Page 103 of Love Deep
I made sure our hotel is within walking distance of Radio City Music Hall and Grace’s gallery. I didn’t want to negotiate the subway for the first time with Riley. I’m sure it would have been fine, but I wasn’t going to take any chances with my daughter. Yes, I want her to fly, but that doesn’t mean I want her to break her wingstrying.
“Yeah. A lot more,” she says. “And it really smells bad, Mom.”
I laugh. “I can’t argue with that.”
“But it’s cool.” She gazes up as we come to a stop at the crossing at 59thStreet. “The buildings are so tall. They block out the sky. It looks even more New York than in the movies.”
As ever, my daughter knows exactly how to encapsulate a feeling. “I like that. I agree, it’s more New York than it is in the movies.”
“Can we go to the top of the Empire State Building?” she asks.
We’re not here for long. Just two nights and one full day. First, we’re stopping at Grace Astor Fine Art to meet with Grace. She seemed really pleased to hear from me, and when I said I was coming to New York, she said she’d love to meet.
It’s not that she’d ever been cold or unenthusiastic about my work. The opposite, in fact. It’s just that reaching out to her and hearing how excited she seemed gave me… confidence. Maybe she really saw something in me. It’s not like Riley and I can come to New York on a regular basis, but maybe there’s some kind of way where she could help me get my art seen by more people. Like Mom said, I’ve got nothing to lose by going to see her.
“We’re going to the gallery first.”
“But not the Met?”
“No, this is to a gallery of a friend of—” I nearly say Fisher’s name but I stop myself just in time. “Of mine. She wanted me to stop by if I was ever in New York. Then I thought we could go through the park on our way to the Met and…” I haven’t had a chance to check the price of going to the top of the Empire State Building, but I bet it’s not cheap. The tickets to the Met are expensive, and Riley said she really wanted to go together, but maybe she’s humoring me. Before bed, I used to talk to her about the paintings in that museum like I used to work there.
“Oh yeah, I definitely want to go through Central Park. And definitely want to go to the Met with you. I’ll be right there with you when your dream comes true, Mama.”
“You will?” I ask her.
“You always say it’s your dream to go to the Met. And today you get to go.”
“But if you want to go up the Empire State Building, I can check the price of tickets.” I should have thought about it before now. Maybe if I’d booked them earlier, I might have gotten them cheaper.
“I want to go to the Met more than I want to go up the Empire State Building.”
“Really?” I ask.
She nods her head.
“Are you sure, because, like you said, the Met is my dream, not yours.”
“I’m sure. I can see the Empire State Building from the outside anyway. My dream is coming to New York and seeing Vivian Cross in concert. I’m literally having two dreams come true in one day! And I want your dream to come true, too. And I also really, really want to go to the Met. Do you think we can get a selfie outside—the two of us?”
“I think we can arrange that.” I can’t help but let my mind wander to what might have happened if we’d have come with Fisher when he’d asked us. He said he’d take us to the Met. I still miss him like he left Star Falls two days ago. It doesn’t make any sense. He wasn’t in town long enough for me to feel like I do. It’s like he took a part of mewith him when he left, and I can’t function properly without it.
We come to another crossing and I pull out my phone with the screenshot of the gallery’s address. “I think this is it. Except I don’t know which part of the street it’s on. Let me pull it up on a map.”
We stand on the corner of the street as I try to figure out which direction we’re heading. “Ahh, it’s right,” I say. “Just down here.” I scoop up Riley’s hand again. “You think you’ll be okay looking at the art while I talk to Grace?”
“Sure,” she says. “I’ll be even better if you give me your phone.”
“Not happening.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“I promise I’ll be really good, Mom. I won’t?—”
“It’s not happening, Riley. The gallery will be full of beautiful art, and I brought your book. If you finish looking at the art, you can read.”
“You did?” Her eyes light up like I just told her she could eat candy all day. “I didn’t know that.”
