Adding some more gravy to her plate, Nell considered how to respond. If she were to stay in professional mode she would deny there was anything wrong, big up the hotel and pretend everything was fine, but she’d had her regular business phone call with her parents and they’d been less than impressed with the current situation. Not angry or blaming, just disappointed, and Nell had felt it keenly. Her mother was going to email her a list of suggestions to boost business even though she’d probably already thought of most of them. The person she’d wanted after talking to them was Tom, but she didn’t like to bother him in the middle of the day.
‘Come on, Nell. I can tell something’s going on. Talk to me.’ His voice was soft and kind and as he reached out across the table, resting his hand over hers she felt heat run up her arm. ‘Is it that guy? What did you say his name was? Tom?’
‘Tom?’ Confusion marred her features.
‘Yeah, I just kind of assumed you and he were … a thing. You’re so close.’
‘No. No!’ She was so shocked at the suggestion she replied an octave higher than intended. ‘We’re just friends.’
‘Oh, okay. Sure.’ He took his hand away and began to eat again. Nell wished he’d put it back.
Was Harry scoping out her relationship status? Seeing if she was single? A shiver danced through her. Though she knew he wasn’t married from when she’d checked him in, she asked, ‘What about you? Is there someone in New York waiting for you to come home?’ Inside she grimaced. That sentence had sounded so much better in her head. Out loud it sounded brash. She might as well have said, ‘If you’re single, fancy a hump?’
Harry’s face suddenly darkened. ‘There was someone – Emma – but we broke up about six months ago. Since then I’ve been so focused on work that I haven’t even thought about my love life. Being here though, it makes me think that however successful I am, something’s lacking somewhere.’
Nell glanced up and he was looking straight at her. Was he implying she’d been what was lacking? ‘I know what you mean.’
It was something she was beginning to think about more and more too. She spent so much of her time working on the business, thinking about the business, dreaming about the business that romance only ever happened in her head. The relationships she’d had hadn’t lasted because they didn’t understand the commitment she’d made to the hotel and because after a while the flowers, the chocolates and the general romance had disappeared. Harry’s eyes had taken on a pained look that dulled their brightness.
‘I’m sorry,’ Nell said. She really wanted to reach out and wipe the hurt from his face. Whoever Emma was had been a lucky woman and a fool to let him go.
‘That’s okay. What about you? I can’t believe a girl like you is single.’
‘Oh, I am,’ she confirmed, half-happy, half-resigned. ‘I’ve had a few relationships, but they just didn’t work out.’
‘I see.’ Harry sipped his wine. She’d put a bottle of red and a bottle of white on the table, unsure what he liked. He’d opted for red. ‘So, if it’s not Tom or some other guy, then what is it that makes you seem so sad sometimes?’
A silence descended, and Nell realised that it was horribly quiet when they stopped talking. She leaped up from her chair. ‘Let me just put some music on. I hate sitting in silence and normally have the radio on low. Otherwise this place feels really big and kind of intimidating.’ She hadn’t changed the playlist from Michael Bublé and he was back crooning away. The perfect soundtrack to their romantic Thanksgiving dinner. With music playing, she sat down again.
An amused look washed the pain away. ‘Come on, Nell. You can tell me.’
Why was she hesitating? Was it because she didn’t want to spoil the evening with talk of miserable things, or was it because she normally talked about these things with Tom or Cat? Unsure, she took a sip of her wine. ‘It’s just the hotel business is a bit slow at the moment. At least for me. With the Langdon Mansion being so amazing, it’s knocked me for six.’ Harry smiled at the Britishness of the phrase. And then there was Cat’s wedding and this business with Tom. She was sure he wasn’t telling her everything at the moment but for some reason held back from saying anything about that to Harry.
‘So why don’t you do something else? Go travelling. Come to New York.’
There was a note in his voice she couldn’t quite place. Was it an invitation? Before she could stop herself, her mind had swept her away to New York with Harry. One of those wonderful airport scenes where he was running through a terminal unable to let her leave until she promised she loved him too and would follow him halfway around the world. ‘You could come and stay with me.’
Nell’s head shot up so fast she went dizzy. An explosion of excitement tingled every nerve in her body. That didn’t just sound like an invitation, that was an invitation. ‘Could I?’
‘Sure. I could show you a proper New York Christmas. The Rockefeller Centre, ice skating, eating a hot dog on a street corner while snow falls.’
‘It sounds amazing,’ she managed to say.
Outside the sky was clear and cold with sparkling stars but the chance of snow was slim. She could almost feel the flakes falling onto her skin and settling in her hair as she pictured herself in New York City. The pull of excitement and the tantalising possibilities of a new future were beckoning her, calling her to be reckless and try something new and crazy – to make a change – but just as quickly the feeling faded as Cat’s words came back to her. Was she getting
