueled kiss two weeks earlier they had been loath to be apart. They were both very busy pursuing the beginning of their careers, but between their hectic schedules they'd managed to find a little time to see each other in passing, and each moment was precious for its brevity. This movie night in fact had been William's idea for them to do something a little different and the damp weather was an even more perfect excuse to stay in and cuddle through some silly scary movie.
“You're crazy,” he said. He kissed her on the forehead. “But I suppose I am too.”
“We can be crazy together,” Abby grinned.
“Let me at least get you a towel before you catch pneumonia or worse.” He headed towards his bedroom.
“I'll put on the popcorn,” she called to him.
William's kitchen was just as narrow as Abby's but she maneuvered it gracefully on the balls of her dancer's feet. She put the popcorn bag into the microwave before heading back out into the living room.
Abby had only been in William's apartment three times thus far and each time she discovered a new little detail that told her more about her boyfriend. The other day she'd been reading the spines of the books on his bookshelf, only to find a pile of old comics tucked between his old college textbooks. She had picked on him mercilessly all that day about his Batman obsession.
Now Abby glanced at his desk. It was cluttered since he'd just been working and he had a tendency to fling about papers and notes while he was compiling a story. There was a book next to his computer about New York City history. She knew he'd been workin
g on an article about the old subway system and the book he'd gotten from the New York Public Library was a relic, practically an antique onto itself.
Abby picked it up gently, not wanting to damage any of its fragile pages. William had shown her a few of the black and white photographs of the workers and she had found it fascinating. She flipped through it now, looking for one in particular that they had spoken about. As she looked, shuffling past the dog-eared pages, she hadn't expected an actual photograph to fall out. Abby placed the book carefully back on the table then bent to scoop up what she'd dropped. Off in the kitchen the popcorn began to pop in earnest.
The picture wasn't nearly as old as the ones shown in the book, though it was a bit bent and weathered from time. Abby imagined that William had been using it as a bookmark. It looked to be a photo from a birthday party. Three small children stood in a row on someone's front lawn, all wearing matching party hats. Two girls and a boy. Abby squinted at their little faces and then her heart stopped.
