Page 5 of Clumsy in Love

“It’s settled then,” Faith said.

It was only three days. Late June started the park’s busy season, and that’s all she was allowed to take. How much trouble could she possibly get into in that short a time?

“Sightseeing in New York City sounds a lot better than dealing with the fallout here,” Holly said, shrugging. “Sure. Why not?”

At nine o’clock, Alex and Tess left to shut down the reception, thank everyone for coming, and shoo them all home. At nine-thirty, her friends walked her to the waiting town car.

“Maybe you’ll meet someone in New York,” Faith said.

“No way,” Holly said. “I am done with men. Done, you hear me?”

“But your horoscope also said, ‘Try something new.’ Maybe it meant someonenew.” Faith winked.

“Absolutely not,” Holly said. “And stay away from me with your horoscope mumbo jumbo. I don’t need any more bad luck.”

Holly hugged her friends goodbye and rode in silence to the hotel in Portsmouth where she and Rick were supposed to spend their first night as man and wife. She spent the entire hour and a half wondering what had gone wrong.

Was it something she did? Said? Was? Why ask her to marry him only to bug out? The only way to get real answers was to talk to Rick, which was not happening anytime soon. She was hurt, but also kind of pissed. He couldn’t have walked away a week before the wedding? Two days? An hour? Surely, waiting until the last possible second to bail meant something. But what?

She checked into the honeymoon suite. Alone. When the clerk looked over her shoulder, clearly looking for a groom, she told him her new husband was parking the car. And maybe he was. Back in Green Valley Falls.

As tired as she was, it still took her a while to fall asleep. Hurt, anger, confusion, and embarrassment all whirled around her head, making it hard to calm down. It was only when she switched focus to the adventure ahead that she finally conked out.

CHAPTER TWO

The next morning, Holly packed away the humiliation and heartbreak and got excited. In just a few hours, she’d be in New York City. A dream come true.

As a park ranger, she spent all her time in the woods. Her small New Hampshire town—population five thousand—was a quaint, peaceful place to live and work, but she wanted to see how the other half lived. Experience a big city.

She rode the hotel shuttle to the airport, boarded the plane, and heaved a sigh of relief when it took off with an empty seat next to her. Ninety minutes later, she landed at JFK. After claiming her baggage, she followed the signs to the taxi queue. The line was long but moved quickly. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry.

“Let’s go,” the attendant yelled, waving at her when she got to the front of the line. “You wanna car or not?”

Holly hustled over, slid into the cab, and gave the driver the address to the downtown Manhattan hotel. He grunted in reply then hit the gas. For the entire ride, the only words he muttered were unflattering and impolite things to the surrounding drivers. His driving was brisk and evasive, and she kept her eyes on the road to avoid losing her breakfast. There was a lot of horn honking and hand gesturing. It was definitely an every-man-for-himself situation, and she was thankful she wasn’t driving.

She stared in awe as the city skyline came into view. It made Green Valley Falls look like an anthill. So many buildings. So many people.

The taxi driver double-parked at the hotel and cursed at the cars honking and swerving around him. He grabbed her suitcase from the trunk and dropped it onto the sidewalk. Luckily, she’d thought ahead and already had his tip out.

“Thank you,” she said, slipping him a ten and hoping that was enough.

“Welcome to New York,” he mumbled, snatching the money, getting back into the car, and pulling into traffic.

After her experience with the cab driver, the hotel doorman seemed overly polite. He held the door open and welcomed her to the Hotel New York.

“Thanks, Winston,” she said, calling him by the name etched onto a metal plate pinned to his chest.

“Let me know if you need anything during your stay.” He smiled and pointed to the left. “Check-in desk is that way.”

At the airport check-in, Holly had explained that Rick had broken his leg and was unable to travel. Here, she told the woman behind the desk that he’d unexpectedly had both legs amputated. But checking into a hotel was different from flying. They didn’t care who stayed or didn’t, and the clerk didn’t bat an eye at the woeful tale of her legless friend.

“Have a nice stay,” the woman said, handing Holly a key card and looking past her to the next person in line.

Undeterred by the clerk’s briskness, Holly took the elevator to the fourteenth floor. She entered her room and stood in awe at the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows. Her main stipulation when booking the hotel was that it had a city view, and this place did not disappoint. She pulled out her phone and snapped some pictures. Then picked one and sent it to her friends’ group chat, along with the message:Made it!

She unpacked her suitcase, setting aside the sexy lingerie—wouldn’t be needing that now—changed into shorts and a T-shirt, and set out. Winston pointed her toward Times Square, which was only a few blocks away. The minute she hit the street, overwhelm assaulted her senses.

Horns honking, bus brakes hissing, sirens off in the distance. People talking, often yelling, and a different song on the radio for every car that passed by with its window down. Other cars idled, spilling exhaust while waiting at stoplights. Bikes and scooters whizzed by, somehow squeezing through the inches of space between vehicles and pedestrians. People bustled through tunnels of towering buildings and across busy streets. The city buzzed with excitement. And she loved it.

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