Page 150 of Fifth Avenue Fling

Who needs to use a phone book these days? I didn’t realize they still made them.

I sigh heavily. “Bring it in.”

“Do you not do pickups?”

“No,” I say through gritted teeth. “Not for refunds unless something is wrong with it. Is there anything wrong with it?”

“This is very inconvenient.” She ignores my question. Her eyes narrow as she waits, expecting me to say something. “McKinney’s furniture store has better service. I’ll have to take my business there from now on.”

Fuck, I need to get out of here.

“You’re welcome,” I mutter as she struts out of the shop. Moody old bag.

I glance at my watch. 2:00 p.m. It’s morning time in New York. I can’t look at the time without converting to New York time and thinking about what everyone is doing there. Teagan. Orla.

Killian.

Orla has her civil service examination in a few hours. The first step of her becoming a New York cop. It’ll be really slow going because she’ll have to have been in the country for a certain period. I’ll never sleep if she ends up patrolling the streets of New York.

I give her a call to say good luck.

She answers right away. “Hi!”

“Hey, I wanted to wish you luck with your exam this morning.”

“Ugh.” I hear her sigh heavily. “I haven’t taken an exam since school. And the first part is math. Like who adds up things manually these days?”

I smile, pushing away my own worries for a moment. “You’ll be fine. You’ve done the practice test.”

“How are you feeling today?”

“Great,” I lie. “I’m pretty decided on London now.” I’ve been talking to Orla about this for a couple of days and she’s become worse than Granny Deirdre, sending me articles about the less-than-ideal aspects of life in London. A rat spotted in a restaurant. People renting out rooms the size of cupboards for exorbitant sums. Not helpful.

Orla hums thoughtfully in response. “I don’t want you to give up on New York. It’s not the same here without you.”

I close my eyes and take a breath before responding. “I miss you, too. I’ll start saving and come for a visit in a few months, I promise."

“Christmas in New York?”

I was so looking forward to my first Christmas in New York. Ice-skating at the Rockefeller. Mulled wine in Central Park. “I’ll check how much flights are.”

“By the way, we had a visitor at The Auld Dog last night.”

“Oh yeah?”

She pauses. “I wasn’t sure if I should tell you because it seems like you’re getting over him.”

My heart races. I clutch the phone tighter.

“Connor Quinn.”

“Connor, Killian’s brother?”

“Yeah.”

“What did he want?”

“I’m not sure. He said he was in the area.” She pauses. “He was asking about you.”

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