One?

by Jennifer L. Cahill

  ‘Totally, especially since he rang me in work here, so he knows I’m here. I’ll have to ring him to let him know how long I’m here, and all that.’ Penelope sat down as she said this, she was starting to regain composure as she realised George shared her reaction.

  ‘Yes, I will allow you to ring him so soon after he rang you… but only because you are both a million miles away… and it’s all so weird, amazing, but weird. Good weird! What about Richard?’ George stated.

  ‘Oh my god! You are like my mother… what about bloody Richard?’ Penelope was not happy at the mention of Richard’s name.

  ‘Has he been in touch, and have you let him know about Ah-Leeks?’ George was on the edge of her seat at this stage.

  ‘Well, no, I mean… yes, he has been in touch… he phoned just before I left, I’ll ring him back when I get back… and there is nothing to tell about Alyx, yet, I don’t want to jump to any conclusions… and for heaven’s sake will you stop saying Alyx like that, you sound like you are sneezing!’ Penelope was completely back to normal now after the initial shock of the message from Alyx, she hated talking about Richard!

  ‘Quite right, sorry, I just still find it really funny, I can’t help it… anyway good… sounds like you have everything under control there.’ George was genuinely apologetic.

  ‘I nearly passed out here, in work, when I got the message that he called… I had to tell someone,’ Penelope gasped.

  ‘I must admit, I’m quite surprised myself… it’s all so dramatic!’ George added.

  ‘I know… listen I’ll ring you again before I get back if anything else dramatic happens, otherwise I should be back by Tuesday.’ Penelope reaffirmed.

  ‘Ok, well… be good,’ George warned her affectionately.

  ‘Always, George… I’m always good!’ Penelope smiled down the phone as she said this.

  ‘I know, I know… but there’s no harm in having a little reminder every now and again,’ George chided.

  Penelope took a few very deep breaths and dialled the number…

  ‘Hi, can you put me through to Alyx Stuart-Bruges’ room please.’ She asked confidently, despite the fact that her heart was hammering in her chest, she hoped the receptionist couldn’t hear it!

  ‘Just one moment please.’ The receptionist put her through.

  ‘Hello?’ Alyx picked up.

  ‘Hi Alyx, it’s Penelope,’ she stammered.

  ‘Oh hi, how are you? So you got my message then? You are still in New York!’ Alyx smiled down the phone as he said this.

  ‘Yes, and yes, and I’m fine thanks… how are you?’ Penelope relaxed as she heard his voice, memories of their first date, and how comfortable she was with him, came flooding back to her.

  ‘Oh, good, listen how long are you going to be here for?’ Alyx didn’t like long conversations on the phone, he was keen to arrange to meet up, and to speak in person.

  ‘I should be here until Tuesday, maybe longer. How about you?’ Penelope answered.

  ‘Oh until the end of next week. Are you free on Saturday night?’ Alyx got in there really quick before she could continue.

  ‘Erm, well yes actually, I’m only here on business… and I came very last minute so didn’t make arrangements with anyone over here for the weekend.’ Penelope was taken aback, he was so direct!

  ‘Good, would you like to come out for dinner?’ Alyx asked confidently.

  ‘I’d love to,’ Penelope beamed.

  ‘Where are you staying? I’ll come pick you up, say 8 pm, is that ok?’ Alyx asked confidently.

  ‘That’s perfect, I’m staying at The Hudson.’ Penelope gave him the details.

  ‘Ok, see you Saturday.’

  ‘Bye Alyx, see you on Saturday.’ Penelope hung up and stared at the phone trying to take it all in. She could not believe that this was happening, they were both in New York at the same time, it was almost too good to be true.

  Alyx was very pleased with himself, as he picked up the phone to his PA, to rearrange his schedule.

  ‘Hi Sarah, it’s Alyx… can you change my flight back to Paris, from tomorrow… to Monday or Tuesday? Tuesday if possible?’ Alyx requested.

  ‘You are staying for the weekend now?’ Sarah was surprised to hear this, he had been scheduled to fly back the next day.

  ‘Yes, yes, something has come up over here and I need to hang around for the weekend. Can you book me a direct flight to Paris?’ He knew that she shouldn’t have too much trouble getting a flight.

  ‘Ok, I’ll call you with the new flight details.’ Sarah sighed, she was constantly juggling his schedule for him.

  ‘Thanks Sarah, and if there are any urgent messages for me there, can you phone me?’

  ‘Of course.’ Sarah hung up.

  ***

  Penelope paced up and down in the break room.

  ‘I can’t wait until Saturday! I can’t believe this is happening, I’m walking on air… what will I wear? Hopefully we won’t have to work over the weekend, I can pop out and get something new. Oh no! Oh my god… I just realised, I have never seen him in casual clothes! That’s the real test, oh no, what if I go off him. I mean anyone can do suits moderately well, although he does do suits… really well. But sometimes, oh no… sometimes… people like that haven’t a clue about casual clothes, I’ll die if he turns up in a pair of chinos! Only one thing to do…’

  ‘Hi, it’s me, listen, I need to be quick…’ Penelope hissed.

  ‘Pen, what’s up? What happened with Ah… I mean… erm… Alyx?’ George stopped herself from over-pronouncing his name.

  ‘Well he’s taking me out on Saturday… and…’ Penelope spluttered.

  ‘Lovely!’ George squealed.

  ‘I know, but there is just one problem…’ Penelope began…

  ‘What! What’s the problem?!’ George interrupted.

  ‘Well, I’ve never seen him in, you know… well…’ Penelope struggled to not sound too shallow.

  ‘What, naked?!’ George exploded!

  ‘Oh my god no, not naked, Jesus George… talk about jumping ahead there… well anyway… I’ve never seen him in casual clothes, it’s the ultimate test of a man’s fashion sense…’ Penelope sounded tense.

  ‘Indeed it is, oh dear, I see what you mean…’ George knew how easily a bubble of perfection could burst, when you build someone up that much!

  ‘What do you think? He was wearing a suit the night I met him wasn’t he?’ Penelope hunted for reassurance from George.

  ‘Yep, but a really nice one, very… trendy, yep, fashionable, I would have faith in his casual clothes…’ George reassured her.

  ‘But George, sometimes the guys that do suits well, are terrible at the casual look.’ Penelope had seen this all too often as she went on dates with fellow bankers, they look lovely during the day… but casual clothes… hmmm… not great! In a fashion capital like London, clothes definitely did maketh the man.

  ‘True, true… yes, well there is only one thing for this…’ George sounded pensive as she said this.

  ‘What?!’ Penelope gasped.

  ‘If he turns up in chinos… you are going to have to picture him naked!’ George roared with laughter as she said this.

  ‘George! Really! This is serious, if you could just stop laughing for two seconds.’ Penelope was trying to get George back on track, she needed some serious help here!

  ‘I know, I’m sorry, it’s just so funny! So what if he turns up in chinos?’ George was still laughing as she said this.

  ‘He is as near to my perfect man that I have ever met, and that would destroy the whole thing,’ Penelope whined.

  ‘Hmm, I see what you mean, look I have a feeling that he will look cool, he works with rock stars and stuff all the time doesn’t he?’ George added.

  ‘Yeah…’ Penelope was starting to sound more confident now.

  ‘Well, they always have stylists and stuff like that floating around, and I’m sure that kind of thing can rub off on a guy.’ Geor
ge definitely had a good point.

  ‘Ok, ok, you have calmed me down now, I know it sounds so shallow, but he is like… perfect, and it would really upset me if he didn’t meet expectations like the last time.’ Penelope sounded tense, she was so excited to see him again that she was worrying unnecessarily and over-reacting to the slightest thing. This was exacerbated by the lingering jet-lag.

  ‘It’d be like waking up from a lovely dream wouldn’t it?’ George got the picture. She had seen this happen to Penelope so many times before. She built guys up only to be disappointed.

  ‘Exactly!’ Penelope was delighted that George wasn’t being too judgmental.

  ‘Ok, well I don’t think you should worry about what he’ll be wearing, just focus on your outfit, and then just let it happen from there, ok hun?’ George was full of sound advice as always.

  ‘Ok, thanks George, look I better go.’ Penelope felt so much better, she knew that George was right about this, and her worries started to melt away.

  ‘Ok, good luck on Saturday,’ George said warmly.

  ‘Thanks, bye.’

  ‘She is an angel, she calms me down every time. I have no idea what I’ll wear, I might have to go with jeans and a really nice top, I don’t want to overdo it. I’ll have to make a trip to Bloomingdales on Saturday morning and get something. I might get an appointment with a personal shopper. I really, really can’t believe this is happening.’ Penelope headed back to the room to give Karyn a toilet break!

  ***

  Back in SW4 Zara paced up and down in the living room. It was Friday night and she was dreading the weekend that stretched ahead of her. Even though she barely ever saw Penelope when she was there, she would still bump into her every other day, and definitely at least once at the weekends. Now, somehow there was a bit of a gap in the house. Gerry was away, she didn’t know where Charlie was, and she knew she wouldn’t see Penelope until she was back next week. She would give anything to see her now. She really needed someone to talk to, and there was nobody else. She couldn’t tell her family or friends back home what had happened, they wouldn’t understand. She barely understood what was going on herself. The atmosphere in work this week had been unbearable, people were not dealing with the redundancies that well… all except for Rob of course, he was getting a great package and he already had a potential new job lined up for himself. Rumour had it that it was in the very company that was brandishing the pilfered golden plate. Zara had a dilemma, either she bury her head in the sand, stay in London and try to sort out the job situation, or she could head back home for the 21st that was going on… but what would she tell her family? They would definitely know that something was up. She missed her friends, she missed her family, she missed her cat… she missed her life. She felt like she was in some kind of in between place, slipping away from her old familiar life, and heading straight into the unknown. It was the scariest thing Zara had ever faced. She decided to sleep on it to see how she felt in the morning. Zara was completely emotionally exhausted after the shocking revelation of the London office shutting down. She made her way up to her room and she was sound asleep by 9 pm.

  ***

  Zara woke up the next morning at 6 am. She couldn’t believe that she had woken up that early naturally. The house was eerily quiet, and the dawn light was streaming through her curtains. It looked strange to her, probably only because she was never normally up that early. She headed down to the kitchen, and everything was awash with the morning light, she felt a great sense of calmness, and she knew exactly what she needed to do. She looked up the train timetable, and made immediate plans to head back home for Saturday night, she would surprise everyone. She was up this early, so she may as well make the most of it!

  Zara ate her breakfast in the kitchen, still half asleep… mentally picking out what she would wear that night… from her own wardrobe, in her own bedroom, in her own home! By 8 am she was out of the house and on her way back to Bangor. She made her way down to Clapham South, with a big empty bag, ready to be filled up with the next load of her clothes and shoes from home. She got down to the station, swiped her oyster card, and headed down on the escalator. She had never been in the station before when it was this empty, it all looked so weird to her. There was nobody around. She remembered Penelope’s advice, and strolled into the only carriage with a few girls in it. The Tube arrived at Euston in no time at all, and within half an hour Zara was on her way… home?

  The train pulled into the most familiar station in the world to Zara just in time for lunch. She felt a warm feeling of familiarity and her smile stretched from one ear to the other. She couldn’t wait to see her mum’s face when she opened the front door. She walked up her road slowly, she felt as if she had been away for a hundred years, at the same time she felt like she had never been away at all. Mr Thomas was out washing his car, his usual Saturday morning ritual. Mrs Henderson stood just inside her front gate watching the world go by. She was so elderly now, this was her time of the day. She would come out at about eleven, struggle down to her gate, and watch the world go by for half an hour, before she went back in, and retreated to the safety of her back garden. On a Saturday morning she would come out a bit later, to watch the children go by on their bikes, and Zara was just in time to see Mrs Henderson and give her a cheery hello.

  ‘Hello Mrs Henderson, it’s a beautiful day isn’t it?’ Zara smiled at the elderly lady.

  ‘Oh hello dear, yes, yes it is a lovely day, are you going on a trip?’ Mrs Henderson enquired.

  ‘Oh no Mrs Henderson, I’m actually back for a trip, I’m living in London now you see,’ Zara sighed.

  ‘Oh London! I used to love London… I haven’t been there in years, I used to live there you know, many years ago…’ Mrs Henderson stared off into the distance as she said this as if remembering a far-off time.

  ‘Really Mrs Henderson? I had no idea, I thought you had lived here all your life!’

  ‘No, dear, when I was just married I lived in London, in a place called Clapham, I don’t suppose you know it do you Zara?’ Mrs Henderson was illuminated with the memory of her life in London.

  ‘Clapham! Mrs Henderson, that is exactly where I am living now, I can’t believe you lived there, I’m sure it has changed a bit since you have been there.’ Zara was astounded. She could not believe this odd coincidence, in some ways she felt like it was a sign… a little bit of Clapham close to home.

  ‘Oh, I’m sure it has… I will root out some old photos, and the next time you come home, I will show them to you.’ Mrs Henderson smiled at Zara.

  ‘Oh, thank you Mrs Henderson, that would be lovely.’ Zara turned away and headed up to her front door, and put the key in the lock, she took a deep breath and opened the door.

  ‘Zara! Love! Is that you? We didn’t know you were coming, I would have come to collect you at the station, goodness, look at you, come here and give me a hug.’ Zara’s mum rushed towards her when she saw her in the hallway.

  ‘Hi mum, I really missed you.’ Zara hugged her Mum.

  There was a lovely smell of familiarity in the house, she couldn’t wait to go up to her room to see all of her things, her clothes, her photos… her life.

  ‘Your Dad has gone down to get the paper, he should be back any minute, he will be thrilled to see you. The house is so empty without you!’ Zara’s mum gasped.

  ‘I know what you mean mum,’ Zara stated knowingly. For the first time in her life, she knew exactly what her mum meant.

  Zara made her way slowly up to her bedroom, and inched the door open. She had the same feeling, it was like she had been gone for a hundred years, and also like she had never left. Her room was exactly as she had left it, and exactly as it had been for years, but somehow something felt different. Maybe it wasn’t different, … maybe she was different. She went over to her wardrobe and was filled with joy as she opened the door and was greeted by years and years’ worth of babysitting income expenditure. Her clothes, shoes, belts and handbags were bulging
out of it, they barely fit in the wardrobe. Zara rushed over to her dressing table and marvelled at the amount of lotions, potions, ornaments, photos and jewellery there. It was such a contrast to her empty bedroom in London. She couldn’t wait to bring some of it back to London with her. She immediately packed the clothes and shoes that she had desperately missed during the previous weeks. It was only when she didn’t have them for the first time ever, that she realised how often she wore them. There was nothing worse than the feeling of going to the wardrobe to take a certain top out only to find that it was miles away in a different wardrobe. She was sick of wearing the same few pairs of shoes over and over again, she couldn’t wait to bring this stuff back with her. Zara started stuffing tops into her bag until it would barely close. ‘I’m going to need a bigger bag.’ She thought as she rooted around her bedroom for another case to load up, and in no time at all it was full too. Zara sat on her bed and looked around her room, she hugged her teddy who she had never appreciated as much as she did now.

  ***

  Penelope woke up in Manhattan at 7 am on Saturday morning. She was wide awake due to the time difference and there was no point in even trying to go back to sleep. She opened the curtains and she could see the first signs of dawn bathing Midtown in a beautiful orange light. It was at moments like these that Penelope felt like she should pinch herself, her life was so amazing. No matter how many times she had been to New York, it never lost its novelty value for her. She loved looking at the skyscrapers. She could make out the gargoyles guarding some of the buildings, it really gave her a sense of how long these buildings had been around, it was magical indeed.

  Penelope pulled out her guidebook and checked the pages that she had folded down. She did not want to waste one second of her free time in New York. There were a few must dos, like grabbing a few things that you couldn’t get in London, including hopefully lunch in Dean & Deluca in Soho, heading to Bloomingdales, and all of the shops on 5th Avenue! She would definitely get a manicure and pedicure in the bliss spa, she had booked that in in advance thank heavens. Penelope got dressed and headed out, ready for her first adventure in Manhattan that day…