New York Valentine Part 21

He leaned over and selected a magazine from the bedside table. He had a feeling this was going to take some time.

'I just want to settle her down. Make sure she knows everything's OK.'

'That's fine ... of course.'

'Are you sulking?'

'Just a bit. I'll get over it. We're supposed to be meeting Lana for dinner in ...' he glanced at his watch: 'twenty-five minutes. You don't have to miss that, do you?'

'Of course not. She's going to try and bring Taylor along. I'm not missing that.'

'If you phone your mum back, the romance window will have to close.'

'I have to phone Mum back.'

'I know. Pity.'

'Well, they managed to stay for a respectable two courses,' Annie said, looking over at the two empty seats at the other side of the restaurant table.

'I don't think Lana ate much though, she was too excited about him and too nervous about us,' Ed pointed out.

'She was nervous? I was terrified. For 20, he is quite scary. How often did he mention the words "career plan" and "resume"? I have no idea why he's hanging out with Lana and not trying to date an heiress or at least the boss's daughter.'

Ed smiled. 'I know, but don't be too harsh. I deal with guys like him all the time at St Vincent's. Their parents are rich and important and all that self-confidence and sense of ent.i.tlement rubs off on their kids too. I know sixteen-year-olds even more bullish than him. Please, let's not fret too much. This is their first week of dating. Lana's on holiday over here, it's not as if we're discussing her future husband.'

Annie gave a little shriek of terror at the very thought. Then she noticed Lana's empty gla.s.s. 'He topped up her wine gla.s.s more than once ... do you think she's OK?'

'She was when she left,' Ed rea.s.sured her. 'Taylor said he was going to buy her a coffee and see her back to the apartment. I'm sure everything will be fine. She has a phone if there are any problems. "Just coffee!" she said.'

'I've told her he's not allowed back to the apartment with her. I'm sorry if that's a bit Victorian but I'm with you, Elena's probably out, and Lana's only known this guy for a few days. Way too soon.'

'For unsupervised access,' Ed added, trying not to smile.

'b.l.o.o.d.y right.'

He reached across and took her hand in his. 'What about us? Are we tired?'

'Yes.'

'But are we going to have a coffee? A little dessert? Try to rally?'

She slipped her hand over his: 'Two double espressos and a chocolate mousse might do the trick.'

'Here's hoping.'

Over the chocolate mousse and coffee, they sent a couple of texts to Dinah and Owen to make sure everything was fine at home, then finally the bill was paid and Ed and Annie made the short walk back to their hotel.

'I hope you're thinking what I'm thinking?' Annie asked Ed as he unlocked the door to their hotel room.

'Oh yeah,' Ed replied.

Inside the room, Ed took off his jacket, landed his wallet and keys on the table, then threw himself into the depths of the deep cus.h.i.+ons and fluffy duvet on the white bed. 'Hours and hours of s.e.x.'

Annie sat on the edge of the bed and unbuckled her shoes, rubbing her hands over the marks the straps had made on the skin.

'Hours and hours of sleep,' she told him, smiling fondly at him.

'Technically, this is our honeymoon, have you thought about that?' he said, reaching to stroke her back.

'This is our honeymoon?! Three nights in a budget hotel worrying about who our daughter's with? Does it get more romantic?'

'Annie, just phone her if you're worried.'

'Ed, they said they were going to a place three streets from the apartment. Then he was going to drop her at the door. I'm almost totally convinced that she's safe. But if I dial, she won't pick up because it's embarra.s.sing getting phoned by your mum, so then I'll spend the next hour worrying myself into a frenzy.'

'Which would be a shame,' he said, moving closer, 'because you could spend the next hour doing something much better.'

'You are dangerously cute,' she told him, but her arm was reaching out across the bed. This bed was so big ... it was so soft. She'd spent night after night sharing a sofa bed with Lana and this really was going to be heaven.

'Take your clothes off,' Ed whispered against her ear.

'Just what have you got planned?'

'Ma.s.sage?' he offered.

'Ooooh baby, yes ... yes!'

She unb.u.t.toned her dress and flung it over the back of a chair, then she unhooked the straps of her bra and let herself fall face down on the bed. She sank into crisp white cotton and fluffiest down duvet.

Bliss.

Ed's warm fingers were at the nape of her neck. He began circling with his thumbs, easing away the knots of tension there.

Annie murmured in approval. 'Do you have any idea how good this feels?' she whispered.

'You used to say that about some of my other moves too.'

'Keep going, just keep going and I may perk up enough for some of those other moves too,' she said, although now that her shoulders were loosening, it was becoming very, very hard to keep her eyelids from drooping.

Ed lay beside her and began to trace his finger lightly down her spine. 'Hey ...' he said gently, tenderly against her ear.

But Annie's eyes were closed.

Ed leaned down a little closer. There was no mistaking the sound. It was quite a small and quite a low sound, but it was definitely Annie snoring.

Chapter Nineteen.

Ed in New York: Light blue linen s.h.i.+rt (Boden, present from Annie)

White chinos (Hackett, present from Annie)

Blue flip-flops (market stall)

Sungla.s.ses (dodgy knock-offs borrowed from Owen)

Factor 30 suncream (Boots)

Total est. cost: $210

'It feels like a date.'

'Mustard or onions?'

'Both!' Ed replied with a grin, 'I'm in New York, I need to have the full experience.'

Annie got the hot dog salesman to load up their buns with onion and mustard. Then, hand in hand, they walked towards one of the benches on Museum Mile to eat and to watch New York go by.

'I've not made you go to too many museums?' Ed wondered, his mouth now full of hot dog and onions.

'Four museums in one day is a lot, but I came prepared,' she said, pointing to her unusually sensible shoes. 'I loved MOMA and the Folk Art Museum,' she added through her second mouthful, 'the presidents' heads? Remember?'

'Oh yes,' Ed laughed, 'by the barber, who'd carved them in his shop over the years, in all the spare time between customers.'

'Thank you for taking me,' Annie told him, leaning against his arm. 'Sometimes I forget how much I like museums and proper art ... sometimes I'm maybe a little too caught up in the art of ...'

'Shopping?!'

'Fas.h.i.+on,' she corrected him, 'it's fas.h.i.+on, never just call it shopping!'

'I know, sorry, how could I forget.'

'There's all this incredibly creative stuff going in fas.h.i.+on. It's an art form all of its own.'

'OK ... art student,' he teased.

'Music buff,' she teased straight back.

'Are you glad I came all the way to see you?'

'Of course! Of course I'm glad you came. This has been one of the nicest days we've had together for ... ages.'

'It feels like a date,' he said, carefully wiping his hand with a napkin, then reaching over to hold hers. Sweet.

'I know. I can't get over how much time there is in a day when we don't have the twins with us. I feel like we've been out for hours and hours and it's still only 4p.m. We have the whole evening ahead of us. Unbelievable!'

'What are we going to do tonight?' Ed asked.

'Tonight? Tonight is all about going back to the hotel room early to bounce the headboard off the wall,' she said and shot him a wink.

'Really? It's not going to end like last night? Me ma.s.saging, you snoring.'

'I do not snore!' Annie protested. 'Look over there, other side of the road. Could that couple be more Upper East Side?'

Ed followed her gaze to a middle-aged man in a gold-b.u.t.toned navy blazer accessorized with cravat and cigar. Walking alongside him was a younger, very thin woman in a pink s.h.i.+ft dress and huge sungla.s.ses leading a minuscule fluffy dog on a pink lead.

'Look how thin her arms are,' Annie whispered. 'How does she lift up that vast gold bracelet?'

'Wiry but tough, these New York girls.'

'Don't you love it?' Annie asked, leaning back against the bench, turning her face to the late, late summer sun. 'All human life is here. When I wake up in Manhattan, I feel that anything could happen. Absolutely anything!'

Ed leaned over and kissed her on her slightly mustardy lips.

'This sounds a little bit like longing,' he said.

'I know. I've got a big, big crush. Huge. If I didn't have any attachments, then I might consider it. A move stateside. My own postage-stamp-sized apartment, eating pancakes in the diner for breakfast every morning ... having a New York adventure every day. But I love every single one of my attachments,' she added quickly.