Something from Tiffany’s Page 8

  ‘No problem.’

  Ethan duly wrote his name and number on the piece of paper Kim handed to him. ‘Well, thanks again for your help – both of you,’ he continued awkwardly.

  ‘Pleasure,’ Kim replied and Molly grinned. ‘I’ll be sure to pass on the message to Rachel, and it was nice to meet you. You too, Daisy.’

  ‘Yeah, thanks for helping us,’ his daughter replied with a smile.

  With that, they went off to catch a cab back to the Plaza.

  On the journey back, Ethan continued to mull over the situation.

  He hoped this Rachel woman would phone him soon and give him answers, namely as to whether he had anything to worry about with the ring. All this talk of the other couple’s engagement worried him. There was no way his ring could have had any hand or part in that, was there? Not when the guy hadn’t been able to open his eyes, let alone muster up the strength for a proposal. And the girlfriend couldn’t possibly have known what was in his shopping, unless they’d planned to get engaged on Christmas Eve. In which case his ring really couldn’t be involved in any of it, Ethan reassured himself.

  ‘Daddy, are you OK?’ Daisy asked him and he made a conscious effort to try to forget about the ring, so as not to worry her further. Still, given the importance and expense of it all, that was downright impossible!

  ‘I’m fine, buttercup, just thinking about our flight home. I wonder if we should maybe stay on a little longer, just in case this takes more time than we thought to sort out.’

  Her expression brightened. ‘We could do that?’

  ‘Sure.’ He couldn’t realistically leave the city without resolving this, and while an extended stay would cost a few quid extra, it would hardly be the end of the world, everything considered. ‘Would that be OK with you? A day or two more wouldn’t kill us, and as long as we’re back in time for New Year . . .’

  ‘Yay! Can we go Toys R Us on Times Square again? We didn’t really get to see much of it last time.’

  ‘Of course, darling, we can do whatever you like,’ Ethan replied absently.

  He wondered what Vanessa would think about staying on, though, or how he would explain this sudden decision to take more time in the Big Apple. He’d have to think of something, perhaps last-minute availability for a popular Broadway show he’d always wanted to see? ‘I’ll see what I can do. For the moment let’s just go back to the hotel and have a nice afternoon with Vanessa. I’ll wait for this Rachel’s phone call; but when she does call I might have to come up with some other . . . erm, reason to slip away again. Do you follow me?’

  Daisy nodded. ‘Of course. We still can’t let Vanessa know anything’s going on, or tell her what happened with the ring.’

  ‘Good girl,’ he said, putting up his hand for a high-five, while at the same time feeling desperately guilty for having his eight-year-old daughter collude in such trickery. She raised her hand and smacked his palm.

  ‘But put some gloves on, Dad; your hands are freezing!’

  ‘Well, well, well . . . don’t you have gorgeous hunks just crawling out of the woodwork?’ Kim announced when, not two minutes after Ethan had left, Rachel returned to the hospital.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Well, you’ve got a good-looking blond in the room down the hall and a dreamy Michael Bublé lookalike just left you his number. And I’d call him too if I were you.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Rachel said, bewildered.

  Kim laughed out loud. ‘Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Seriously, you won’t believe this, but the guy who helped Gary after the accident came here today with his little girl. He’s the one who waited with him until the ambulance got there.’

  ‘Really?’ Rachel had heard about this Good Samaritan and was doubly impressed that he’d followed up and enquired after Gary’s health. ‘I wonder how he found us?’

  ‘No idea. All I know is that he’s drop-dead gorgeous, and she’s cute as a button.’

  Rachel frowned. ‘And he left his number? Why? I’m sure you told him Gary was going to be fine.’

  ‘Sure I did, but apparently he lost something at the time and he wanted to see if you knew anything about it. As well as checking on Gary, of course. Honestly, you should call him.’

  Rachel was confused. ‘OK, I suppose I’d better call and thank him anyway. But if there’s something he’s lost I don’t see how I can help him find it.’

  ‘Oh well,’ Kim said with a shrug. ‘Only in New York, I guess.’

  Chapter 8

  Later that evening Ethan, Vanessa and Daisy were taking in the sights around Times Square, when the call came. Taking his vibrating mobile phone out of his pocket, Ethan didn’t recognise the number that showed up on the screen, and figured it had to be Rachel. Wonderful.

  He stepped outside the M&M store, only too happy to escape the place and leave the girls to the frantic, multicoloured world of grinning candy.

  ‘Hello,’ he answered, trying not to sound too urgent, but his hands were shaking.

  ‘Hi there, is this Ethan Greene?’ asked a female voice in an Irish accent. ‘I’m Rachel; the nurses at Mount Sinai gave me your number.’

  ‘Hello, yes, thank you so much for calling,’ he replied, exhaling with some relief. He looked up to see Vanessa watching him through the window, and waved nervously as she and Daisy waited in line at the cashier’s desk to pay for something. Soon they’d join him outside and he deduced he had about thirty seconds of privacy before they reached him. ‘Yes, I wanted to enquire after your . . . erm, Mr Knowles, but—’

  ‘Gary’s fine. Thank you for helping him,’ she continued warmly.

  ‘That’s good to know. Has he regained consciousness?’

  ‘Not yet, I’m afraid. But seeing as you were there at the time, it would be great to find out more about what actually happened. As you can imagine, it was all a bit of a shock for me, as I wasn’t with him.’

  Ethan exhaled in relief, pleased that she had given him an opening.

  ‘Of course, I’d be more than happy to talk to you about that. Are you free to meet for coffee? Tomorrow morning, perhaps, as I’m flying home to London in the afternoon? I’d also hoped to speak to you about something else, as it happens.’

  ‘Well, yes, the nurse did mention something.’

  ‘It seems there was a mix-up at the scene and . . . well, it’s a long story and is actually rather . . . delicate.’ Ethan tried to choose his words carefully as Vanessa and Daisy had now rounded the corner and come up alongside him. ‘But I’ve got some free time tomorrow morning, and it would be nice to speak to you in person in any case, so would that suit?’ He smiled at Vanessa, who was watching him closely.

  Rachel seemed hesitant. ‘Well, I’m at the hospital mostly, but—’

  ‘Why don’t I meet you there? Say, eleven?’ he said, hoping he wouldn’t scare her off by sounding too pushy, yet at the same time he had little choice but to press the issue. And if he could get this done and dusted without having to change their flight home in the meantime, even better.

  ‘Yes, I suppose that would be OK.’

  ‘Fantastic. See you then.’

  ‘What was all that about?’ Vanessa asked when he hung up. ‘You’re meeting someone in the morning?’ She looked puzzled. ‘But tomorrow’s our last day.’

  Fortunately for him, Ethan had a cover story already worked out in his head. ‘Believe it or not, that was an agent I submitted my proposal to a while ago,’ he said, with forced enthusiasm. ‘I emailed her before Christmas to let her know I’d be here in New York around now and, lo and behold, she wants to meet with me!’

  He knew Vanessa would be only too happy to go along with this; after all, she was constantly encouraging him to dedicate more time and energy to his writing. He smiled, as if unable to believe his luck. ‘I can’t really pass up the opportunity, can I?’

  ‘That’s amazing news!’ she gushed, obviously not pausing to dwell on the unlikelihood of such a thing happening. Clearly she thought hi
s ideas were considerably better than he did. ‘Of course you must go. What agency is she from? Perhaps I know her.’ Before Ethan had a chance to reply she smiled at Daisy. ‘Wow, looks like we’ve got a girls-only day ahead of us tomorrow!’

  ‘But I want to come with you, Daddy,’ his daughter protested, looking hurt. ‘Please?’

  Ethan ran a hand through his hair, not at all sure how to handle this. While he could understand Daisy’s concerns about wanting to be there when he got the ring back, surely she understood that he needed to be careful about this? But of course subtlety wasn’t exactly a strong point among eight-year-olds, was it?

  ‘Well, I suppose that would be OK. That way, you can have some time to yourself, darling,’ he said, turning again to Vanessa.

  ‘What? But I’ve had lots of time to myself. In any case, Ethan, do you really want to bring your child to a business meeting?’ she questioned dubiously.

  ‘Ah no, it’ll only be an informal chat. Anyway, I . . . I mentioned in my submission how much of an inspiration my daughter is, so I’m sure she’d love to meet her too,’ Ethan insisted, but it sounded incredibly feeble and he knew it.

  ‘Really?’ Vanessa looked from him to Daisy and something changed in her expression, as if she’d figured out that this so-called meeting was some kind of cover story – but for what she couldn’t tell. ‘Well, all right then. I suppose I could find some way to pass the time, perhaps visit the Guggenheim again or something, and meet you two later.’

  ‘Great idea,’ Ethan enthused, trying to get through the unbelievable awkwardness of the situation by focusing solely on the reward at the end of it all.

  Vanessa might suspect something was up now, but once all of this was sorted out she would understand completely, and the two of them would laugh about it in the very near future. It was because of that very future that he was being forced into this situation at all, so surely the little white lies couldn’t really hurt?

  Yes, by this time tomorrow all would be fine, Ethan was sure of it.

  Reaching the hospital the following day, Ethan realised he had no idea what this Rachel looked like, but supposed he could ask the nurses when he got there. Assuming they would tell him, of course. As he’d already discovered, the Swiss Guard had nothing on the medical staff in this place.

  As they went up in the elevator, Daisy held his hand tightly. He looked down at her and smiled. ‘Come on then, poppet. Let’s go get our ring back once and for all.’

  Reaching the nurses’ station just a little before eleven, he immediately spied a curvy well-dressed woman with short croppy dark hair standing in front of it. This couldn’t be her, surely; he hadn’t expected someone so poised and . . . elegant to be with a guy like Knowles. While Ethan had been happy to help anyone in trouble, his overall impression of the man, judging by the yelling and cursing at the traffic they’d heard before the accident, was that he was rather obnoxious.

  He walked up alongside the woman, hesitant now about approaching her. She immediately turned to look at him. ‘Hello,’ she ventured, with an uncertain smile. ‘Are you Ethan?’

  He nodded. ‘Rachel?’

  ‘Yes. I figured it had to be you,’ she continued, smiling at Daisy. ‘The nurses mentioned you had a very cute little girl. Hello there, sweetheart.’

  ‘That’s right,’ he said, surreptitiously checking her left hand, but there was no ring. ‘Thanks so much for taking the time to meet with us. I’m Ethan and this is Daisy.’

  ‘Very nice to meet you,’ she said, shaking hands first with him, and then bending down to greet Daisy. ‘Thanks for coming in, but I should warn you I really can’t talk long. The doctor will be coming round to check on Gary soon and I need to be there.’

  ‘Of course, we won’t keep you.’ Damn, Ethan thought; this wasn’t exactly the kind of thing that could be rushed. ‘But you have time for a quick coffee, I hope?’

  ‘Well . . .’ She seemed torn. ‘I suppose that would be OK.’

  They walked to the hospital cafeteria, Rachel having asked the nurse on duty to call her when the doctor was on the ward.

  Taking the seat across from her, Ethan distributed a plate of cookies and fresh coffee he’d bought at the counter.

  ‘So, listen, I can’t thank you enough for helping Gary that night. Both of you,’ she said, turning to Daisy, who smiled bashfully. ‘I hear you were quite the little heroine, too. Gary’s never been to New York before, you see, and I can’t imagine why he thought he could just barge his way through the rush-hour traffic like that.’ She smiled fondly. ‘I’m assuming that’s what he was trying to do?’

  ‘Well, I didn’t see it happen, but I understand he was trying to hail a cab at the time.’

  She nodded as if this explained everything. ‘Exactly what I figured. It was really good of you to intervene, though. Thank you. He can be such a handful at times.’ She shook her head indulgently.

  ‘No problem.’ Ethan was anxious to get to the point. ‘But actually—’

  ‘How did you find him?’ Rachel continued. ‘Here at Mount Sinai, I mean.’

  ‘Ah, just a few phone calls. It didn’t take too much,’ he said quickly.

  ‘Well, regardless, I am eternally grateful. We’re just here for a few days over Christmas – we’re not locals, as you can probably guess.’ She laughed lightly. ‘And while the trip didn’t turn out quite as I planned, it seems there’s a silver lining to everything,’ she said, with the hint of a smile on her face.

  ‘Silver lining?’ Ethan asked suspiciously, and he felt Daisy tap him lightly on the leg.

  ‘Well, it made me realise that there are genuinely thoughtful people in the world, like you and your lovely daughter. What a gorgeous dress you have on,’ she said to Daisy.

  ‘Thanks, I like yours too,’ she replied, clearly delighted, and Ethan sat forward, keen to move past the mutual appreciation and get to the real reason they were here.

  ‘Yes, we’re just in the city for a few days ourselves,’ he said. ‘Our flight back to London is later this evening actually.’

  ‘Ours would have been too, if this hadn’t happened. But the airline was great about changing, especially given the circumstances.’

  ‘Of course. So—’

  ‘You live in London? That’s one of my favourite cities, and I love spending time there. Granted, I haven’t been over for a while, what with the restaurant and everything,’ she went on. ‘My friend and I run a bistro and artisan bakery back home in Dublin. We cater too, on occasion.’

  ‘Oooh, do you make cookies?’ Daisy asked, intrigued.

  Ethan smiled fondly at his daughter. ‘Daisy’s become quite the cookie connoisseur on this trip.’

  ‘Yes, although I don’t like to eat too many, of course. Too much saturated fat,’ his daughter pronounced solemnly and Rachel smiled, briefly meeting Ethan’s amused gaze.

  ‘Well, I do make cookies, as it happens – much better than these, if I do say so myself,’ she joked conspiratorially. ‘We only use fresh ingredients too,’ she added, and Daisy grinned. ‘Yep, cookies and pastries and bread and all kinds of yummy stuff – you’d love it! In fact, tell you what, why don’t you give me your address in London, and when I get home I’ll send you a box of goodies for being so helpful to Gary? You don’t have to eat them all at once. How’s that?’ she suggested, and Daisy looked thrilled.

  ‘Yes, well, thank you very much, but on another note,’ Ethan said, trying again to get to the point, ‘I’m not sure if that nurse mentioned this to you, but actually it seems there was a bit of a mix-up that day and in all the melee—’

  ‘Oops, that’s my phone. Sorry about this,’ Rachel interjected, taking a ringing mobile out of her handbag. ‘It must be the nurse. Hello? Is the doctor there now? I’ll just be . . . What?’ Ethan watched her previously animated expression go dark. ‘Oh my God! Is he OK? But what about . . . OK yes, yes, I’m on my way.’ Her brow furrowed, Rachel disconnected the call. ‘I’m so sorry but I have to go,’ she said, ju
mping to her feet. ‘They changed Gary’s pain medication because they were afraid he was sleeping too much, but now it seems he’s had some kind of reaction. I’m not sure exactly what’s going on. I’m so sorry, but I really have to go.’

  ‘Yes, of course. Shall we go back there with you?’ Ethan asked, completely appreciating her panic, but also not wanting to let the possibility of retrieving the ring slip through his fingers.

  ‘No, but thank you. You’re so kind. Um . . . you have my number, don’t you?’ she added, flustered. ‘Text me your address, and I’ll send those cookies over as soon as I get home, I promise.’

  Standing up too, Ethan ran a hand through his hair. ‘Yes, OK. Well, good luck with everything. Hope he’s all right,’ he mumbled, feeling foolish, and also completely clueless as to what to do. He couldn’t very well say anything now, could he? Not with the poor girl in such a state. Stupidly, he held out his hand to shake hers.

  ‘I hope so too,’ she replied, suddenly throwing her arms around him in a hug that caught him completely off guard. ‘Thank you so much again for all you’ve done – it was wonderful. Bye, Daisy!’ she added, waving, and in a flash she was gone.

  For a long moment, Ethan stared after her, not sure what to think.

  ‘I really like her, Dad,’ Daisy said, completely unperturbed by the fact that, after all that, they’d got absolutely nowhere. ‘She makes cookies. And she smells nice.’

  Ethan smiled distractedly. ‘Yes, yes, she’s lovely.’ What on earth was he going to do now?

  Suddenly he felt completely exhausted by the events of the last few days. He was all out of ideas. It was too late to change this evening’s flight, and even if the airline was amenable they’d no doubt charge him a fortune to do so at such a late stage. In any case, even if they did stay on longer it wasn’t as if he could camp out here at the hospital until Knowles got better. Vanessa was suspicious enough as it was.