Chapter 1
WELL BEING
It's comfortable.
I feel every muscle relax as I shuffle back into my chair, close my eyes and take a deep breathe. The smell of coffee fills my lungs and a homely scent that I cannot quite place makes me involuntarily close my eyes and sink further back.
I have always loved reading and for the past three months I have regularly found myself in the same café, in the same corner, watching the world go by.
The Two Hearted River café opened up earlier this year and since discovering the gem, I have not been able to stay away. It has become my weekly indulgence for some me time.
New York city has everything you desire to offer. However, I believe that it's the small things that are the most special and important. Really, the small things are the big things in life.
Two Hearted is a small boutique café that feels more like entering someone's home rather an a public space.
There are personal relics dotted around the place that look like they are part of someone's precious travel collection from their adventures around the world.
In the chaos that can be the city and life, it is nice to have somewhere to just be. Somewhere to think and reflect. But, more importantly, somewhere to read.
The beauty of the Two Hearted River Café is that it is more than your average café. Each wall is stacked from floor to ceiling with books.
The books are there for each customers enjoyment. The only thing that is asked of each reader, is that they take the time to enjoy what they are reading and leave a short review in the back of the book once you are finished.
I am sat in the Classic corner, ready to bury myself in Jane Eyre for the third time since first reading the story in high school, when my thoughts are interrupted by a buzzing in my pocket. It's Theo.
"Hey Piper, it's me. Just checking in, everything alright? I'm home early."
"Hey Thee, I can't talk right now." I say in a hushed tone. "I'm in a library, I should be home before seven. I'll grab some takeout from Di Angelo's on my way home."
"Sounds good. Take care, honey. I love you."
I put my cell away and pick up my book, once again.
I know it sounds selfish, but this place is mine. I am not ready to share it yet.
Theo and I have been together for two years, and living together for more than a year now.
He is caring, funny, warm and steady. Predictable. A key characteristic missing from my previous relationship.
Theo's steadiness and contentment was what initially attracted me to him. He makes me feel safe.
These days it feels a little… boring at times. Dare I say it.
Theo is a newspaper writer I met at a PR conference. I had finally managed to get my life together, and had been award a publishing deal.
At the prime age of twenty five, after a year partying and generally not paying much attention to my health, I put pen to paper. Inspired by the adventures and travelling in my early twenties, it was a cathartic way to close one chapter, ready for the next.
My family believe the book was stimulated merely by travelling. There was one exception of course, my best friend Jimmy.
Initially it was almost somewhere to vent about the things that went wrong. Eventually, it was my own personal therapy and helped me to move on from her. Alex.
From margaritas in Miami to beaches in Bali, it soon became apparent that mine and Alex's story wasn't just about how it ended. Alex and I had some really wonderful times together.
She was my first love and I fell head over heels.
The book helped me gain closure and find myself again.
Shocked doesn't do justice to how it felt to learn that I had become a New York Times bestseller.
Theo interviewed me on behalf of the New York Times during my press release, and at the end of the conference asked me a question off the record. Was I free for a drink tonight?
Fast forward two years, we are living together in the city and engaged.
Putting my Jane Eyre down after two or ten chapters, I decide it is time to finish my flat white and make my way home. I make a mental note of the page I am on and walk to the ladder in the Classic corner, ready to put the book back, in an inconspicuous place that I hope doesn't attract too much attention.
I grab my purse and begin to make my way to Di Angelo's when someone crashes into me, knocking my phone out of my hand. I don't look up, electricity rushes through me and I know what or who crashed into me.
I feel her eyes bore into me and I hate myself immediately as my body betrays me.
"Piper?"