Amber Green Takes Manhattan

‘I thought you were going to avoid me forever. I’ve been getting paranoid.’ He sounded nervous.

‘I’ve not been avoiding you,’ I lied, ‘just been busy. Anyway, what’s happening with you?’

‘I wanted to see if you’re free tonight. I could meet you from work and we could grab some dinner, chat, you know – what boyfriends and girlfriends do?’

He’s still using the b-word, that’s surely a good sign. I paused. ‘Are you there, Amber?’ he continued. ‘Are you pissed off with me?’

I swallowed hard. ‘New York, what’s happening with that? Are you going to move?’

‘That’s what I want to talk to you about,’ he said.

‘Are you sure you want me to be your girlfriend, Rob?’

Silence on his end. This is it. It’s over. Joseph is right, he’s just not into me.

‘Amber—’

‘Don’t tell me, this opportunity, you can’t turn it down, blah, blah, blah. It’s fine, I can handle it, tell me I make a great friend but it’s you, you’re not in the right place for a relationship.’ A hot sensation was working its way up into my cheeks.

‘Listen, I didn’t want to have this conversation on the phone, I wanted to meet up with you and talk about it properly, but—’

‘I get it, you’re just not that into me…’

‘Amber! Shut up for a second.’ His tone took me aback, Rob rarely raised his voice. ‘Yes, I’ve done some thinking and I do want to go to New York, I think it will be an incredible experience – but not just for me, for both of us. I wanted to ask if you would consider coming with me?’ He paused. ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to flat hunt together in Williamsburg or Queens?’

I was so shocked I could barely find the words to respond.

‘Really?’ I uttered at last, leaning back against the wall, finally allowing every muscle in my body to relax.

‘Really.’ He was smiling into the phone; I could picture it.

And that was it, suddenly everything was rose tinted again. New York or bust? It was a no-brainer.

Rob met me from Selfridges that night, even skipping Pinky’s slop time, so I knew he meant business, and we spent the evening plotting the weeks ahead. I would speak to Joseph about a three-month sabbatical; we would give up my Kensal Rise flat and move everything into Rob’s room while we were away. I felt sure Vicky would understand – she’d probably be overjoyed that I was going to be a mere five-hour internal flight away. Besides, she was probably making it up with Trey this very moment.

The following morning I broke the news to my parents.

‘Isn’t this a bit crazy, Amber?’ Mum said after doing me the courtesy of listening quietly as I excitedly babbled away for five minutes. Bearing in mind Mum’s idea of adventure is a day out in April without bringing her umbrella and Dad thinks anyone who eats hummus is on the road to ruin – how could I expect them to understand?

‘It’s what people my age do all the time, Mum,’ I told her, bristling. ‘Anyway, it’s only for three months, initially – it’s hardly a long time in the scheme of things. You and Dad could even come and visit if you want.’ I crossed my fingers behind my back.

‘Initially, darling? You’re thinking of staying longer? This is a whole different scenario. How are you going to do that legally, you know you need a visa to work in America? You’re going to do it all by the book, I hope? They’ll lock you up if you don’t.’ I could picture her shaking her head disparagingly. ‘You won’t have the same rights in America.’

My mum hadn’t got her position as a top barrister without thinking through the legal implications for every situation.

‘I know, Mum. And of course we’re going to do it properly. I can stay for three months as a tourist anyway, and we’ll take it from there. Rob’s company are sorting out the visa for him. He’s getting an O visa.’

Suddenly my dad’s voice came on the phone. I hated it when my parents put me on a three-way conversation, especially without telling me. Surely it was a violation of my privacy.

‘O visa? How old did you say he is?’

‘It’s an O-1 visa, not OAP, Dad. It means he’s got an extraOrdinary ability.’

‘Don’t tell me he’s a psychic?’

‘No, he’s a TV producer, as you know – not just anyone can make a top TV show, he’s got tons of experience.’

‘What’s this TV show about, then?’

I squirmed; the last thing I wanted was for them to pick up on any insecurities about going to New York on my part, and ‘a show about an underwear company’ didn’t exactly sound like something that would impress one’s parents. I casually wandered out of the kitchen and into the sitting room so Rob couldn’t overhear the half-truth I was about to tell.

‘It’s about a top company out there, it’s kind of an American institution. Rob will be telling the inside story on how it works.’

‘Anyway, Amber,’ Dad interrupted me, ‘we wondered if you’d like to bring Rob to dinner at home next Sunday? Especially now that you’re practically eloping, we’d like to meet him properly.’ I almost choked on my tea.

‘If you’re disappearing off to the other side of the world with this fellow, we’d better get to know him,’ Mum added. ‘My parents have invited you over next Sunday, if you can bear it.’ I broke the news as I re-entered the kitchen, to find Rob serving up scrambled egg.

‘You’re not exactly selling the opportunity,’ he said, smiling. ‘But your folks seemed lovely when I met them the other week.’

‘You met them for precisely fifteen seconds,’ I reminded him. They’d dropped me off at Rob’s one evening on a detour after we’d been to visit my sister. He’d politely come out to shake my dad’s hand. Dad didn’t bother getting out of the car and shook it through the window. Bit rude, I thought at the time.

‘I don’t remember him having a hook for an arm,’ he said, teasing me. ‘But,’ a hesitation, ‘my mum has invited me over next Sunday too, along with Dan and Florence, and, well, I was going to see if you fancied joining us?’

I took a large swig of tea from the mug in my hand, wishing it contained something stronger. ‘If I’m not mistaken, Robert Walker, are you asking me to meet your family? Not only your mother but your brother and his scary-sounding fiancée, too?’

‘I am, Miss Green, now will you please accept because I want to eat my breakfast before it goes cold?’

I leaned over and ran my fingers through his unkempt bed hair. I smiled into his lips before kissing them.

‘I’d be honoured.’ And I texted Mum the bad news before flying out of the door to work.

‘A sabbatical?’ Joseph repeated the words back to me, then he sat back and pushed his curls behind his ears with both hands. ‘No one’s asked for a sabbatical before.’

‘Just three months – it will fly by,’ I pleaded, desperation no doubt showing in my face. ‘I absolutely promise I’ll come back.’

‘But what if everyone wants a sabbatical?’ he asked, looking around us to check no one was eavesdropping. We were sitting at a table in the Selfridges food hall. ‘It won’t be easy to find cover for that amount of time. What if Shauna wants one too – what then? I’ll have to speak to Jeff, find out what the company policy is.’

‘But it’s not a no?’

‘Not yet,’ he smiled. ‘Listen, babe, I’ll see what I can do, because I’d like to keep you, but you’d better come back, and don’t tell anyone, for now.’

‘I will, I promise. Let me buy you a Krispy Kreme Deluxe Donut as a thank you – in advance.’

And I got up before he could change his mind.

I was looking forward to spending time with Rob’s mum, but for some reason I was even more excited about meeting Dan’s fiancée, the infamous Florence. On Boxing Day evening, Rob had moaned about how his mother, Marian, was like a lap dog around Florence – she thought she was the best thing not just to happen to Dan, but to their entire family.

‘She hasn’t met you yet, though,’ he qualified, though he had polished off a number of glasses of mulled wine.