Chapter 29
The security guards gave me suspicious looks as I ran out of the gallery. I pulled my phone out of my bag whilst spinning round to get my bearings. I had no idea what part of the park had the ice rink, or where I was in relation to it. I was so lost at this point, I’d have to get another cab.
I hailed a taxi, with as much frantic arm flapping as I had in Calais, and hopped in.
‘I need to get to the ice rink,’ I said, almost out of breath. ‘The one in Central Park.’
I didn’t want a repeat of Calais, getting taken to the wrong one.
The taxi lurched away and I found Amy’s number.
‘Hello,’ she trilled. ‘Do you need a hand with the clue?’
‘No, I’ve figured it all out by myself.’
‘Good girl.’ She squealed down the phone.
‘I’m in a taxi, but I didn’t want you to be waiting for me at the gallery.’
‘Don’t worry, we’re not. Good luck and we’ll see you soon.’
I hung up and shoved my phone back in my bag. We were there already.
‘Woolman rink’s just through there,’ said the driver as I tapped my card on the keypad.
‘Thanks so much.’
‘Have a great day.’
‘I will. You too.’
I ran at first but I found my steps slowing the closer I got, doubting that I’d got this right. I’d leaped to all these conclusions and what if Noah wasn’t there? What if I’d read all this into the clues because I was so desperate to see him? What if it was just Amy and Caz?
I stopped to scan the horizon, and then I saw him, standing by the ice rink, a balloon in his hand. My balloon, the one I’d left in Staten Island this morning.
He was looking towards another entrance and I caught my breath as I watched him. He was searching the crowd, hope on his face. He must have sensed me watching and he turned and our eyes met. His smile widened, and even if I couldn’t see it from here, I knew his dimple was there on his cheek.
My legs were unsteady as I willed them towards him. It was the opposite to my arrival. Slow at first, and then I sped up until I was there, in front of him.
‘Hey,’ I said, still half convinced that he was a figment of my imagination.
I reached out and he grabbed my hands. I almost jolted at the crackle of electricity. There was no denying he was real now. It was Noah, in the flesh.
‘What are you doing here?’ I asked, unable to believe that it was really him.
‘Well, I missed one birthday with you, I wasn’t going to miss another one. Not when we only get them once every four years.’
‘And what? Are you going to lead me to the treasure?’ I said, trying to keep my breathing steady.
He shrugged, and he bit his lip as he smiled. ‘I hope so.’
My heart was hammering in my chest as I wondered what the treasure might be and what him being here might mean.
‘I was worried you wouldn’t get the clue. It felt like I’d been waiting here for hours,’ he said, and I noticed then that his hands were like blocks of ice.
‘Serendipitous. It’s one of my favourite words.’
‘Mine too, now,’ he said, nodding.
‘When did you get to New York?’
‘Last night. Paul got in a couple of hours before me.’
‘Paul’s here too? He’s been texting me from here?’ My mind was whirring.
‘The gang’s all here. Well, Nick’s still holding the fort at home with the twins. We were at Central Park this morning, and saw you racing your boat, terribly may I add. Did you run out of batteries?’
‘I can’t believe you saw that. I was being cautious, someone had to protect the deposit,’ I said. It burned my heart that he’d been here and I hadn’t seen him until now. ‘I’m glad you’re here. It didn’t feel like our big birthday without you.’
‘I know,’ he said. He turned to look at me and he took my breath away. ‘It’s good to see you.’
‘You too, you’re looking well. Travelling always suits you.’
‘I actually had a mud bath a few weeks ago; it’s supposed to have taken ten years off me.’
‘I wouldn’t go that far.’ He laughed again. It was the best sound in the world.
‘Thanks very much.’
‘You can always count on me to tell you the truth.’
‘That I can. I remember how much from our last big birthday,’ he said, nodding his head.
I felt instantly guilty about our argument at the Tate Modern.
I’d been angry about the near kiss, but I hadn’t needed to turn it into a personal attack.
We’d never really talked about it properly; we’d swept it under the carpet like so much that had gone unsaid when we got used to the new normal in the pandemic.
‘About that day. I’ve never said—’
He shook his head.
‘You don’t need to say anything.’
‘I do, I need to say sorry, and I need to say thank you.’
‘Thank you?’ He wrinkled his brow.
‘Yeah, what you said to me at the Tate. That I should put myself out there. Take a risk in love? And that’s what I did with Andrew.’
His hands started to tremble.
‘You didn’t get back together?’
I shook my head. ‘No, we didn’t. But we had a wonderful two and a half years, and whilst it didn’t work out, it made me realise that I’d quite like to be in a relationship. Having someone to say goodnight to. Someone to be there for you when you need them. Someone to finish—’
‘—your sentences for you,’ he said, a small smile spreading over his face. ‘Are you just quoting what I said about love when we first met.’
‘Kind of, although it’s a bit rusty. But wasn’t that the gist of what love was to you?’
‘Love’s a lot of things to me.’
The sun was setting, taking with it any heat from the day, but holding Noah’s hands, I felt like I was on fire.
‘You know, I want to thank you too for what you said that day. I mean, it was harsh, but fair. You were right, I shouldn’t have kissed you then.
I needed to be alone. And maybe if you hadn’t said that, I would have spent lockdown with Mags.
But instead, to prove a point to you, I stayed on my own.
I’m not going to lie, it was pretty shit at the beginning, but then I kind of got into it.
Especially when things opened up again and I could see people.
I liked that I could be who I wanted to be, go where I wanted.
Travel when I wanted to travel. No one to answer to. I’ve loved it, being me, just for me.
‘But … I’ve been thinking, lately, since you broke up with Andrew and you’re now single, and I’m still single. I’ve been single for four long years, may I add.’
‘Nothing to do with the pandemic happening for a lot of those, making it tricky to date people for at least two of those years?’
He smirked. ‘Still counts though.’
I spotted a small group of people that looked like they were watching us. I was about to point them out to Noah when I realised it was the rest of our gang. Paul was standing with his arm around Amy, and Caz had her head on Amy’s shoulder.
I waved at them, and they waved back enthusiastically.
I went to move towards them, but Noah tugged at my arm.
‘Hang on.’ He turned me towards him.
He was so close to me that I could feel his heart racing as much as mine.
‘I tried to kiss you four years ago, not because I couldn’t be on my own, not because I felt lost. But because it was you. I don’t know what happened in Calais, when we went on that wild goose chase trying to find something open. I didn’t care where we went, I just knew I wanted to go with you.’
‘You did?’ It was starting to sink in what this might mean.
‘I did, I wanted to see where the adventure took us, and look where it has. Sightseeing in deserted towns, boating on lakes, trips to Dead Zoos, bonding over being art philistines, and that’s just our big birthdays.
I could have filled the treasure hunt with late-night trips to kebab shops, and divey dance clubs, Tesco runs in the middle of the night to get the ingredients for banana splits. ’
A tear rolled down my cheek, and Noah wiped it away, his hand lingering there.
‘That day in the car park when I saw you playing with the charm on your wrist, I didn’t know that I was looking at a friend for life, one that I’d slowly fall for.
‘And so I hope, Luce, that four years is long enough to prove to you that I can be single, because I don’t want to be anymore, and I certainly don’t want you to fall in love with anyone else.
That was awful to watch, and to think that I’d spurred you on to do that when really I was trying to tell you to take a chance on us. ’ He screwed up his face.
‘You were?’ I spluttered, in shock about everything he’d said.
‘Yes. The trouble was, you’d hit a nerve so it came out a bit angry and, um, not quite to the point. So instead I’ve spent the last four years thinking about what I’d do if I got the chance again.’
I took his other hand in mine so that now both our hands were touching.
‘And what would you do?’
He brought his head down to mine and I held his gaze for a second.
‘I don’t know, I thought I might do this,’ he said, and he leaned in and kissed me. It was so soft and gentle but before it had even started, he pulled away. ‘I mean, if that’s OK with you?’
I let go of his hand and tugged at his coat and pulled him into me.
‘It’s more than OK.’
He smiled, and wrapped his arms around me before kissing me harder this time. His hands found the small of my back to pull me in closer.
I could hear whooping and it took a few moments to realise it was our friends. I took a step back and laughed.
‘I think they’ve been waiting for that for a while.’
‘As long as us?’ I said, biting my lip.
‘I don’t think anyone’s been waiting longer than us.’
He leaned in and kissed me again and this time I forgot about our friends.
‘Do you think we should go and see them?’ I asked, looking over towards them when we finally pulled out of the kiss. They were grinning almost as much as we were.
‘Before you do, you need your treasure,’ he said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a Tiffany blue box and I gasped. ‘Woah, don’t have a heart attack. It’s not that.’ He laughed and I loved how he knew without me saying a word what I was thinking. ‘I’m not trying to spook you.’
He handed me the box, which thankfully was bigger than a ring box, and I flipped it open.
It was a bracelet, like the one I used to wear, only this was beautiful.
It had a solid silver chain, and the four-leaf charm was silver too.
It was a sophisticated, grown-up version of the bracelet he’d bought me before.
‘Can I?’ he asked.
I nodded and he slipped the bracelet over my wrist so that the four-leaf clover hung from my wrist.
‘I thought we’d be waiting for you two for ever,’ said Amy, the group coming to us.
‘I’m sorry; Noah had to give me this bracelet.’
Caz raised her eyebrows in approval and had a look at it as I shook it from my wrist.
‘We’re talking about the twenty bloody years I’ve had to hear this one whine about it,’ said Paul, nudging his wife.
‘I’ve always said they’d be perfect.’
‘Sometimes it’s all about timing, isn’t it?’ said Caz, with a wink. She knew more than anyone how much it took for the stars to align in a relationship.
Caz joined in then and the five of us had a group hug. My heart couldn’t swell any more than it already was.
When we eventually let go, I realised Noah still had my hand in his, and he kissed me on the top of my head.
‘Ah,’ said Amy, a tear in her eye. ‘Young love, gets me every time.’
‘I don’t think they’re young love anymore. They’re ancient now,’ said Paul, poking at the balloon. ‘Just like the rest of us.’
‘Speaking of not getting any younger, are we going to get on this ice or what?’ said Caz.
‘Let’s do it,’ said Noah.
He didn’t let go of my hand as we made our way around the ice, skittish and wobbling, clinging to each other for dear life.
The daylight was fading and the lights of the buildings were springing on and starting to sparkle.
‘This is beautiful,’ I whispered to Noah as we clung to the side after we’d nearly fallen over. ‘I’m so glad you added this to the end of the hunt.’
‘Something touristy for the leap year birthday. A new adventure.’
‘A new adventure,’ I echoed. It certainly seemed like one and I couldn’t help wondering where we were going to spend the next leap year, and the one after that, and the one after that. We’d had twenty years of leap years together, and that was only the start of our story.