Page 185 of With Us

I’m officially in love.

After arriving in the city, we’d taken a cab to our hotel to drop off our bags. Since the hotel was right in Times Square, I’d gone from tired to wide awake.

It was incredible.

In Boston, there was life all around. Shopping, culture, history, everything I could want was within a short walk or T ride.

Because that was my life, I hadn’t expected New York City to be anything jaw dropping.

I’d beenwaywrong

After dropping our bags off in the swankiest room, better than anything on the Travel Channel, I’d practically pulled Theo out onto the street. We’d shared food truck food, including the mandatory hot dog, and walked the city blocks. I’d snapped about a million selfies of us, uploading them to my rarely used Facebook.

We’d only spent a few hours out before I’d reluctantly said I was tired. It wasn’t a lie, though I’d have pushed through, but Theo had his meeting early.

It’d taken me a while to fall asleep, but I’d still jumped out of bed the next morning, full of energy and ready to go. I hadn’t even been sure if I had anywheretogo. I may have been used to a big city, but NYC was a beast of its own. My sense of direction wasn’t great, and I didn’t want to end up on the other side of the city.

Thankfully for me, Luc had come early with Niall.

Unfortunately for Niall, that meant he was on babysitting duty.

Niall barely spoke, making me feel like I was on my own. It was nice to have the time to be in my head for a while, taking in everything and people watching.

The only time I’d really noticed him was when he’d insisted on carrying my messenger bag. I’d hesitated to take too many pictures, not wanting to spend all day acting like a gawking tourist. Every time I’d spend longer than a moment looking at things, though, Niall would hand me my camera and then return it to the bag after.

As I stood in Central Park, pretty much keeping my camera to my eye, I was blown away by the size of it. I’d always thought it was just a basic park, but it spanned a couple miles. Since everything was covered in snow, I’d expected it to be empty, but I was wrong about that, too. There were massive rock hills that children climbed on located near an unusual playground. I was tempted to go swing just because I felt so giddy and carefree, but I was pretty sure that would’ve pushed Niall’s patience too far.

Instead, I walked, pausing occasionally to look around. I also stopped to pet every dog who came to me.

When we exited the end of the park, I asked, “Street meat?”

Niall’s lip curled.

“Ohhhkay,” I muttered, offering, “Pizza?”

“That I could eat. Come on.”

We walked along, passing several pizza places before he finally opened the door. The smell of sweet tomato sauce, garlic, and spicy pepperoni hit me like a wall. Once we got in and ordered our slices, we sat at a small table near the window.

“Have you come here before?” I asked.

“Every time I’m in the city. Lots of places claim to have the best pizza, but they actually do.” He picked up the slice, folded it, and took a bite. It was almost odd seeing him eat. In all the times I’d been around him, I couldn’t recall him ever eating or drinking. Between that and his stoic personality, he could’ve easily passed as a robot.

I followed his lead, eating the same way. “That’s the best bite of food I’ve ever had.”

“Told you so.” For a moment, there was a tiny hint of a smile before his expression blanked again. He took out his phone. “Mr. Amato said to check your phone.”

I pulled mine out and saw it was still set to silent.

Theo:Having fun, my gattina?

Theo:I’ll take your lack of response as a yes.

Theo:Meeting should be wrapping up soon. Meet at hotel?

Me:Sure.

With all the excitement, I’d barely slept, so a quick nap sounded perfect.

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