by Lorin Grace
The driver turned down a street and stopped in front of the building that housed Scott & Ricks. As Nick took the elevator to Adrian Scott’s office for the PR meeting about the museum, he couldn’t help but wonder which floor Zoe worked on and if he was losing his mind.
Zoe followed April into the elevator.
“How was your first day?”
Zoe turned so April could see her entire face. “Long, but good.” Her right index finger slid partway up her left arm before she stopped herself.
“You sign?” April pointed to Zoe’s hand.
“My youngest brother is deaf. We all learned, but my skills are not good.” She knew her syntax was off, but other than a weekend home here and there, she hadn’t signed regularly for a few years.
April’s hands started flying.
Zoe only caught a few words. She signed back, “Slower, please. It has been awhile.”
April slowed her signing. “No one else in the office signs other than Ms. Ricks.” April spelled out the name and then used a name sign. “If you ever need to talk and don’t want someone to overhear, come find me.”
“I guess the same goes for you.”
The elevator dinged, and they got out on the first floor. April checked her watch. “I am late to meet my boyfriend. Lunch tomorrow?”
“Sure. Later.” Zoe turned in the direction of the subway stop.
“April must be thrilled to have another signer in the office.”
Zoe turned at the sound of James’s voice behind her. “Oh, I am sure she finds the office environment challenging. My brother is always afraid he is missing something at school.” This year he started high school at the state school in Indianapolis.
They walked down the stairs. Zoe double-checked the map and directions before putting her card through the turnstile.
James stayed at her side. “By this time next week, you’ll be a pro and come running through here like the rest of us.”
“That obvious?”
He laughed. “Live here long enough, and you learn to distinguish the tourists from the locals pretty fast.”
“So I’m a tourist?” Zoe picked a spot on the platform to wait.
“You aren’t dressed tourist, but you don’t act local, either. I would suggest you get a cross-body bag and carry the way she is.” James pointed to a woman in front of them.
The train whooshed into the station, and they squeezed aboard with the other passengers. Zoe found a spot near a pole and held on. James grabbed an overhead bar near her. As the train started, she planted her feet.
“Yup, tourist.”
James got off two stops later. Zoe kept an eye on the map, not wanting to miss her stop and connection. A mother sitting with her children on the bench in front of her used the time to quiz the older daughter on the alphabet. Most passengers stared at their phones. Doors opened and closed. The overhead sign announced the next stop. The train turned to the right. She didn’t remember the turn from this morning. She studied the map again, then consulted the app on her phone. Rats! She had missed the transfer station. The next stop should put her at the bottom of Central Park. She would only need to walk a mile or so to the apartment, which was better than backtracking and finding a train going the other way.
At the top of the stairs, she tried to get her bearings as people dodged around her. Nothing looked familiar from her walk the other day. After walking two blocks and not finding the park, she turned and walked the other direction.
So many buildings were constructed of the same brick and style that using them to navigate became pointless. She turned right only to find the street numbers decreasing. She turned again. Eventually she would either run into her street or the park. As long as the street numbers went up, she could get home. However, her ankles might break from these stupid shoes first.
A car honked, and someone yelled her name.
Nick had his driver double-park long enough to hop out of the town car. He jogged back down the street. “Zoe! What are you doing over here?”
“Going home after work?” The uncertainty in her voice tugged at his heart.
Nick didn’t point out that she was over a mile away and looked lost. Not the safest combination in the city. “My driver is circling the block. No offense, but those shoes are not meant to hike as far as you need to go. May I offer you a ride?”
She nodded. “Thanks for rescuing me, again.”
“Let me guess. You missed your stop and figured you could just walk from the next one?” Nick steered her to a place where his driver could stop without blocking traffic.
“Pretty much. I got turned around and couldn’t find the park.” His driver pulled up. Nick opened the door and let Zoe slide in first. He slipped in after her and gave his driver Sean’s old address. “How was your first day?”
“Overwhelming. Wonderful.”
“No wonder you got lost. Were you going to text me?” Nick made a mental note to show her how to use one of the map apps to track her location.
“After leaving so ungraciously Sunday, I wasn’t sure I should.” She bit her lip.
“I bought Little Miss Eloise. She does make an excellent addition to my Hilary Knight mural.”
“You really have a mural in your place by the author of the Eloise books?” She met his eye.
“I told you I lived where she did.”
Zoe’s mouth formed an O.
“You are invited anytime.” He didn’t expect her to take him up on the invitation.
“Maybe sometime.” She looked out the window as she answered.
“Your mother taught you never to be alone in a guy’s apartment with him, didn’t she?”
The color in her cheeks heightened.
“It is a good rule. My mother told my sisters the same thing. If you want, you could call your cousin and have her on a video call the entire time I give you the tour, or I can get my younger sister to come over one evening. Would that work for you?” He played with one of his cuff links while he waited for her answer.
The driver found a space a couple doors down from Zoe’s apartment.
“I am sure a tour with Candace would work. I’d hate to put your sister out.” She slid across the seat and out the door he held open.
Not letting the opportunity to spend more time with Zoe slip by, Nick checked his watch. “How about in an hour and a half? I need to do a couple things first.”
“That works.” She waved and walked down the street.
Nick got back into the car.
“Sebastian, take note of this address. I have a feeling it will become familiar.” He hoped. Her agreeing to see him again tonight was a huge step.
“It already is, sir. Your friend Sean’s place?”
“And that is why you are the best driver in the city.” He resisted the urge to text Colin to make sure Candace was free. What would Zoe think of his place? Too much? Chances were her parents’ house was smaller than his penthouse. If his money was really that big of an issue to her, this would be a good test. At least his place didn’t have something ostentatious like a live-in butler or helipad.
eight
Zoe dug through her closet. Everything felt a bit too country mouse. The microwave dinged. Candace’s words from yesterday’s phone call came back to her. “Nick is generous. Tessa says he always has been, and she’s suspected he was behind the repaired organ pipes since Christmas. I don’t think he is trying to buy you. It is just his way.”
He hadn’t asked for anything in return, yet. She was still nervous about going to his penthouse with only a video call as a chaperone. She had spent most of yesterday looking him up online. If cyberspace was right, Nickolas C. Gooding was as good as his name.
She washed her fork, then tossed the plastic container away, checking it to s
ee what she’d just eaten. She couldn’t recall eating a bite.
Her phone buzzed. We are about a block away. The driver asks if you can come down. Parking is tricky.
Coming.
Zoe double-checked her lock before heading down.
Nick held the door open for her. “Sebastian would have gotten out, but this is faster.”
Zoe slid across the seat.
“Zoe, meet Sebastian. He has been driving for me since I was in elementary school. Sebastian, this is Zoe.”
Sebastian nodded in the mirror and started the car forward.
Nick turned in his seat. “Next time you are lost, please give me a call. I may not be able to find you, but Sebastian will. If I am in a meeting or something, he will get you home.”
“You don’t need to do that. I mean, it’s a lot of trouble.” She hoped she didn’t come across as ungrateful.
Sebastian turned onto a busier street and caught Zoe’s eye in the mirror. “I’d be happy to pick you up. I get bored waiting for this kid sometimes. It would give me something to do.”
“Well, thank you for the offer. But I am not planning on getting lost again.” Checking her map app after she’d gotten home, Zoe had realized the app had a locator feature. Next time, she would know where she was.
“Did you plan on getting lost tonight?” Nick adjusted his seat belt and turned to face her.
“No.”
“Well, then, you never know when you might need a bit of help.”
Zoe showed him her phone. “I should have realized I had this.”
Sebastian made another turn and glanced in the review mirror at Zoe. “I’ve been driving in this city for over thirty years. GPS doesn’t always tell you everything you need to know. I have seen a lot of stuff I wish I hadn’t driving these streets. Please don’t hesitate to call. It only takes being a block or two off from where you should be for things to go a way you don’t intend.”
“Are you two trying to scare me?”
Nick touched her arm. “Not much, but we do want you to call if you need to.”
Sebastian pulled into an underground parking garage. “Nick, make sure you give her my direct line.” He parked the car, got out, and opened Zoe’s door. “And don’t you hesitate to call if you need to. My only job is to drive Nick, and occasionally his family, around, so I have lots of free time.” The look the driver gave her reminded Zoe so much of her father she didn’t dare say anything but yes. Finding friends in the city was easier than she thought.
Over the phone, Candace oohed and aahed twice as often as Zoe. On several occasions, Zoe had to show Candace a painting or a room layout more than once. Nick left them alone to wander while he checked what goodies his housekeeper had left. Vanilla ice cream, bananas, chocolate sauce. Good banana splits pushed his cooking skills to the limit.
He followed the sound of Zoe’s voice to the second floor and out to the balcony. She’d found something she admired—the park. Twilight did not do the view justice. Sometime, he would show her the park in daylight. Nick leaned against the rail next to her. “The entire principality of Monaco would fit inside the park.”
“I’ve heard that before, but I can’t picture Monaco being so small. I mean, the park is not much bigger than my father’s eight-hundred-acre farm, which is on the large side but only because he bought my uncle out.”
Over the phone, Candace laughed. “I hadn’t thought of the size in terms of the farm, but you are right.”
“So were you both raised on a farm?” The concept was something out of books like Charlotte’s Web. He tried to picture both women with pigs and horses.
Zoe answered. “We were. Zoe can detassel corn faster than any girl in the county. That’s how she got crowned Corn Princess three years running.” Zoe angled the phone so Nick could see Candace.
Nick would have to ask about the corn thing later.
“She made me run just so she could be Corn Princess.” Zoe rolled her eyes.
He knew better than to question the existence of a corn royalty.
“Don’t take stalk in anything she says.”
Zoe turned the phone. “None of your corny jokes.”
“Fine. I’ll save them for Halloween. Then they will be early.”
“Aw, shucks, ladies, you two are a-maize-ng with the puns.” Nick joined in. He wasn’t the biggest punster, but he did enjoy a few.
Zoe turned and stared. “You pun?”
“Occasionally, but I have field my pun quota for today.” He hoped the general farm one worked.
A loud groan came from the phone. “Make him stop! He is worse than you.”
“Says the one who started it.” Zoe glared at the phone.
They all laughed.
“If you are done with the tour, I have ice cream in the kitchen.” Nick stepped back and allowed Zoe to enter the open doorway first.
Halfway down the stairs, she paused, looking at her phone. “Sure. Tomorrow.” Zoe pocketed the phone and finished descending the stairs. “Candace had someone at the door and needed to go.”
“Do you want to stay for ice cream? We could grab something at one of the restaurants downstairs instead.”
She took a minute to weigh her decision, then looked at him for a long moment before answering. “I think I can stay long enough for ice cream.”
They made their sundaes and took them out to the porch.
Zoe sat in one of the wrought-iron chairs at the table. “Do you get used to the sounds of traffic all night long?”
“I don’t hear the traffic inside other than the occasional siren. So I guess I never thought about it. Are you having problems sleeping?”
“Not much. The first night I think I heard every sound. But my first summer home after going to college, I thought the silence would keep me up all night, and then the rooster started his wake-up call. I wanted to wring his neck.”
“The Cottage in Blue Pines doesn’t have any traffic, so I spent most of my early years there but came into the city often enough the noise never bothered me.”
“So you didn’t grow up in the city?”
“Not in the way Sean did. My bedroom was at the Cottage. I had one at the penthouse my dad kept here, but I didn’t go to elementary school in the city. Blue Pines is home, and coming to the city was a vacation, only closer than the other places Mom and Dad took us.”
“But you decided to live in the city, not in Blue Pines. Why?” Her bowl was half empty. His was almost gone.
Nick slowed his eating to prolong the conversation. “I didn’t want to be one of those guys who went home after college to live with Mom and Dad. Can you see the headlines on the gossip papers? ‘Rich-as-Midas trust-fund kid lives in parents’ basement.’ I did stay at my parents’ place in the city until I found this place.”
She smiled. “I think you found the perfect place. If I was to ever dream up a Plaza, this one may be beyond my imagination. Of course, I am living a dream right now. New York. Scott & Ricks. And now I am eating ice cream at Eloise’s.”
“With a billionaire.”
“Oh yes, eating ice cream with a billionaire at Eloise’s. It’s like I am the star of some weird reality show where all my dreams come true.”
“Even the billionaire part?” He needed to know. If the money was as huge an obstacle as she’d made it sound at the wedding, there wouldn’t be much of a future for them.
“Well, since all your gold was stolen . . . ”
“I got most of the gold back . . . though some of the platinum is rumored to have been smuggled to Canada.”
She made an exaggerated thinking face. “Any dream would be incomplete without a friend, so the fact that you live in this castle can be overlooked. Thanks for rescuing me today and for inviting me up. I am sorry about my reaction to y
ou buying a doll. I am not comfortable having money spent on me. But that is my problem, not yours.”
“If you are calling me friend, then how you feel about my money is our problem.” He reached over and took her fingers in his, then gave them a gentle squeeze. “Would you like me to take you home now?”
“I think so.”
“Come on, then, and you can roll your eyes at my overpriced car.” Nick gave her a huge smile.
She smiled back and rolled her eyes.
Progress. He’d wait for more.
nine
It had taken less than a week to get to the point she wasn’t watching the map the entire subway ride and could walk to the correct platform without double-checking. Zoe pretended to read something interesting on her phone to blend in but still wasn’t comfortable ignoring the sights and sounds of her first Friday morning commute. Her phone vibrated, and a text from Nick popped up.
—Busy tonight? Dad was going to take Mom to a show, but she isn’t feeling well. He gave me his tickets. Want to go?
Did he mean a movie or Broadway? Not wanting to look ignorant, Zoe didn’t ask. Sure, what time?
—Show starts at eight. Pick you up at seven.
Okay, see you then. :)
—Aren’t you going to ask which one?
Does it matter? It is just part of the NYC dream.
—LOL. To most people, yes.
Fine, what show?
—It’s a surprise.
FYI, I am rolling my eyes. Zoe inserted an eye-roll emoji for good measure.
