“What would you say if I told you that is my wife?” Christopher grinned as he whispered at his partner.
“I’d say you are a fortunate, lucky man, Evans.” Sean grinned as he studied Willow. “Too bad your parents are in your spare room for the weekend.”
Christopher snorted. “Never fear, I’m sure she has a hotel room somewhere. If not, there’s always the couch in the office.” Shortly after that, the lights dimmed, then brightened, then dimmed again and settled back to the way they were. He saw Wanda’s frown and approached her.
“That means the gallery’s going to be closing in thirty minutes.” He stayed by her side, and she told everyone goodbye. As she turned Trish was there.
“How long are you in New York?”
“Until Monday afternoon. But if my return trip goes anything like my arrival, I’m tempted to rent a car and drive home.” She grinned and looked at Christopher as she rolled her eyes. “Chaos, absolute and utter chaos. I’ll tell you about it when you take me out for something to eat. I’m starving.”
He only laughed. “I can do that. I took it upon myself to make reservations when I knew you were coming to town.”
“I’d like to get together with you. Can you do lunch on Sunday?” Trish asked hopefully.
“I can. Are you in a hotel?”
“I’m at the Four Seasons. Floor eight.”
“I’m there also, floor eleven. I’ll see you tomorrow, and we can make better plans.”
“Wonderful. And thank you for being here.” They hugged, and Christopher directed her over to their families.
“If I didn’t love you so much, I’d hate you,” Fern said. “I was wondering why Mom and Dad wanted to treat us to a trip to New York for some gallery opening. I never expected that you would be a big artist. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“If you knew it was me, how many people would you have told?”
“Everyone I knew or came into contact with.”
“That’s why I didn’t tell you. No offense, Fern, but as you heard Trish earlier, we’ve never met until tonight, and she’s been representing me since I started three years ago. Because of all my health issues in the past, I don’t like to let my friends know that I’m Willow. I hope you understand.”
“Absolutely. It’ll be my secret.” Fern hugged her and then Douglas did the same.
“I’m proud of you, sis.”
“Thanks. We’ll talk tomorrow. Right now, Christopher’s taking me out to dinner. I’m starving. I can get him to bring me back to the hotel. It looks like you have two kids that are about done.” She rubbed her niece’s back and saw she was asleep in her father’s arms and Brian didn’t look like he was too far behind. They went out to the cars, her family got into the cars waiting for them, and Sean offered to drive Christopher’s parents to his house while Christopher took Wanda to his SUV.
“I hope Italian is okay?”
“It is.” She sighed as she settled in. She looked around as he drove to a restaurant and was surprised by how busy the streets were at almost midnight. What really shocked her was that the restaurant was also crowded. After they were seated, she looked around. “It’s so busy, but it’s midnight. I can’t understand it. Why aren’t people tucked in a nice warm bed?”
Christopher laughed. “This is New York, baby. The town that never sleeps.” He took the menu from the waitress and ordered two glasses of ice water. As they studied their choices, they kept silent, but after placing their order they looked at each other, and both said at the same time.
“There’s something I want to talk to you about.” They laughed softly then sighed.
“You first,” Wanda said as she sipped her water.
“First, at the gallery tonight, my mother invited everyone in your family over to my house for Sunday dinner. I had no say in the matter other than agreeingwith her and telling her I’d invite you. So, would you like to come to my house on Sunday?”
“Absolutely.” She grinned.
“Good. Now there are other things I’d like to talk to you about, but I’d prefer to do them in private. I’m not trying to be evasive, but I’d really like to talk to you in private.”
“Me too. I have something important to talk to you about, and I’d like to do it in private.” They sat back as their meals were delivered and Wanda moaned when she caught the scent of her pasta. “God, I’m so hungry. I just hope I don’t crash after filling my stomach. If I do.” She grinned at Christopher. “I’m staying at the Four Seasons, and my room number is 1111. My room key is in my purse.” She groaned again as she took a bite and rolled her eyes. “So good.”
“Why are you so hungry? Didn’t you eat?”
“Yes and no. First.” She paused and looked at her watch. “What time is it?” He gave her the time, and she switched her watch. “Okay, so now it’s early Saturday morning. I got up around two thirty Thursday morning and showered and got ready to head to the airport. It was ninety-five degrees still, so I wore shorts, a tank top, and sneakers. I never thought of grabbing a jacket or coat. I got to the airport on time, my flight was to leave at 6:30. I had a two-hour layover in Chicago than a direct flight from there to LaGuardia. I was supposed to arrive around ten New York time. The plane left Arizona on time. No problem. But thirty minutes into the flight we were rerouted to Dallas for mechanical problems. We sat in the plane on the terminal for four hours before they told us we had to get on a different plane. From there we were rerouted to Atlanta, anotherfour-hour layover. Then on to Richmond, then to DC, then finally into JFK. I only arrived at the hotel at noon today. So, a six-hour flight turned into thirty hours.”
