Hayley looked out of the window onto the street. It was already dark, the sky blue-black with menacing, grey clouds converging above the city skyline. People were wrapped up in wool coats, passing by, rushing home from work or to late-night shopping, their breath visible in the freezing air. In just a few days, she and Angel would be leaving it all behind and travelling thousands of miles across the ocean for Christmas in the Big Apple. Minus temperatures in double figures and streets full of Santas, Michael Bublé music and candy canes.
Hayley watched a woman pushing open the door of the restaurant and she reached forward across the table to tap Angel on the arm.
‘Fashion alert at three o’clock.’ Hayley made the tapping more insistent. ‘Angel Walker, tell me what you would do for this woman with nothing but a scarf and a hair clip.’
‘Oh, Mum, really?’ Angel looked at the woman heading for the counter. ‘I think she looks fine.’
‘Purlease! Cream boots with that grey coat?’
Angel sighed. ‘What colour is the imaginary scarf?’
Hayley grinned. ‘What colour do you think the imaginary scarf should be?’
‘Red?’
Hayley shook her head, screwing up her face in disapproval.
‘Brown?’
‘Uh-uh. One last go?’ She watched her daughter look the woman up and down, assessing.
‘Spots!’ Angel exclaimed.
Hayley clapped her hands together. ‘Yes! I’m thinking a bit of Dalmatian print, clipped onto that coat like a drape. She would go from faux-pas to fashionista in a second.’
‘Are we going to tell her?’ Angel asked.
Hayley laughed and shook her head. ‘No.’
It was just a game now. Something to occupy the designer side of her brain. It was all she’d ever wanted. Making creations to grace the catwalks, seeing the clothes come to life, delivering the finished products to high-end stores all over the world. She swallowed as she looked back at Angel. It seemed like a lifetime ago. And it was. Her life had changed beyond recognition. She’d gone from spending her nights cutting up fabric and laughing with friends over bottles of Lambrini, to night feeds and nappy changing. The only fashion she’d ended up dictating was her baby girl’s, despite attempts to pass off puke stains asen vogue. She’d chosen to become a mother and mothers made sacrifices. What else was there to say?
‘Vernon has a dog called Randy,’ Angel blurted out, interrupting her thoughts.
A chip lodged in her throat and Hayley had to cough. ‘What?’
‘I think he named him after that judge onAmerican Idol.’
Hayley sighed. ‘Let’s hope so.’
Balmoral Road, Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK
Angel had sung the Michael Bolton version of ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’ on repeat since they’d left town. Now they were parked up and the song was just reaching its final crescendo. Usually, Hayley would have joined in – she had almost perfected the hair flick and the high, gruff voice – but she was still panicking about the amount she had to do before they left. It helped that she didn’t have a job to maintain any more. How wrong did that sound?
Giving in to the first drink with manager Greg had been her biggest mistake. Him not taking no for an answer the second, third and twelfth time of asking couldn’t be put on her, but the getting too close beside the dry-cleaning steam machine had been the last straw. Fondling business suits and stain-covered cocktail dresses for six months was definitely enough. Her options were now open, which would have scared her more had she not been squirrelling away money from a second job as a party planner. Things had been busy on the run up to Christmas, she’d even scored some extra cash giving some of her richer clients fashion advice. With a clear diary for next year and just enough funds to cover this trip, she could now concentrate on what was important. The search.
Hayley screwed her eyes tight shut and gripped on to the steering wheel. Despite her bravado with Angel, she was excited and terrified in equal measure about this trip. In the far corners of her mind, heightened by the fact she was now unemployed, this trip to New York had all the makings of an escape plan. It could be a chance to see how the land lay over there, how Angel took to the US life. Her throat tightened just thinking about it. She and Angel,starting afresh, new horizons, doughnuts the size of dinner plates and cruising every floor of Barneys.
Hayley opened her eyes. It would only be window shopping for now, with her finances as they were. She looked to Angel. Her daughter had pulled down the visor and was pouting to herself in the vanity mirror like she was about to pose for a selfie.
Unfortunately, Hayley wasn’t like her ridiculously clever brother, Dean, who had been headhunted for his position with Drummond Global. She had no extraordinary skills to offer the US. Just a hard work ethic and… well, just that. She and millions of others were all looking for the same sort of change. New York, paved with gold, a concrete jungle where dreams could come true.
‘Shall I put it on again?’
Angel had turned in her seat and was now looking at Hayley, her finger poised on the button of the in-car CD player.
‘No! Not again.’
Angel let out a laugh that made Hayley’s skin prickle. Right now, her daughter seemed innocent and unburdened but Hayley knew better. She knew what Angel was thinking and hoping for before she went to sleep each night and she was going to do whatever it took to solve it. New York could hold answers for them both.
