The Gift of a Lifetime Page 5

  She smiled and put Brinkley down on the ground, where he immediately went about sniffing Danny’s discarded clothes.

  ‘Get out of there, silly. I’ll take care of those.’ Beth bent down to pick up his trousers at the same time Danny stuck his head out of the shower again.

  ‘Hey, leave those,’ he said abruptly. Taken aback by his vehemence, Beth stood and quickly dropped his clothes back onto the floor. ‘I mean, there is some stuff in my pockets still,’ he explained in a softer voice. ‘I’ll take care of it. It’s just … I don’t want anything to get lost.’

  ‘I can go through the pockets for you—’

  ‘Don’t worry,’ he insisted. ‘I’ll do it. I’m finished here anyway.’ At that moment, the water stopped and Danny grabbed a towel from the rack next to the bathtub. A second later, he emerged from the tub, still wet, and grabbing his clothes, swept quickly past Beth and out of the bathroom.

  Perplexed by his curious behaviour, she followed him into the bedroom to find him emptying his pockets, shoving assorted pieces of paper and other flotsam into his briefcase. He then wadded his discarded trousers up and tossed them into the hamper where he had put his shirt minutes before. Then he turned to Beth and smiled sheepishly. ‘Sorry, didn’t mean to be tetchy, just some business cards and stuff that I couldn’t lose. Meant to leave it all at the office.’

  Beth regarded him sceptically. She was not a sensitive or suspicious person, but then Danny had never given her any reason to be. He was never secretive, nor was he one who didn’t like others touching his things. He always left stuff lying around – would allow his phone to remain unattended on the kitchen counter and his laptop open on his desk. But then she realised uncomfortably he’d been doing less of this of late.

  Danny slipped on a pair of pyjama pants, then he approached her holding his arms out. ‘So what about that hug?’ he asked with the smile that had always melted her heart. ‘I’ve missed my favourite girl today,’ he added quietly as he enveloped her in his arms.

  Breathing in his freshly showered scent, Beth let the tension that had crept into her body ease away as she allowed herself to be held.

  A moment later Danny broke the embrace and swung her legs up, carrying her like a bride as she chuckled in his arms. Collapsing them both onto the bed, he kissed Beth before whispering into her ear. ‘If I remember correctly, you said you were lonely last night. Here’s to making up for lost time.’

  Chapter 4

  ‘Here you go, Miss Dempsey,’ Beth said on Monday morning, handing the 16-year-old blonde a huge Carlisle’s glossy bag containing at least a couple of thousand dollars’ worth of footwear. ‘It has been a pleasure to help you today, as always.’

  Sitting on the plush red velvet sofa surrounded by discarded shoes and boots, the young socialite didn’t make eye contact, but snapped her gum and twirled a lock of her hair as she stared at the screen of her phone.

  ‘Right. Well, yeah, but like it would have been better if you had those Jimmy Choos I wanted in a size eight. I guess I’ll have to go to Saks now. Inconvenient. Ugh.’ Another snap of gum and Beth resisted the urge to sigh. Marley Dempsey was, to say the least, a challenging customer, but she was also one of the biggest spending ones.

  ‘Well, as I said, I would be happy to order them in for you. It should take only a day or two—’

  ‘Whatevs,’ the younger woman said, rolling her eyes. ‘Not going to help me; I catch a plane for London with Daddy later. And besides, there’s probably better stuff on the other side of the pond. New York is so meh during the holidays. What a waste. I can’t believe anyone hangs around this city right now. Old, cold and sooo many tourists.’

  The blonde uncrossed her long legs and picked up the shopping bag. She bent down to get her purse and flipped her long (extension-filled) locks over her shoulder. When she stood back up again she looked around and took in someone who’d just walked into the shoe rooms.

  ‘Whoa. Total hottie, twelve o’clock,’ she muttered under her breath as she started to take her leave. Beth looked up and smiled.

  Ryan Buchanan.

  As Marley passed him on her way to the lift, she threw a come-hither glance over her shoulder that Ryan seemed oblivious to. Beth snorted back laughter and then felt uncomfortable as she recalled the strange reaction he’d provoked in her a few days before. Their paths had crossed a couple of times since then and, much to her relief, she had managed to keep her cool and behave halfway normal around him.

  He smiled that heart-melting lopsided smile as he got nearer, and threw a thumb over his shoulder. ‘Was that … Marley Dempsey? The hotel heiress?’

  ‘The one and only,’ Beth smiled. ‘And I think you might have turned her head,’ she added coyly. He chuckled but resisted turning round to watch Marley’s taut derrière walk away, something which Beth couldn’t help but appreciate. His restraint, not the younger girl’s derrière.

  ‘Not my type. Too much silicone for someone so young. Plus from what I hear she comes with a lot of baggage…’ He grimaced and Beth laughed, recalling how Marley’s scandalised father had been threatening to sue left, right and centre when topless photos of his daughter had been leaked on Twitter. It was later revealed that the attention-seeking youngster had herself been behind it all.

  ‘Well, I’m sure you’ve already realised that it’s a common theme around this store. Carlisle’s tends to cater for Manhattanite kids who have way too much money and who are very, very, bored. Lucky for us, though.’

  Ryan smiled and put his hands in his pockets. ‘Right. I have gathered that, and I’ve only been here two weeks. But speaking of bored Manhattanites, I’m new to the city and I haven’t really got my bearings here just yet. I was wondering if you’d be interested in showing me around, maybe grab a drink or even dinner sometime?’

  Beth’s heart beat faster and she felt as if she was a teenager again, being asked out by the cutest boy in class. She automatically felt the word ‘yes’ forming on her lips when she remembered something that she had been too easily forgetting lately whenever she came within close proximity to Ryan Buchanan.

  That she had a long-term boyfriend, the love of her life.

  She and Danny had had a great weekend – one that Beth was sorry to see end, if only for the fact that it had been nice to spend a bit of one-on-one alone time with him. But even in light of the fact that he had been attentive and loving to her since getting home late last week, she couldn’t deny that something felt ‘off’ lately. She couldn’t put a finger on it, or why she was even feeling that way. She just knew that something wasn’t right.

  Of course, there was that trouser pockets issue. She had briefly forgotten about it once Danny had turned on the charm and started kissing her – which had led to other things – but when she woke up the following morning, her mind immediately returned to the incident. She had racked her brain to figure out just why he had been so possessive about his things the night before. She had even thought about checking what he had put in his briefcase that time, but knew that she didn’t want to be that person: the suspicious, snooping girlfriend, constantly looking through her boyfriend’s belongings, searching for evidence of some kind of … wrongdoing.

  So she had tried hard just to put it out of her mind and take Danny at his word – that it was just work stuff that he didn’t want to misplace. After all, he had never been one to be sneaky or to lie to her. Beth probably could have done this easily if it had been the only thing that had happened, but then there had been that situation with his phone …

  Danny had placed the phone on the breakfast counter on Saturday afternoon after he and Beth returned from a cosy lunch at Union Square, and had retreated to the tiny room they used as a study, to check his work email.

  Beth had been in the kitchen when the phone had started vibrating on the granite countertop, indicating an incoming call. When she had called out to Danny and had reached for the device to bring it to him, he had come running almost at a full sprint, and practical
ly snatched it out of her hand. And if that wasn’t enough, he’d then retreated again to the other room with the phone, talking in low tones to whomever was on the other end, only to return minutes later and refer to it as ‘a stupid work thing’.

  Beth hated that her antennae were fully alert at the moment. And she equally loathed the feeling of insecurity and suspicion that had entered her psyche since. She wasn’t sure if she could even imagine Danny – her Danny – doing something underhand. And frankly, after so many great years together, she couldn’t face the idea that something might be wrong with them, with their relationship.

  She had loved this man for so long, had built a life around him, not to mention placed so much of her heart in his hands, that she couldn’t even begin to imagine an alternative scenario. That maybe he was getting bored, or his head had been turned. What if he was interested in or – worse – was falling for something else? Was it even possible that he might not love her any more? Yet that didn’t make sense either, she argued with herself. After all, he had been so attentive and loving towards her all weekend.

  But what if that was just all part of an act while he tried to figure out the best way to leave her?

  Beth knew that such a thing sometimes happened. She had seen enough of those movies, and knew that it never turned out well for the heroine. At least, until the real hero swooped in to mend her broken heart.

  But Danny had always been her hero, her leading man. No, a shift to deception couldn’t possibly be the storyline of her romantic movie. She was meant to have a happy ending with Danny. Theirs was the love of a lifetime. It just wasn’t possible that there’d be an unexpected, heartbreaking plot development.

  Was it?

  ‘Well? What do you say?’ Beth heard Ryan ask then, bringing her right back to the present and offering her an entirely different dilemma. ‘I’ve been living in LA, and New York is just such a different animal. You must remember what it was like for you when you first came here,’ he continued. ‘You’re not from town either, right?’

  Beth looked back up and met Ryan’s emerald-green eyes, seeing right through the fellow city-newbie line. She smiled, trying to shake off how inexplicably drawn to this guy she felt and shook her head. ‘I appreciate the invite but I can’t.’

  He didn’t break her gaze. ‘Another time then.’ But by the way he looked at her, Beth realised it wasn’t a question, it was a declarative statement. And she guessed he was the kind of guy that wasn’t used to being turned down. Or prepared to take no for an answer.

  This realisation gave her a tiny frisson of satisfaction but she quickly pushed it away.

  ‘Sorry, but I really can’t,’ she insisted. ‘You see, I have a boyfriend. Danny. We’ve been together for seven years, and call me old-fashioned, but I don’t think going out or spending time with another guy, even as friends, would be appropriate.’

  Ryan’s expression didn’t flinch. ‘Seven years. Whoa … that’s a long time. You know what they say: the seven-year itch and all that,’ he added jokingly. ‘Think there’s any truth in it?’

  It was simply impossible not to be discombobulated by the way he was looking at her, let alone his words, and Beth’s internal thermometer spiked afresh. She worked very hard to control the expression on her face, but felt quite hot and bothered, and was pretty sure Ryan immediately got the answer to his question without her having to verbalise it.

  Trying to regain a semblance of composure, she raised her eyebrows. ‘I’m not sure what you mean … isn’t that a movie?’ she asked, unafraid to play dumb.

  He laughed a little. ‘I guess it is. But there’s a lot of truth in the expression too. I just got out of a relationship myself, primarily because I moved here. My ex and I, well, she was a California girl through and through. No way would she move here, and I guess that’s probably a good thing. She was great, but not long-term material, you know? I mean, I want to settle down at some point. You more or less know when the time is right, right? And Lauren, my ex, well, she was younger. Doing the club scene every night, which just isn’t my style. It’s fun, but it gets old eventually. Now I know I want to be with someone I can just curl up with on a couch, open a bottle of wine, watch a movie. Know where I could meet a girl like that in New York?’

  His question was loaded with meaning, and Beth felt a little weak at the knees by all this attention. She was thinking of all the girls who would just jump at the chance of settling down with Ryan Buchanan … And she couldn’t help but wish that Danny would be this way, full of purpose regarding their future. What was he waiting for? Was she not marriage material? Where were they going as a couple?

  She shook her head, ridding herself of such troublesome thoughts, and instead tried to focus on the fact that this was simply a flirtation, and likely, it was because Ryan was a little younger than she. This was just the sort of game younger guys played. He wasn’t looking for a partner, he was looking for a challenge, she was sure of it. And Beth certainly wasn’t going to throw her hat into the ring to play that game. She was in an adult relationship, one that was everything she’d ever dreamed of, and more.

  ‘Well,’ she replied nonchalantly, ‘New York is a big city. Lots of great girls out there.’ She smiled, trying to get across to him once and for all that she wasn’t interested in doing this particular dance.

  Still Ryan didn’t look in the least bit discouraged as he considered her answer. And even as he handed her a piece of paper with his phone number on it, ‘just in case you are ever bored’, Beth told herself that she would simply throw it away later.

  But when, later, the slip of paper materialised in her pocket as she clocked out of Carlisle’s for the day, she put it in her purse. No big deal, it was just a number. She had contact details for many of her co-workers, after all.

  And really, what was so wrong with having a new friend?

  * * *

  ‘Hey, Billy,’ Danny called out as he beat the concierge to the front entry of the building. ‘No worries, I got it,’ he added, opening the door himself.

  Billy stood back as Danny made his way into the lobby of the apartment building. ‘How you doing today, Danny boy? Life treating you well? Haven’t seen you around much lately; they must be working you hard over on Madison Avenue.’

  Danny smiled uncomfortably as he passed the Scotsman, and punched the up button for the elevator. ‘It is what it is. Work has been busy, yes, a lot to do.’ He glanced at the elevator doors, willing them to open faster. Billy was a nice guy but Danny wasn’t in the mood for making small talk, and the last thing he wanted was to get into a discussion about why he hadn’t been around lately. While the concierge would of course be none the wiser about any of Danny’s activities, he still knew he was a lousy liar, and speaking anything but the truth always made him feel guilty.

  Billy nodded. ‘Yeah, I understand that for sure. Beth’s already home, you’ll be glad to hear. She came in about an hour ago. Practically dancing on air. That girl is always happy but today you could tell that she had a real spring in her step. You two going out tonight then?’ The concierge smiled knowingly and Danny couldn’t help but wonder why. He swallowed hard when he realised that he hadn’t yet spoken to Beth today.

  ‘No plans. Not that I know of, anyway.’ What he did know was that whatever was behind Beth’s apparent good mood had nothing to do with him. To Danny’s knowledge, the only thing that his girlfriend had done today was go to work. Hardly anything exciting about that. He knew that she was great at her job, threw everything into her movie-themed shoe displays, and made terrific commission from some of her very rich clients, especially at this time of year. But in his mind, unless someone had walked in and spent twenty grand on stuff, there was little about a day in Carlisle’s to be overly giddy about.

  Billy chuckled merrily. ‘Ach, well, maybe you do and you don’t know it. You know what women are like: always keeping us on our toes,’ he joked in his Scottish lilt. ‘Though I have yet to find one to do that for me,’ he added, som
ewhat wistfully.

  ‘See you later, Billy.’

  As Danny got out of the elevator and approached the door to his apartment, he heard the sound of cheery music from inside: ‘Sleigh Ride’ by the Ronettes, one of Beth’s favourite Christmas tunes. She loved this time of year and, much to Danny’s amusement, always insisted on playing a Christmas album while they were decorating the tree.

  But they hadn’t done that yet this year.

  Frowning confusedly, he fished his keys out of his pocket and, as he opened the door, the music got louder. He placed his briefcase down and was immediately met with a dancing and singing Beth in the kitchen.

  Danny had to smile. She had obviously not heard him enter, nor did she realise that her performance now had an audience. With Brinkley at her feet, and pans strewn across the counter as she prepped the dinner, she spun around the kitchen, extracting a corkscrew from one cabinet and pirouetting to the small wine rack they kept on an opposite counter. She then did a twirl, using the wine bottle as her microphone and continued to sing about how lovely the weather was for a sleigh ride.

  Just as she was about to reach the cabinet where they kept their wine glasses, she faltered and started to laugh, embarrassed. She had finally noticed him standing there.

  ‘Bravo,’ he smiled, applauding. However he might be feeling, it was impossible not to get caught up in Beth’s infectious joy, and Danny’s heart twisted a little as he realised just how much he loved this girl, despite everything.

  And more to the point, how it would kill him to intentionally break her heart.

  ‘Why that song? We’re not decorating the tree tonight, are we?’ Danny called out over the music.

  She put the wine bottle and corkscrew down and did a small curtsy for show. Then she picked up the remote control to the iPhone dock and pointed it across the room, decreasing the volume of the music.