New Year in Manhattan(28)

“Hey, I’m ready.”

“You look incredible,” he said, reaching his hand out to cup my ass.

“You don’t look so bad yourself.” What I meant was he looked heart-stoppingly handsome. He was wearing a suit but no tie. He seemed to get better looking, if that was at all possible. “I like your hair longer like that,” I said, pushing my fingers through the strands as he bent to kiss my neck.

“You’ll need your coat. And gloves and a scarf.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Anna,” he growled.

Ethan had hired a car for the evening and we headed uptown to the restaurant.

To my surprise we pulled up at the entrance to the Time Warner building. We seemed to be going to the Mandarin Oriental.

I looked at Ethan and he smiled at me and took my hand as we walked inside. We didn’t end up going to the hotel. Instead we headed to the fourth floor, to a restaurant called Per Se.

“I thought you might like to look out from here. It’s lower than from the suite, but still beautiful and I know how you love that view.”

“Ethan, it’s beautiful and thoughtful and—thank you.”

They seated us kitty corner by the window and a stunning view of Columbus Circle and Central Park.

“Have you been here before?”

He shook his head “No. But I always wanted to come. I’ve never had the opportunity until now. And tonight seemed to be the perfect time to share this with you.”

“You’re right. It is perfect.”

I had butterflies in my stomach. The evening felt big. Ethan had clearly put a lot of thought into picking this place.

“Shall we have a glass of champagne?” he asked

I nodded a little too enthusiastically.

“Maybe a bottle?” he asked the waiter. “Are you okay?” he asked me when we were alone again.

“Yeah, of course. A bit overwhelmed coming back here, you know?”

He nodded. “To where it all began? It was only going to be for the night and now you’re moving here.”

“Are we being crazy?” I asked him. “Maybe this is a little nuts,” I said, thinking out loud, my heart starting to thump in my chest.

“What do you mean crazy?”

“I mean me moving to New York and us living together. I had a job and I have friends and family in London and I’m going to start again in New York. I mean it sounds like maybe it’s a little crazy?”

“Are you worried? Are you thinking you might not want to?”

I took a deep breath and thought about the question. Was I worried? I shook my head. “I don’t feel worried. I know in my heart like it’s the right thing to do, but I think that if I was looking at my decision, not knowing how I feel about you, then I’d think I was a little nuts. Does that make sense?”

All I could think was that this was happening so quickly. Coming back here brought it all in to focus. I needed to calm down. It wasn’t like I couldn’t undo things if it all went badly wrong, right? If I could handle the worst case scenario—Ethan and I breaking up once I’d moved here—surely I would feel better.

Ethan didn’t respond, he just looked at me. I couldn’t read him.

“And it’s not like I don’t have a job. And we’re getting married or anything, god forbid.”

“God forbid?”

“Yeah, I mean, it will be fine. I’m looking forward to it.”

Ethan was silent. I reached for his hand and he squeezed it as he looked out onto the view.

“I’m sorry. I was thinking out loud. I shouldn’t do that. I just got overwhelmed coming back here, thinking back to our beginning and forgot my filter.”

“I don’t want you to filter anything. I’ve told you. I need you to talk to me and I’m glad you did,” he said. There was something in his voice that told me however much he wanted me to talk to him, he was disappointed with what I’d said.

“It doesn’t mean I have doubts. Not about you, or about us, Ethan.”

He squeezed my hand and kissed me on the corner of my lips, in the way that made me melt. “God forbid,” he said.



* * * * *



I lost count of the number of courses when we got to five.

“I’ve never tasted anything like this,” I said. “I think they have wizards in the kitchen.”

“Wizards?” Ethan raised an eyebrow at me.

“I think so. No human can create things to eat like this. It’s magic. Is it what you thought it would be?”

“In some ways. Better because I’m sharing it with you, I think.”

“Wow, you have all the lines tonight.”

He chuckled. “I think maybe I lost one or two along the way tonight.”