Chapter 2
Of course, Mark was nothing of the sort and his offer of help quickly came to fruition. He made a few phone calls from the cafe and returned to me a few minutes later with a grin on his face.
'Benny will meet us here in an hour.'
'Benny?'
'A friend. He owns one of the buildings on Avenue A. My building, actually, the apartment downstairs has been empty for... well, a long time.' He paused there suddenly, unnaturally. Then he added, much more cheerfully, 'We could be neighbours! That is, if you want...'
'I'd love to!' Mark's eyebrows rightly registered surprise at my eager reply. If I'd expected the people of Alphabet City to accept the person I'd always wanted to be without batting an eyelid, I'd have been disappointed. Now I simply tried to temper my enthusiasm. 'I mean, that would be great. Thanks.'
Mark smiled again. 'It's no problem. It'll be nice to have someone around again. It might even...' That strange pause again. His eyes took on a faraway look from behind his glasses. It took him longer to snap out of it this time and I wondered if I'd have to say something and break the awkward silence. I'd always been exceptional at small talk and what my father referred to as networking. For the last few years, I'd practically made it my main occupation, with a high level of success. Somehow, though, it was deserting me on this occasion and I wasn't quite sure why.
Suddenly the woman at Mark's table turned to see where her companion had got to. With her riotous curls and obscenely tight top, she looked like trouble from the start and her words proved her to be exactly that.
'Mark, aren't you going to introduce us to your new girlfriend?' She grinned wickedly, and the last of their trio, a tall and imposing black man, broke into deep laughter.
Mark was jerked out of his reverie and he sighed heavily, rolling his eyes. 'I apologise for Maureen,' he said to me, before turning back to the table. 'I think we might be getting a little old for this.'
Maureen cackled again. 'I know you are, Mark.' Her gaze turned back to me and her more genuine smile made her seem much less intimidating. 'But seriously, come sit down.' She patted the empty seat next to her.
I glanced at Mark, who shrugged. 'Benny will be a while. And Maureen's bark is far worse than her bite.'
'That's not what you used to say.' Maureen's eyes glinted dangerously, as the other man laughed again.
With another sigh, Mark led the way back to the table.
'Hi, I'm Maureen.' She offered me her hand. With a gasp, she exclaimed, 'I love your nails! And your hair!'
'Oh... thanks.' Both shots of colour had been a last minute act. The red streaks had come out startlingly scarlet against my normal honey blonde hair, and in an attempt to make them look less at odds with my otherwise neutral appearance I'd slapped some Red Ruby nail varnish on. It was very different to my usual French manicure touched up weekly at a local beauty salon. Still, a compliment was a compliment.
'Guys, this is Cat. Cat, you've met Maureen.' The heavy sarcasm in his voice made me smile as I finally extricated my hand from the woman's grip. 'Tom Collins.' He gestured towards the other man.
Tom Collins smiled and shook my hand. 'Enchante.'
'Content de te rencontrer,' I responded without thinking, an automatic reaction. It seemed that it was much harder to forget seven years of lessons and tuition than I'd have thought. My parents would be companions at the table, however, seemed more shocked than anything else.
Finally, Collins laughed. 'Ah! Some class at last!' It took me several seconds to realise that the laughter wasn't mocking. Only when he added, 'Welcome to Alphabet City,' could I feel a smile returning to my face again and I slid into the chair Maureen had ear-marked for me.
Over the next fifteen minutes, I had my first taste of Maureen's special type of interrogation. In the months that followed I'd see her behave in a similar way to anyone who sparked her interest. It still didn't dampen the intense discomfort I felt as she attempted to find out everything there was to know about me. In many ways, it was too similar to the attention I'd been paid all my life in England and I was grateful when she finally drew breath and Mark was able to explain why I'd joined them.
'Benny's coming to meet us.'
'Oh great!' Maureen's rolled eyes and sulky voice suggested that perhaps Benny wasn't one of her friends.
Mark pressed on. 'I thought Cat could have a look at the empty apartment in our building. You know, maybe rent it if she liked it.'
The silence that followed his words made me glance between the three friends in surprise. As Maureen had dragged answer after answer out of me, both Mark and Collins had laughed and joined in. Silence didn't seem something that these people were capable of. What's more, Maureen's jaw had dropped in an attitude of surprise. I hadn't expected anything much could shock the feisty and tempestuous woman who littered her speech with more expletives than I could count. This apartment suddenly didn't seem such a good idea.
'The empty apartment? But that's...'
Collins interrupted Maureen. 'That's a great idea.'
'But Collins, what about...'
He gave her a firm and silencing look. 'Don't you think, Maureen?'
She glanced at me, her heavily kohled eyes looking uncertain and a little resentful as she agreed. 'Yeah. Sure.' Her eyes flew back to Mark as she said, 'Does Roger know?'
Now Mark looked uncomfortable. 'Not exactly.'
Maureen snorted. 'Well that's a no. Don't you think you ought to tell him?'
Mark's unease only grew as he said softly, 'It's been two years, Maureen.'
'I know that. You know that. But try telling Roger that.' Maureen stood up abruptly, revealing that her penchant for tight clothing extended below the waistline to a pair of denim hotpants. 'I've got to go, we're having dinner with Joanne's parents. It was incredible to meet you, Cat.' To my surprise, she kissed my cheek and gave me a violent but heartfelt hug. Stepping away from the table, she directed her words at Collins and Mark. 'Send Benny my love, tell him I'm devastatedto have missed him.' The mischievous look in her eyes said everything that needed to be said about that comment. As she turned to go, she added, much more seriously, 'Tell Roger. For God's sake, tell Roger.'
The door closed behind her and the table fell silent. I inspected my nails for something to do. I wondered if they really suited me. Maureen, with her vivacious attitude and daring style, would suit them perfectly. In comparison, I was more of a weak pink than a bold red, I concluded, as I forced out the words I really didn't want to be saying.
'Look, if there's a problem with the apartment, I can find somewhere else,' I began, trying desperately to sound blasé and calm about it. The truth was that I was regretting leaving the Hamiltons' address at home.
Almost immediately, Mark and Collins sprang into life.
'No! There's not a problem, no problem at all!' Mark insisted.
Collins added, 'Ignore Maureen.'
I smiled. 'She doesn't make that easy.'
Collins laughed. 'No, she doesn't. Just ask Mark here.'
Frowning, I turned to Mark, looking for answers.
He sighed. 'Yeah, thanks.'
'Anytime.' Collins grinned.
Mark took a deep breath. 'Maureen and I... we used to have this... thing, you know. Nothing major.'
'Mark, you proposed!'
'I was drunk! And she said no!'
'Didn't stop her wearing that mail-order piece of shit ring you bought her.' Collins patted Mark's shoulder companionably. 'Cohen here was hung up on that girl for a long time.'
'But not anymore.' Mark concluded. 'So, about the apartment...'
They both looked at me and I experienced something I hadn't felt for a very long time. For some reason, both of them wanted me to take this room, they wanted me to stay in the area. I could barely remember the last time anyone had looked at me with such eagerness. It was such a pure and innocent expression: a desire to get to know me better. I liked it.
I glanced between the two of them and smiled. 'If your friend doesn't mind and is happy...'
The two of them beamed.
'Benny won't care,' Mark predicted. 'As long as you've got the rent, Benny won't care.'
Mark's prediction proved accurate. Benny was a suave and sophisticated businessman who arrived at the cafe half an hour late in an astonishingly shiny black car. It was clear from the moment he arrived that this was an inconvenience to him and he would have preferred not to have made the journey to the Lower East Side in this weather. Droplets of sweat stood out on his forehead as he shook my hand and appraised me with one quick flick of his eyes.
'Mark says you're interested in the empty apartment.'
It was a statement rather than a question, so I responded with a simple nod.
'Can you pay the rent?' He named a figure so low that I wondered if I'd heard it wrong. I knew that Alphabet City wasn't the most desirable area of the city, even with the rumoured redevelopment taking place, but this seemed more like daylight robbery than a fair rent.
Still, he was waiting for a response. 'Yes.'
There was a pause, as he glanced between me and where Mark and Collins were watching the exchange. He frowned. 'Have you got a job?' When I stumbled over my words, he sighed heavily and glanced back at the other two men. 'Guys!'
'She'll get one, we'll make sure of it,' Mark spoke for me. I usually hated anybody else speaking on my behalf and I'd sworn it would never happen again once I left England. Now, though, I was grateful for Mark's input. 'Come on, Benny. It's not earning any money as it is.'
After only a few more minutes, Benny agreed and produced the keys. 'I'll leave it to you to show her in,' he informed Mark.
'Can't you stay?' Collins asked. 'It's been a long time, Benny.'
But clearly whatever association Benny had had with Alphabet City wasn't one he wished to renew. 'Alison has family visiting. Say hi to everyone for me. Tell Roger to pick the phone up occasionally.'
Before I knew it, he'd gone, and I was holding the keys to my new apartment.
'I don't think there's much furniture left,' Mark informed me as he led the way to Avenue A. 'Benny was worried about squatters. There's a few chairs and a bed, I think, but if there are any problems, Roger and I only live upstairs so call in any time.' He seemed like an overexcited child, keen to have me moved in downstairs. It was endearing if not a little strange. I'd lived in my flat in London for almost three years now and I would barely have recognised my neighbours if they'd knocked on my door and waved at me. The thought that anyone would look forward to sharing a building with me was a new but not altogether unpleasant feeling.
The apartment was fairly bare but its size only made the pittance of a rent Benny had named seem even more ludicrous. I'd been used to large rooms and houses all my life, but this was big even by my standards. One huge main room housed a few threadbare sofas and a kitchen, with access to the fire escape through a window. A small bathroom nestled next to an adequate bedroom with a double bed in the middle of the room. Mark and Collins remained in the main room whilst I explored. I returned to find them seated on the sofa, deep in a murmured conversation. Collins broke off as I re-entered the room.
'So how does it suit you, Mademoiselle?'
My enthusiasm for the summer came back in a rush, bordering on the insincere. 'It's great! I can't thank you enough! It's wonderful!'
'It's not exactly Fifth Avenue,' Mark said modestly, with that eyebrow-raise again.
'No, it's better,' I insisted, trying to avoid gushing like the privately-educated schoolgirl I'd been ten years earlier. 'Really.' Nodding, I hoped that a lifetime of squashing my real feelings wouldn't stop them showing through on this occasion.
'We aim to please.' Collins saluted me and winked, and my relief at being taken seriously spread across my face in a broad grin.
'We'll leave you to settle in,' Mark said now, standing up. 'I'm sure you've had a long day.'
It had been an unbelievably long day. By my guess, I'd already been awake thirteen hours and most of those had been spent travelling. My clothes were clinging to me and I was dying for a long cold shower and to slip into something less warm. And then I'd...
My inspiration ran out as I realised I had no idea what I could do this evening. Ideally, I wanted to roll straight into bed, but I'd had visions of what my new life in New York would be like and they didn't involve early nights. Only now was I beginning to realise just how little I understood about the world I'd been thrown into. As I watched Mark and Collins leaving my apartment, pulling back the heavy sliding front door and stepping through it, I experienced something I'd never even imagined before: homesickness.
'Oh.' Mark turned back as he reached the doorway. 'If you're at a loose end tonight, you should call by. We might even be able to rustle up something to eat. That is, if you want to.'
A rush of affection for him swept over me and I couldn't hide the grin on my face. 'That would be brilliant! I mean,' I added, biting back my over-the-top responses, 'I'd like that.'
'Awesome. Come by whenever you're ready.'
