of Serendipity’s infamous frozen hot chocolate that the waiter has just brought us both. ‘Oh my days, Scarlett, this is to die for. Quick, try yours, darling, it’s heavenly!’
I take a sip of my own frozen hot chocolate. An oddcombination to achieve, you’d think. But Oscar’s right: it is indeed heavenly.
‘So what are they like?’ Oscar asks after we’ve enjoyed a couple of minutes of pure chocolate indulgence. ‘These TV bods.’
‘Really nice. They took me for coffee in Starbucks, and I told them all about the brooch and they’ve offered to help me.’ I tell Oscar what happened in Tiffany’s, and then what Jamie had said about his contact.
‘That’s good of them,’ Oscar says, his eyes narrowing. ‘What do they want in return?’
‘Nothing. Well, they might want to run a story about it, if it turns out to be anything interesting, that’s all.’
‘Hmm, I knew there’d have to be something in it for them. You can’t trust these televisual types, Scarlett; I’ve met them before. Especially not journalists.’
‘Jamie’s not a journalist, he’s a correspondent, and Max is a cameraman. They’re hardly tabloid hacks.’
‘Oh,’ Oscar says pointedly, his mouth forming a big O. ‘They’re both
men
, are they?’
‘Yeah, and what of it?’
‘Scarlett, you’re a pretty girl in a foreign town …’
‘That sounds like the tagline from a movie.’ I put on a deep voice. ‘She was just a pretty girl in a foreign town …’
‘Don’t mock me, darling. I’m only looking out for you.’
‘Oscar, they’re both harmless. Max isreally down to earth and funny, and Jamie, he’s, well …’ I pause. How do I describe Jamie? I stir my straw around in the remnants of my chocolate for a moment.
‘He’s what?’ Oscar prompts.
‘He’s just all right, that’s all. I don’t know how I know this, Oscar, but I do.’
Oscar raises his eyebrows. ‘Scarlett …’
‘What? Look, you can come along and meet them when they get in touch next, if you want.’
Oscar nods approvingly. ‘I think I might just do that. My man radar is pretty accurate. Even with straight men. They are straight, right?’ he adds as an afterthought.
‘I think so. Funny, we didn’t really get around to discussing our sexual preferences.’
‘Didn’t you?’ Oscar looks shocked. ‘That’s usually one of the first topics of conversation when I meet a stranger in Starbucks.’
Eleven
Next morning, I’m upand out of the hotel early and heading towards the Empire State Building. As I stride happily along the streets, I think about Sean and the conversation we’ve just had on the phone. Sean had been very eager to hear all about my first day in New York and what I’d got up to. And I’d told him most of what I’d done, strangely skirting around the TV issue for some reason. I hadn’t
not
told him, I’d just been sparing with the details after what Oscar had said about Max and Jamie both being men. Instead, I’d given him much more to worry about when I’d told him all about Fleet Week in the city and the hordes of sailors we were expecting to see while we were here. And, as I’d suspected, that subject had immediately relegatedany other topic of conversation to the bottom of the ‘non-urgent’ pile.
As I find myself on the junction of East 34th Street and Fifth Avenue, I see the Empire State Building towering up before me in all her glory. A doyenne of the New York skyline for so long, it’s odd to see her standing here squeezed in among all the shops and restaurants that line the streets below. I feel as though something as prominent and important as this should be set aside away from everything else, so that she can be admired for all her art deco beauty, not squashed at the corner of a busy street for dogs to pee on and litter to be scattered at the foot of.
I enter through the door at the foot of the building and am at once surrounded by yet more art deco wonder, immediately drawing me
I take a sip of my own frozen hot chocolate. An oddcombination to achieve, you’d think. But Oscar’s right: it is indeed heavenly.
‘So what are they like?’ Oscar asks after we’ve enjoyed a couple of minutes of pure chocolate indulgence. ‘These TV bods.’
‘Really nice. They took me for coffee in Starbucks, and I told them all about the brooch and they’ve offered to help me.’ I tell Oscar what happened in Tiffany’s, and then what Jamie had said about his contact.
‘That’s good of them,’ Oscar says, his eyes narrowing. ‘What do they want in return?’
‘Nothing. Well, they might want to run a story about it, if it turns out to be anything interesting, that’s all.’
‘Hmm, I knew there’d have to be something in it for them. You can’t trust these televisual types, Scarlett; I’ve met them before. Especially not journalists.’
‘Jamie’s not a journalist, he’s a correspondent, and Max is a cameraman. They’re hardly tabloid hacks.’
‘Oh,’ Oscar says pointedly, his mouth forming a big O. ‘They’re both
men
, are they?’
‘Yeah, and what of it?’
‘Scarlett, you’re a pretty girl in a foreign town …’
‘That sounds like the tagline from a movie.’ I put on a deep voice. ‘She was just a pretty girl in a foreign town …’
‘Don’t mock me, darling. I’m only looking out for you.’
‘Oscar, they’re both harmless. Max isreally down to earth and funny, and Jamie, he’s, well …’ I pause. How do I describe Jamie? I stir my straw around in the remnants of my chocolate for a moment.
‘He’s what?’ Oscar prompts.
‘He’s just all right, that’s all. I don’t know how I know this, Oscar, but I do.’
Oscar raises his eyebrows. ‘Scarlett …’
‘What? Look, you can come along and meet them when they get in touch next, if you want.’
Oscar nods approvingly. ‘I think I might just do that. My man radar is pretty accurate. Even with straight men. They are straight, right?’ he adds as an afterthought.
‘I think so. Funny, we didn’t really get around to discussing our sexual preferences.’
‘Didn’t you?’ Oscar looks shocked. ‘That’s usually one of the first topics of conversation when I meet a stranger in Starbucks.’
Eleven
Next morning, I’m upand out of the hotel early and heading towards the Empire State Building. As I stride happily along the streets, I think about Sean and the conversation we’ve just had on the phone. Sean had been very eager to hear all about my first day in New York and what I’d got up to. And I’d told him most of what I’d done, strangely skirting around the TV issue for some reason. I hadn’t
not
told him, I’d just been sparing with the details after what Oscar had said about Max and Jamie both being men. Instead, I’d given him much more to worry about when I’d told him all about Fleet Week in the city and the hordes of sailors we were expecting to see while we were here. And, as I’d suspected, that subject had immediately relegatedany other topic of conversation to the bottom of the ‘non-urgent’ pile.
As I find myself on the junction of East 34th Street and Fifth Avenue, I see the Empire State Building towering up before me in all her glory. A doyenne of the New York skyline for so long, it’s odd to see her standing here squeezed in among all the shops and restaurants that line the streets below. I feel as though something as prominent and important as this should be set aside away from everything else, so that she can be admired for all her art deco beauty, not squashed at the corner of a busy street for dogs to pee on and litter to be scattered at the foot of.
I enter through the door at the foot of the building and am at once surrounded by yet more art deco wonder, immediately drawing me
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