Chapter Thirty-Eight

Friday 15th March

So, if an old friend I know, drops by to say hello, would I still see suspicion in your eyes?

Harry had been surprised how quickly he had made it out to LaGuardia, it was notoriously difficult to drive to and park at. He had given up on the idea of hiring a car for the weekend and taken the subway and the bus instead. He had become a pro at using the New York subway but catching a bus in Queens didn't thrill him with excitement; he decided to catch a cab back with his mother. It was still only 6:15pm. The display boards had indicated that the plane had landed but the time it took to get through immigration and then through the baggage check, he didn't really expect to see her for another half hour at least. He was surprised at how nervous he was. He hadn't spent an entire weekend with his mother since the Christmas before last and a lot of the time then he'd been asleep.

It wasn't just how the two of them would get on that was making him nervous. His mother had never passed judgement on his decision to move to New York and now seeing it for herself, he wanted to know if she approved. If she would see he was happy. She would see he enjoyed his job and his new life. Wouldn't she?

He watched the people emerge from the door that heralded the international arrivals, the tearful reunions, the overexcited children. The banners welcoming loved ones back in languages he couldn't understand. New York was a lot like London in many ways, he liked the mix of people and cultures, he liked the crowds and he liked the buzz of the big city but New York superceded London in many ways too, whatever London had New York had more of, or bigger of or a more intense version of and sometimes he liked this too, sometimes it just got on his nerves.

"S'cuse me, are you done waiting there?" he heard someone ask a man three rows ahead of him and right up against the barrier separating the airport collectors from the collectees.

"An, what if I'm not?" the man snarled back.

"I was thinking you could move up mister and we could fit a whole bunch more people up front there."

"I was thinking you could mind your own damn business." He turned away from her and leaned against the rail took up as much space as was possible. The door opened again spilling another collection of travellers into the concourse.

"Loretta! Hey girl, you are lookin' FINE!" the woman with the big mouth shouted across to her friend in the advancing group, they hugged and walked off together but not before the woman with the mouth had given the space hogging man a filthy look. Harry saw the people near the railing breathe a collective sigh of relief, that conversation could have turned ugly very quickly if Loretta hadn't turned up at that moment. It reminded Harry of how much he missed the enforced silence of London.

He looked out across the crowd of unknown people. When he had first moved to New York he was always spotting her, especially in crowds. Not just her, Leo as well, his brain playing tricks on his vision. Someone would stand out as he walked down the street, a mass of blond curls or twist of a head and he would imagine that people he really knew were there around him. It had been a while since he had thought he'd seen Nikki. It was never his mother he spotted. He bounced up on his tiptoes to see the latest group to enter the hall. She wasn't there. It was still early, but he was making his way closer to the barrier where he would get a better look.

He tried to guess from the dress of the people which flight they had just 'deplaned' from. Standing next to the display board gave him plenty of information. The plane that had touched down just before the Heathrow one had come in from Lagos. He was fairly confident he had spotted some of them make it out through the door.

The movements of the people arriving, connecting with their loved ones, or driver and moving off was a little like watching waves flow up and onto a beach, and as more people moved off Harry found himself swept forward and propped up against the waist height barrier. The man that had been spoken to earlier for barrier hogging was still there. Harry wondered about commenting on his long wait, but there was something in him still too British to strike up a conversation in a public place with a stranger.

His phone vibrated in his pocked. It was probably Candy checking up on him. He'd okayed his early departure with Scott Volosin, but it didn't mean that Candy still wouldn't make a fuss. He was surprised to see it was from his mother. They were really pernickety about when they allowed phones to be turned on in the airport. He opened the message.

'Hi Harry, Sorry to disappoint you but dizzy spells worse, have got dreadful ear infection, couldn't fly. Sent you a belated birthday present instead. Love Mum xxx'

Harry stared disbelievingly at the small screen in his hand. She wasn't coming? She hadn't texted earlier? She must have known last night she wouldn't make it, she could have called him; she could have rebooked the flight. She always did buy those open tickets. Why had she waited until now to tell him and what was the bit about a birthday present? He hadn't received any packages. He stared helplessly at his phone willing it to reveal the answers that all seemed impossible and crossly thought about his wasted journey. His mother usually wasn't this unreliable. It really wasn't like her at all. He was so still and focused he didn't notice someone come to a stop on the other side of the barrier to him.

"Hello Harry," he heard.

Harry looked up. His mouth opened and then closed again. He looked back down to his phone as if for inspiration and back up to the woman in front of him.

"Nikki?" he croaked.

"Harry!" Nikki smiled.

"NIKKI!" he choked out again and flung his arms around her but almost immediately pulled away again.

"How? Why? Nikki?" The words that tumbled out of his mouth made no sense but they made Nikki grin.

"Have you two love birds gotta home to go to? I can't see diddly from back here!" Harry felt a push from behind him and slithered along the railing to meet Nikki at the end.

"You're here! In New York!" Harry realised he was babbling.

"Harry!" Nikki said again and without the barrier to hinder them pulled him into a proper hug.

Harry pulled back for an instant to look for her baggage, "Where's your stuff?"

Nikki indicated the small bag on her back. "I didn't have much; I thought I was house sitting at your mother's."

"How?" Harry stumbled again, but realised that they needn't be standing in the airport in front of four lines of stressed relatives any longer and started to guide her towards the exit, slipping an arm into hers as if they'd never been apart.

"I went over to your Mother's this morning to drive her to the airport as we had agreed and she was in a real state, clutching her ear and showing me the pills the doctor had given her for her ear infection and somehow between arriving to take her to the airport and twenty minutes later with talk of open and transferable tickets she had put me in a cab to Heathrow, paid the cabbie and stood at the gate cheerfully waving me off."

"But did you have your passport, what about your ESTA."

"I think…" Nikki began but then paused she didn't want to accuse Harry's mother of duplicitousness but she had her suspicions.

Harry stopped too, stopped still in the middle of the concourse and stared at Nikki.

"The birthday present!"

"What?"

"The package she was sending me!"

"Harry, I think your mother might have been…." Nikki began.

"Planning this all along!" Harry finished. Now that did sound more like his mother.

"Welcome to New York," he said excitedly flinging his arms wide, and spinning around gesturing to his surroundings all the while mentally adjusting to the changed circumstances of his weekend.

"Thanks," she smiled and let out one of those chuckles that did unmentionable things to his insides.

They walked a few more yards and Harry came to an abrupt halt again.

"You're here! It is so good to see you!" he said wrapping his arms around her for the third time in as many minutes and holding her close to him. "I have really missed you."

"Me too, Harry," she said and looked up into his eyes. They had talked constantly for the last six months, still been the best of friends, but here arms wrapped around each other and looking into each other's eyes, something more than friendship flickered once again between them.

"This!" murmured Harry under his breath his eyes widening, sensing the change just as clearly as she did. "Do you want to take a cab, or are you up for an adventure?"

"Well for me it's quarter of eleven and I'm spending the weekend in the city that doesn't sleep. What do you got in mind?" Nikki asked in her best American accent. They linked arms again and headed out towards the taxi ranks.

Suspicious Minds: Mark James (Elvis)

Extra Harry hugs for reviewer 100: it could be you! Might be a little bit longer before the next bit goes up, but it leaves you plenty of time to imagine what happens next!