Page 57 of I’m Dreaming of a New York Christmas

‘Great! Go grab a booth and I’ll order drinks. Any preference? They’ll mix any cocktail you want.’

‘You choose. Just not a Manhattan,’ I said.

‘Got it.’

I chose a table at the far end of the room and sat on the side that faced towards the entrance so I could maximise my view of the space. The speakeasy’s ‘secret smile’ theme was peppered here and there, with the lips motif appearing in unexpected places including, quite delightfully, on the porthole-like window of a vintage washing machine next to the end of the bar, on top of which was a turntable with space behind it for a DJ. Ethan returned with our drinks after a few minutes.

‘This place is great,’ I said, taking a sip of a pleasingly sharp strawberry daiquiri with a hint of mint.

‘Yeah, we like it here because the vibe is good, the cocktails are excellent and the music is on point – and, crucially, never too loud if you get out of here by eleven.’

‘The perfect combination. I’m still not convinced it’s better than a classic English pub, though.’

‘Hey, we have pubs!’

‘No, you have bars that cosplay as pubs. They’re not the same. Like, you wouldn’t find a kids’ play area inside an American tavern, would you?’

Ethan nearly spat out his drink. ‘You’re joking?’

‘Nope. Everyone goes to the pub – especially on weekends during the day. It’s a family destination.’

Ethan shook his head, baffled. ‘I guess I wouldn’t know.’

‘Oh yeah, you’ve never been to the UK.’

‘Exactly. The whole airplane thing.’

‘Do you even have a passport?’ I asked, trying not to judge.

‘Yeah, of course. But I haven’t been on a plane since… I wanna say 2014. And that was a domestic flight after acupuncture. Let’s just say it didn’t go well and I ended up with a fear of needles as well as flying.’

‘Gosh.’

My response was wholly inadequate, but what are you meant to say to someone who seems worldly-wise, but likely hasn’t ever left their home nation before?

‘Yeah, I mean, I know I joke about it, but it’s become something of a problem in recent years. The agency has been keen for me to go over to London for a while now.’

‘To schmooze your big client?’

‘Yeah, something like that.’

‘Well, if you ever do make it over…’

My words trailed off, because it was a stupid thing to say on every level. Thankfully, the awkward moment was interrupted.

‘Carmy!’ The shout had come from an extremely tall and extremely thin man dressed from head to toe in black who was waving from the other end of the room. He bounded over – his head was almost touching the ceiling, but he seemed unimpeded by the risk of injury.

Ethan stood up to greet his friend – Ethan was a good few inches taller than me, but there was at least a foot of height difference between them. ‘Frank! You’re early, bro.’

‘Yeah, I was at a screening nearby and thought I might as well head straight here once it finished.’

They clasped palms in a high-five inspired handshake and hugged briefly before Ethan turned to me.

‘Flora, this is my buddy Frank. Frank – Flora. She’s visiting from England.’

‘Sweet. How do you guys know each other?’

I shot a glance at Ethan. Good luck explaining this one, fella.