Kate Hoffmann - A Fare To Remember

TWENTY MINUTES LATER, Zach posed Hannah smack-dab in the middle of the gaudy, crowded, most neon-infested section of Times Square. Even so, she was the brightest thing in the frame. Her natural glow put the glittering lights to shame.

She’d taken off his jacket so her relatives wouldn’t get the idea that it was cold in New York. If she was cold, she didn’t act like it. Instead she flung her arms out and turned this way and that like a high-fashion model at a photo shoot.

He was fascinated with her. Too bad she thought he should quit his job, because he knew she really did, even though they’d dropped the subject for now. Well, he’d cut her some slack on that opinion. She was still very naive. Let her struggle in the big city for a while and see how she felt about throwing away perfectly good jobs just because the boss wasn’t a sweetheart.

Without his job, he wouldn’t be able to buy bouquets of flowers or take a date out for a nice dinner. He was finally making the money that Adrienne had thought he should make, not that he was doing it to prove anything to her. She’d never know.

So what if he didn’t play as much racquetball? The guys he’d played with had decided to leave the company, anyway. One of them was still in town and struggling to make ends meet. The other had left New York completely. Zach wasn’t about to run home to Auburn because his boss wasn’t sensitive to the needs of his employees.

Granted, a part of him would love to tell Medford to take the job and shove it. The guy was an unfeeling son of a bitch to be treating Ed that way. But this was the business world, not Sesame Street. Ed knew the score and was choosing not to play Medford’s game. Ed would have to take the consequences for that.

Zach took pictures of Hannah until she called out that they had enough and ran back over to him. He wouldn’t have minded taking a few more. Watching her perform for him as her personal photographer was more fun than he’d had in a long while.

“I don’t want to overdo it.” She accepted the jacket he held out. This time she put her arms in the sleeves, which were too long and made her look adorable.

“Why not overdo it?” He thought about the meager supply of pictures he sent home to Illinois. “My experience with families is that you can’t overdo the snapshots. You need some for Mom, Dad, brothers and sisters, grandmothers and grandfathers, aunts and uncles.”

She gazed at him wistfully. “It must be nice, having all those people to give pictures to.”

“You don’t?”

She shook her head. “Just my brother and sister.” Then she smiled. “Don’t look like that, all pitying. It’s okay.”

“I’ll accept that it’s okay. You’re living proof.” But his heart went out to her, anyway. “What happened?”

She tucked the camera back in her purse. “I was thirteen when my mom died, which was lucky because I was old enough to help Dad with my brother and sister, who were only four. Poor Dad was never the same after Mom died, and I had the feeling he was hanging on until I was eighteen, so the twins wouldn’t end up in foster care. He died a month after my eighteenth birthday.”

He was beginning to understand her need to take care of the whole world after conditioning like that. “But what about other relatives? Grandparents, aunts, uncles?”

“Both my parents were only children, nerdy types who married late in life. I barely remember my grandparents. My mom had me at the age of forty-one, and then, because she was always ready to buck convention, decided to try having a second child at fifty. She ended up with the twins. Who are both brilliant, since you asked.”

“I’m guessing you’re no slouch in the brains department, either.”

“I do okay, but nothing like the twins. They kept me on my toes, but they’ve turned into adults who can actually take care of themselves now. It’s a miracle.”

He thought she might be the miracle for weathering all those hard knocks and keeping her sunny disposition. “Did you feed them lots of tuna?”

She laughed. “Good one. Yes, I did. Brain food.” She gazed around at the crowds milling through Times Square. “This place is amazing. I had great plans to stay up until midnight seeing more of the city at night, but I’m starting to fade.”

“You mean after thirty-six hours with no sleep, you’re tired?” He grinned at her. “What a wimp.”

“Embarrassing, isn’t it? But I think we’d better start making that trek back to my hotel or you might have to carry me.”

That didn’t sound so bad, although from a practical standpoint he probably couldn’t make it, which wouldn’t play well.

But he had a better idea. “Hang on a minute.” Unclipping his phone from his belt, he dialed Mario’s cell. “You available?” he asked. Having Mario drive them to the hotel would keep the lid on Zach’s libido.

He also didn’t want to be accused of taking advantage of a jet-lagged woman. As an added advantage, after they dropped Hannah off at the Pearson, Zach could have a chat with Mario about Hannah’s views on his current job situation. Mario would understand that a guy couldn’t just up and quit a steady job, especially after being promoted to vice president.

“Yeah, I’m available,” Mario said. “I just delivered Barbra Streisand to the Plaza.”

“You did not.”

“I did so. Ask anybody. She was supposed to meet James Brolin there for some shindig. You need a ride?”

“Yep. I’m in Times Square.”

“Alone?”

Zach glanced over at Hannah. “Nope.”

“Who?”

“Mario, I’m gonna make you wait in suspense.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Zach clipped the phone to his belt. “Mario’s on his way.”

“But that’ll cost money. I can walk.”

“It’s not that much, and I’m sure Mario would love to hear how your first day went.”

She relented with a smile. “It would be nice to see him again. I-” She was interrupted by an earsplitting whistle about ten feet away.

A cab swung over to the curb and the whistler jumped in.

Hannah watched the process and turned to Zach. “Can you whistle like that?”

“If I need to.”

“I would love to learn how. I don’t expect to be taking cabs much, but if I could whistle like that I’d feel like a real New Yorker.”

“Then I’ll teach you. I don’t take cabs a lot, myself, but-”

“Aha!” She pointed a finger at him. “Because they’re expensive, right?”

“Because a bus or the subway can serve the same purpose and I’m promoting mass transit, okay?”

She nodded. “I buy that argument, but I’ll also bet that once you live here full-time, you consider your pocketbook and learn to do without taxis except in emergencies.”

“Which this is. You’re exhausted.”

“A little.” In fact, her legs trembled from the effort of holding herself upright.

“I don’t think you can be a little exhausted. It’s like saying you’re a little pregnant.”

“Then I’m a lot exhausted.”

He couldn’t help himself. He put his arm around her and tucked her against his side. “Lean on me.”

“Okay.” She nestled close and laid her head on his shoulder. “This would be the cue for your boss to happen along.”

“Not unless he’s stalking me. I’ve been eating on Restaurant Row for years and I’ve never once seen him there.”

“I think it was meant to happen that way.”

“Why is that?” He gazed into her tired but contented eyes and wondered if this was how she’d look after a round of excellent sex. Highly inappropriate thoughts. He was taking her home so she could get some sleep. He hoped to God they’d already switched her to a dry room.

“I think I was supposed to meet your boss,” she said.

Her reasoning was pretty transparent. “So that you could point out to me that he’s the devil incarnate and if I value my soul, I will leave that firm before I’m damned forever?”

She gazed at him dreamily. “Something like that.”

“I’m not quitting my job, Hannah.”

“You should.” She covered a yawn. “You’re a fantastic kisser.”

HANNAH KNEW SHE NEEDED sleep when she started babbling things that were better left unsaid. Fortunately, before Zach could ask her what she meant about quitting his job because of the way he kissed, which must have made her sound like a lunatic, a horn bleated right beside them.

“That would be Mario.” Zach kept his arm around her as he guided her over to the waiting cab. “Time to get you to bed.”

“Sounds wonderful.” She was tired, but not that tired. She wanted a bed, all right, and Zach in the middle of it. It wasn’t going to happen, not tonight, at least. That was for the best. She intended to be in New York for the rest of her life. She didn’t have to have sex on her very first night. Their outstanding kiss was memorable enough.

“Hi, Mario,” she said as Zach handed her elegantly into the backseat of the cab. “Thanks for picking us up.”

“Glad to do it.” Mario’s wide grin was reflected in the rearview mirror. “Whatcha been up to?”

“Zach took me for Thai food.”

“Nice.”

“It was nice.” Zach got in and closed the door. “But this woman’s exhausted.”

Mario chuckled, obviously in a very good mood. “Tried to do everything in one day, did you, Hannah?”

“Sort of. Zach’s going to teach me how to whistle for a taxi.” She settled back against the seat with gratitude.

“You know, New York Survival Skills 101,” Zach said as he climbed in beside her. “But not tonight. She’s had enough for one day.”

“Right.” Hannah had sort of hoped Zach would put his arm around her after he climbed in, but he didn’t. She could understand it, though. It wasn’t as if they were going to make out in the back of Mario’s cab.

But then Mario took off with his usual speed, throwing her into Zach’s lap. “Whoops.” She reached for the armrest to steady herself, but Mario whipped around another corner and she was thrown against Zach again.