Chapter Seventeen
seventeen
Ridley
They made the short walk in silence and Ridley correctly guessed that they were headed to Central Park as they walked along Fifth Avenue to the southeast side entrance across from the Plaza Hotel. They followed the small sign pointing toward a zoo.
Only her breathing at his side and the warmth of her body slightly leaned into his arm reminded him he wasn’t alone. She hadn’t told him about her feelings for her cousin’s fiancé before but it hadn’t been hard to glean. When they discussed it, she’d been so adamant about the couple’s incompatibility that even he began to suspect there was more to it than she’d said.
Ridley gave her a small smile as soon as he saw the ironwork ivy trellises and granite stone pillars. But she patted the arm locked with hers as a gentle signal to stop before they got there. Instead, they settled on one of the benches along the promenade leading to the zoo’s entrance.
“How are you feeling?” He examined her face.
Her eyes focused on him as she returned from wherever she’d retreated to.
“I’m sorry,” she said, covering her mouth belatedly, horrified.
He shook his head. “It takes a level of intimacy to have confided what you did. Deliberately or not.”
She gave him a weak smile for that.
“You’re fine,” he said. Bea sometimes got overwhelmed too, so Ridley recognized the signs. But he didn’t say that because Lanie didn’t take it well the last time he’d mentioned Bea. Instead, he handed her the tote and she pulled their sandwiches from it.
“I’ve got roast beef and grilled chicken.” She held both of them out to him and he tapped the chicken.
Lanie appeared more present, but the strained silence remained. Ridley knew the longer it continued the more difficult it would be to salvage their limited time together. He reached for lighter ground. “So, how about those Knicks?”
She snorted. “Pass.”
“Whew,” he joked, making a show of wiping his brow. “What about the Mets, Nets, Jets? Any opinions?”
“The Mets with their current roster won’t make it to the postseason next year, not that I care. I’m a Bronxite, so rooting for them would be heresy,” she said, between chews of her sandwich. “Now, the Nets have no rotation behind their current starting center, which is gonna put them in a tough spot come playoff time.”
His mouth was agog before the corners rose slightly.
“And the Jets...well, the Jets. What can I say? They are a team of well-paid professional athletes, allegedly.”
When she came back, she did it with a vengeance, apparently. He stared.
“What?”
“So, you’re not a fan of sports, is what I’m hearing you say,” he deadpanned.
“Not really, but my dad was,” Lanie admitted. “He took me to assorted games as a kid. For his visitation, it was always a game and dinner. Although we weren’t allowed to eat anything at the stadium, only real restaurants like ‘civilized people.’” She rose rather abruptly to throw their refuse away.
Ridley scrambled to catch up with her just as she made it to the entrance of the zoo.
“I lost most of my enthusiasm for it all when I realized it was more about him seeing a game and having a nice meal than about me. Haven’t had any real love for any of it since then but I learned a lot.”
Her father sounded like a dirtbag. Men like him gave Ridley agita. “Yeah, I have a love-hate thing with basketball myself,” he agreed, deciding not to pry further. He certainly didn’t want to discuss his college years spent hustling up and down a basketball court for scholarship money. Ridley checked his watch and blew out a breath. Damn . “Unfortunately, this is going to have to be a whistle-stop tour of the zoo. I have a meeting at three.”
“Hold up, I said let’s go earlier and you’re the one who wanted it later.”
He straightened his glasses, eyebrows rising. Is she angry about that? “True, so I shuffled things a bit when it didn’t work for you.”
Lanie’s face did a peculiar thing he couldn’t read. Then she cleared her throat, but still sounded pitchy. “Oh yeah? Good, ’cuz I’m still expecting to see you in London whether or not you cancel on me here.”
“As I fully expected.”
After a moment of unseemly haggling— as if I’d ever allow her to go pay for the tickets when she paid for the lunch I’d invited her to —they walked briskly through the exhibits of the park.
“How about you? Do you have a favorite sport?” Lanie asked, smiling as they approached the Polar Circle, the penguin and harbor seal enclosure.
“Nope, but I do like football... I mean soccer. My wife, Thyra, and her family are insane Arsenal fans and I inherited it.”
Lanie watched him intently like what he said was riveting. It was a little unnerving when she got intense like that. He nearly laughed at himself. According to Thyra and Dash, that would be a bit like the pot calling the kettle black.
“I get it,” she replied a second later, breaking into a laugh that he’d come to enjoy immensely. “My cousin is a huge Man U fan while her twin is all about Real Madrid. I stay out of it.”
His eyebrows rose. “Champions League must be really fun in their house.” He got it. The Baker-Smythes tolerated little dissent in their ranks. It was Arsenal or finding a new place to live.
“Oh yeah... ‘And that’s why I killed them both, Your Honor,’” Lanie quipped.
She was so funny. But it was often so wry he could understand if people didn’t always get her.
She smiled at him, looking pleased, although he had no idea what he’d done. Then her wide eyes moved from his face to the harbor seals splashing and slipping in and out of the water behind the glass
A short while later, he checked his watch. Shit , the time was flying and he couldn’t keep Dr. Haim, the medical director, waiting. He’d spent over a month trying to get on his schedule only to be told it was this afternoon or not for another five weeks.
“I think I gotta go.”
Lanie looked lost in delight, smiling at the seals’ antics.
“Lanie?”
“Yeah?” she said absently as if she didn’t want to tear her eyes away.
Her joy was enchanting. He found her enthusiasm for small things diverting. He really hated having to leave now. “As much as I love the penguins and seals, we gotta cut this short.”
She checked her phone and grimaced. “Oh, okay. Let’s go.”
They made it back much faster this time. At the corner of First Avenue and Sixty-ninth Street, where their paths diverged, they waited for the light to change. He groaned inwardly. Hanging out with her was quickly becoming something he looked forward to. Ridley supposed he should actually say that.
“Sorry, I wish I had more time,” he said instead.
Lanie swiped at the air, as if brushing the words off. “It wasn’t as fabulous as Coney Island would’ve been but I’m sure your daughter will get a kick out of you telling her about this.” Lanie pulled out a fuzzy toy from her tote. It was an emperor penguin. She handed it to him as he stood stunned.
“Wha—? Where’d you find the time to grab this?” He was genuinely pleased; Bea would love it.
She shrugged. “When you were buying the tickets, I got it from the kiosk. I thought you might like it. Emperor penguin fathers look after the eggs after the mothers have to leave to forage. They sleep standing up to keep their eggs warm for more than two months until they hatch in the spring. They go one hundred and twenty-five days without food for their chicks.”
Ridley turned the little bird toy over in his hands. Most of the time, being Bea’s father was gift enough but every once in a while it felt good to be seen. Even by a relative stranger with a gift intended for his daughter.
“If you don’t like it, I can take it back?” she said quickly, as if she was waiting for him to shove the bird back at her.
“Thank you.” He squeezed it between his hands like an oversized stress ball, as he tried desperately to marshal his feelings over this small but potent gift.
This woman is something else.
“This is great.” He swallowed and finally looked up at her when he was certain she wouldn’t see the moist sheen irritating his eyes behind his glasses. “This was a, uh, fun little lunch date.”
“We got off to a rocky start there but ultimately it was my pleasure,” Lanie joked.
“Next time you come to London, I promise I’ll do you one better.”
“ Do me?” Lanie gave a weird cough-laugh hybrid, making an odd, almost giddy noise that made him wonder what he’d said, before answering, “I—I mean, I’ll expect you to.”
He checked his watch using the same hand that tightly held the penguin. “Gotta run.”
It was hard to leave.
Ridley touched her lightly as he had before, turning into her and leaning in to give her a kiss on the cheek. But Lanie reached up for a hug then, turning her face into his too. She sucked in a startled breath when his lips accidentally brushed the corner of her mouth. He pulled back in surprise, looking into her eyes and giving a faintly embarrassed little laugh, which she matched, at their mistake.
But wow . What a mistake.
It had been so long since his mouth had been on someone else’s and definitely since the last time he’d felt the same voltaic charge he felt now. Almost without his consent Ridley’s hand, that had been very barely touching her waist, pulled her closer. Staring into his eyes, Lanie leaned in too and his heart thudded wildly.
Was he really about to do this? Ridley looked from her ridiculously plush and pouty lips to her bright golden eyes. Then she licked those lips.
That’s it! Fuck it. Yes, I am.
Insensible to the broad daylight and the very busy, very public street, he slowly placed his mouth over Lanie’s. She tasted deliciously of lime Italian soda and cherry ChapStick. But with a herculean effort on his part, the kiss remained just this side of chaste. Just his mouth on hers, his lips capturing hers.
“Get a room!” A cabbie hanging a right around that corner honked, shattering the moment.
Though it felt as if the world quieted for a time, Ridley was sure it had only lasted seconds, because he nearly groaned with need when Lanie pulled back a moment before their tongues touched, startled by the noise.
“Shit,” he whispered as they parted, scanning her face as if he didn’t know how they’d ended up here.
Lanie pulled back further, shaky fingers pressed to her reddened lips.
Shit. Shit. Shit!
They stood there, momentarily stunned. He didn’t know who would apologize or if anyone should.
Finally, she spoke. “Fly safe.”
Okay then.
“See you soon,” he said because he could think of nothing besides her mouth.
My God.
He turned and left, walking quickly down the street.