Nothing could get past her daughter but now a crisis was looming. Hayley looked to Dean for help.
‘Hey, Angel, tomorrow afternoon, when I get back from work, shall we go and see Vern and Randy?’ Dean asked.
Angel was still eyeing the remaining lobsters in the tank, seemingly scrutinising them, checking every mark, the position of the elastic bands on their pinchers. ‘I guess so,’ she said half-heartedly.
‘Want to see a photo?’ Dean offered. He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his phone.
‘I thinkI’dlike to see a photo,’ Hayley said.
‘Of Randy?’ Dean asked.
‘No, of Vernon, the guy I had to hear about from my daughter.’
‘Oh, I don’t have any of him on this phone,’ Dean said quickly.
‘You have more than one phone? When did you joinSons of Anarchy?’
‘This is just my phone for…’ he hesitated.
‘For pictures of dogs?’ Hayley offered.
Dean ignored her comment and reached to put the phone under Angel’s nose. ‘There he is.’
For a second, Hayley thought Angel wasn’t going to move her eyes from the water tank. But as the waiter headed towards it, his hands in rubber gloves, ready to pluck another lobster from the water, she slipped back down onto her chair and turned her attention to Dean’s phone.
‘See how cute he is,’ Dean said, swiping to another image.
‘What type of dog is he?’ Angel asked, calling Greenpeace about the sea creatures all but forgotten.
‘He’s a Pomeranian.’
‘Is he fully grown?’ Angel asked.
‘Yes, they’re a small breed.’ Dean smiled. ‘You should see Vern with him. It’s like a giant taking a mouse for a walk.’
‘So he’s tall then. Is that all I’m getting?’ Hayley said.
‘You’ll see him tomorrow.’
‘Can we take Randy for a walk tomorrow? Can we go to Central Park?’ Angel asked, leaning her head sideways and batting her eyelashes.
Hayley stood up, placing her napkin on the table. ‘While she goes full on child actress, I’m going to go to the toilet.’
‘Thebathroom. We’re in America now,’ Angel corrected.
‘Fine. I might even turn on a faucet.’
Oliver splashed his face with water and looked at his reflection in the mirror of the gents’ bathroom. He was pale, his hazel eyes a little bloodshot. He held out a hand, stretching it into the space, seeing what happened. It was trembling. Not an obvious shake like someone with Parkinson’s, but a visible tremor. He clenched his fist and closed his eyes. What was he doing here? After his close call at the hospital, his run-in with both his mother and Clara, he should have left with Tony and headed home.
But going back to the penthouse alone, biding time, thinking, wondering, worrying, that wasn’t a life. That’s why he did what he did. Here, with this woman, with Christa last night. Because being with someone, being part of the intricate fabric of New York, was better than the alternative. Wondering when you were going to die and who would care if you did.
He shook the water from his hands and smoothed the rest into his hair. Looking at his reflection again, he swallowed. He had two choices. He either rode this feeling out, went back to the table with whatever-her-name-was and enjoyed a night of carnal desire he really wasn’t in the mood for. Or he escaped out the back door. There was really only one option.
The cool air from the corridor lifted Hayley’s hair as she moved through the door from the restaurant. As soon as she had been to the toilet, she’d suggest skipping dessert and calling the driver. Angel had to be running on adrenaline alone right now. It was something like three o’clock in the morning in the UK.
She stopped walking the second she saw him. She widened her eyes, getting them used to the half-light in the hall, making sure shewasseeing what she thought she was seeing. It was Dean’s boss, the hot Mr Meanie, struggling to open the fire exit door at the end of the corridor. What was he doing? Was he a smoker in need of a nicotine hit? It seemed desperate if that was the case. He was pushing and pulling like his life was at stake.
She knew what she should do. She should disappear into the ladies’ toilets and pretend she hadn’t seen. Whatever he was doing was none of her business and she shouldn’t be standing there appreciating the fine cut of his trousers as he leaned against the metalwork. She subconsciously took a step towards the ladies’ bathroom. And that’s when he turned around.
