New York, Actually: A sparkling romantic comedy from the bestselling Queen of Romance

Five

“Daniel! Thank goodness you’re back. I need to talk to you about the summer party and you need to sign these.” Marsha, his assistant, met him at the door with a file full of papers and a list in her hand. “And Elisa Sutton is in your office.”

“Elisa? Happy birthday, by the way.”

“Happy would be a day at a spa. Instead, I’m here.” She pushed the file into his hands. “I hope you appreciate my loyalty.”

“I do, which is why a ridiculously extravagant bouquet of flowers is currently on its way to you. Now tell me about Elisa.”

“She turned up half an hour ago, desperate to talk to you.” Marsha lowered her voice. “I’ve sent out for more tissues. Last time she used a box and a half.”

“You’d probably cry a box and a half if you were married to her husband.”

“He’s a box and a half kind of guy. You’re the only man I know who is good with crying women. Why are you so patient?”

He’d had plenty of experience.

A vision of his mother flashed into his mind and he pushed it away.

He wasn’t a man to wallow in the past. He dealt with it and moved on. So why the hell had that image sneaked into his mind now?

The answer was Molly.

Molly, with her searching questions about his childhood.

She’d dug around in a wound and now it ached.

That, he thought grimly, was what happened when you went deeper than the superficial. There was a lot to be said for not getting to know a person better.

Annoyed with himself for allowing the situation to intrude on his day, he focused on work. “Divorce is always emotional. Handling it is my job.”

“It’s Max Carter’s job, too, but he just abandoned a client who was crying a river in his office. He said he was giving her time to ‘compose’ herself. If I didn’t know for a fact that the guy is a brilliant lawyer, I probably wouldn’t believe it. Are you mad that I let Mrs. Sutton into your office without an appointment? You can fire me if you like.”

“The day you leave is the day I leave. We’ll walk out of here together, clutching our dead houseplants.”

“Hey, I water those houseplants.”

“Then you need to stop watering them. They’re dying.”

“Maybe the clients have been crying into them. Or maybe they’re depressed. If I had to listen to all the sad stories you’re told, I’d be depressed, too.” Marsha had started working for him when her youngest daughter had left for college. The same day her divorce had become final. The divorce he’d handled.

Her maturity, humor and air of quiet calm made her invaluable.

“Do you know why Elisa is here?”

“No.” Marsha glanced toward the closed door and lowered her voice. “Last week she was in here crying over that lazy, cheating, no-good husband of hers, but today she’s smiling. Do you think she’s killed him and hidden the body? Should I refer her to one of our colleagues in criminal law?”

Daniel gave a flicker of a smile. “Let’s hold the decision on that.”

“Maybe she’s here to tell you she’s taken a lover. That might be the best revenge.”

“Maybe, but it would make the custody battle more complicated so I hope you’re wrong.” Whatever the reason for the sudden visit, Daniel was sure it wasn’t going to be good. “Why do you want to talk about the summer party?”

“Because I’m in charge of it and last year was a fiasco. We used Star Events and I had to deal with an awful woman with a power complex. I can’t remember her name, but I do remember wanting to punch her. Cynthia. Yes, that’s it. Can I use someone different?”

“Use anyone you like. As long as the alcohol flows, I don’t care.”

“There’s this fresh, young company called Urban Genie…”

“Owned by three very smart young women who were previously employed by Star Events. Paige, Frankie and Eva. Good idea. Use them.”

Marsha gaped at him. “Do you know everyone in New York City?”

“Matt Walker designed my roof terrace. He’s Paige’s older brother. And Urban Genie has done a lot to support my sisters’ dog-walking business. Not only that, they’re good. And they were fired by that ‘awful woman,’ which makes this karma.”

“You don’t believe in karma.”

“But you do. Call them.”

“I will.” She crossed it off her list. “Just a couple of things before you talk to Elisa—you’ve been invited by Phoenix Publishing to cocktails at the Met in a couple of weeks. Do I make your excuses?”

“Definitely.”

She crossed that off her list, too. “The interview you gave is published today. Do you want to read it?”

“Will I like what I read?”

“No. They call you a heartbreaker and New York’s most eligible bachelor. They should have interviewed me. I would have told them that no sane woman would date you.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. So do you want to read the interview?”

“No. Next?”

“Next is Elisa. Oh, and congratulations.”

“On what?”

“The Tanner case. You won.”

“In a contested divorce, there are no winners. Everyone is a loser.”

Marsha studied him. “Is everything all right? Now I think about it you’re later than usual, and you look different.”

“I’m good.” Braced for marital drama, he walked into his office. There were plenty of days when he wondered why he did this job. Today was one of them.

But Elisa Sutton wasn’t crying. Instead she looked animated.

Even Daniel, experienced as he was in handling the emotional roller coaster that accompanied divorce, was surprised.

And suspicious. Was Marsha right? Had she taken a lover?

“Elisa?” Anticipating a confession of a sexual nature, he pushed the door shut. If his client was about to fill his office with her dirty laundry, he intended to contain it. “Has something happened?”

“Yes. We’re back together!”

“Excuse me?” Daniel put his laptop down on his desk, playing catch-up. “Who? I didn’t know you were seeing anyone. We talked about the risks of you getting involved with someone else at this point—”

“It’s not someone else. It’s Henry. We’re back together. Can you believe that?”

No, he couldn’t believe it.

Elisa had cried so many tears over the past few months he’d considered issuing a flood warning for midtown Manhattan.

“Elisa—”

“You’re using your serious lawyer tone. If you’re going to warn me this isn’t a good idea, don’t waste your breath. I’ve made up my mind. At first when he said he was going to change, I didn’t believe him, but after a while I realized he was sincere. We’re making a go of it. He is still my husband, after all.” Tears welled in her eyes and she pressed her hand to her mouth. “I never thought this would happen. I didn’t see it coming. I thought it was over.”

Daniel stilled. He hadn’t seen it coming either. From what he’d observed so far, Elisa and Henry’s marriage was so bad that if they’d been able to bottle the vitriol there would have been enough toxins to poison the whole of New Jersey. And although he’d learned that the blame was usually shared, if not always equally, in this case the lion’s share belonged to Henry, who was the coldest, most selfish man Daniel had ever met.

He’d employed a lawyer who was known to be as savage as a Doberman, and he’d set him on his wife, the woman he had supposedly once loved and with whom he shared two previously happy, but now traumatized children.

Fortunately Daniel had no problem being a Rottweiler when the need arose.

He frowned. Since when did he use dog analogies?

Walking Brutus was clearly getting to him.

“Last week you were in here crying,” he said carefully. “You told me you didn’t care what it took, but you never wanted to see him again.” He kept his tone free from emotion. Clients invariably brought so much emotion into his office he’d learned not to contribute anything extra.

“That was last week when I thought there was no hope for us. He hurt me.”

“And you want this guy back?”

“I really believe he is committed to changing.”

Daniel felt a ripple of exasperation. “Elisa, once they reach a certain age people rarely change, and they certainly don’t do it overnight.” Did he really have to say this stuff? Didn’t people know this? “There’s a phrase about leopards and spots. You’ve probably heard it.” He waited for her to acknowledge this, but she ignored him.

“I’ve already seen the change. On Saturday he turned up at the house with gifts. Thoughtful gifts.” Her eyes were bright. “Do you know Henry has never bought me a proper gift in all the years we’ve been married? He’s a practical guy. I’ve had kitchen equipment and once he bought me a vacuum cleaner, but he has never bought me anything personal or romantic.”

“What did he buy you?”

“He bought me a pair of ballet shoes and tickets to the Bolshoi. They’re touring.”

Ballet shoes? What was she supposed to do with ballet shoes? In his opinion it was Henry who needed to wear the ballet shoes to help him tiptoe over the thin ice he was standing on.

He kept his expression neutral. “And you were pleased with that gift?”

Elisa flushed. “He bought them because I loved the ballet when I was a little girl. When we first met I was still hoping to make it a career, but I grew too tall. I don’t know how he came up with the idea. It was so thoughtful. And he bought me roses. One for every year of our marriage. He took one off for the year we were separated.”

Daniel waited for her to comment on the irony of that, but she said nothing.

“That’s what it took to persuade you to forget the fights and the misery and start again? A pair of ballet shoes you can’t wear and a bunch of roses? Those roses will be dead in a week.” And their marriage in even less time than that.

“He also bought me a ring.”

“A ring? Elisa, two months ago I had to stop you from throwing your current ring into the Hudson River.”

“I know and it was good advice. I had it valued and— well, never mind. That’s history now. Henry told me he’d been doing a lot of thinking and that whatever we had when we first met must still be there. He wants to work at rediscovering it and he gave me another ring as a token of his commitment.”

“Commitment? This from a man who consistently undermined your confidence and then walked out, leaving you with no support?”

“He needed space, that’s all. Our children are at an age when they’re very demanding.”

“Did he tell you that? Because from what you’ve told me he left that part pretty much entirely up to you.”

“And because I was so wrapped up in the children, I didn’t give him the attention he deserved.”

Daniel sat down behind his desk and breathed deeply, banking down the anger. Something was happening to him and he didn’t like it. “They’re children, Elisa, and he is supposed to be the adult. Parenting should be a shared thing. I know you’re scared and I understand that staying together can seem like the easy option, at least in the short term. Unraveling a marriage, particularly when there are children involved, is daunting to say the least. But—”

“Oh, we’re not doing this because it’s the easy option, we’re doing it because of the children.”

“It was because of them you originally wanted a divorce.”

“But children are always better off with two parents, don’t you agree?”

He thought of Harriet, hiding under the table with her eyes squeezed shut and her hands over her ears. “I don’t agree.” He kept his face expressionless. “My personal opinion is that children are better off being raised in a calm, positive environment with one parent than an explosive environment with two.” Damn. Never before had he expressed his personal feelings in front of a client.

“But then you’re a divorce lawyer.” Fortunately Elisa didn’t seem to notice that anything was wrong. “I wouldn’t exactly expect you to be a supporter of reconciliation. You need to justify your billing hours and the more we string this out, the higher your bill.”

Daniel felt a flash of annoyance. “I’m no saint, Elisa, but I can assure you that my advice comes from a desire to do the best for you and the children, not from a need to add hours to my billings. And my advice in this case is don’t do it. You first came to me because your daughter had started wetting the bed and was displaying behavioral problems, and your son’s asthma was getting progressively worse. You were convinced that the atmosphere in the house was responsible.”

“And I was partly to blame for that. I was very upset about the affairs and I didn’t do a good job of hiding my feelings.”

“He was the one who had the affairs.” Daniel reminded himself that his job was to offer legal advice, not marital advice. Normally he had no problem with that, but today—

“Is something wrong? Are you sick?” Elisa was peering at him closely. “You don’t seem like yourself.”

“I’m not sick.” With an effort, he hauled his emotions back inside. “Don’t rush into anything. For the time being continue to live separately and give yourself breathing room.”

“He wants us to renew our vows and I want to do that as soon as possible in case he changes his mind. This time we both really want this to work. And it’s funny that we paid a ton of money on couples’ therapy, and in the end the best advice we got was free.”

Daniel was suddenly alert. “Somebody else has been giving you advice?”

“Yes. I never thought I’d thank another woman for giving me my husband back, but if I ever meet Aggie, I’ll hug her.”

“Aggie? Are you saying Henry has been having another affair since you separated?”

“No! I’m talking about the Aggie. The one who’s everywhere. She has a great blog, Ask a Girl. Anyway, Henry was so confused about what was happening he wrote to her, and she pointed out that as we had children it was worth trying extra hard. Surely you’ve heard of her. She knows everything about relationships. How to fix your marriage, or choose the perfect gift, or whatever. She has millions of followers on social media.”

“You’re saying Henry is taking advice from a blogger? Some sort of advice columnist?” Daniel tried and failed to hide his incredulity. “That’s what this is about? What did you say her name was?”

“Aggie.”

“Aggie what? Aggie Interference. Aggie-doesn’t-know-what-the-hell-she’s-talking-about?” He saw the first flicker of doubt and misery in Elisa’s eyes and felt a stab of guilt. “I’m sorry, Elisa. But I don’t want you to make a mistake. If you’re going to do this, I want to be sure it’s what you want and a stranger who has never met you cannot help with that decision, no matter how many followers she has on social media.”

“But sometimes an impartial observer can see things more clearly.”

“We have a team of qualified people here who can—”

“No. And Aggie does know what she’s talking about. I don’t think she has a last name. But she’s a doctor.”

“Everyone has a last name. If they don’t reveal it there’s usually a reason.” And he doubted Aggie was a “doctor” of anything, except maybe deception. “All I’m suggesting is that you should think twice about taking advice from someone who isn’t qualified to handle the issues you’re dealing with.”

“Aggie is good. You are so suspicious.”

“That’s my job. I’m paid to be suspicious. I’m asking the questions you should be asking.” Daniel scribbled the name on his pad. In his experience people who didn’t give their last names were hiding something. Right now “Aggie” had better be hiding herself because he was going to track her down and tell her what he thought of her advice. And it wasn’t going to be a polite conversation.

The thought of Elisa and Henry back together under the same roof made his whole body chill. Elisa would shrink to half the person she was, and as for the children…

He kept thinking of Harriet, and that awful night at the school when their father had unexpectedly shown up in the audience. Even now he couldn’t think about it without shuddering.

Elisa stood up. “Daniel, you’re the best divorce lawyer in Manhattan and you’ve been great, but I don’t need a divorce lawyer anymore because I’m not getting divorced. What Aggie said struck a chord with us. She told us to think of the life we’ve created together. Our home. Our friends. Our children.”

“Didn’t he refer to them as baggage?”

She flushed. “He’d had a few drinks. We’ve both realized we should be putting the children first.”

She left the room and Daniel stayed at his desk, staring through the floor-to-ceiling windows that wrapped his office on two sides. From his desk he could see the Empire State Building, and farther in the distance the gleam of glass and steel of One World Trade Center.

Normally the view soothed him, but not today.

Who was this Aggie, that she’d tell a dysfunctional family to stay together? How could she make such an important judgment based only on a letter? And whatever letter or email Henry had written, Daniel was sure he wouldn’t have passed on the deep trauma suffered by his children as a result of their marriage.

He still couldn’t believe Elisa was willing to overlook everything that had happened.

And he couldn’t understand why everything today was affecting him so deeply.

Cursing, he pushed back from his desk and stood up.

His office was sleek and uncluttered, like the rest of his life.

It was the way he preferred it. He preferred to sail through life with neither anchor nor baggage. That way if he crashed his ship on the rocks, he wouldn’t take those around him down with him.

How would he have turned out if his childhood had been different? Would he have chosen to be a lawyer? Or would he have taken a different, gentler path?

The door to his office opened and Marsha walked in with some files and a mug of coffee.

“I thought you might need this. Looking at your face, I’m guessing I was right.”

“I feel as if I spend my entire day fighting. Why wasn’t I a boxer or an MMA fighter? It might have been cleaner.”

“You love fighting. You get that look about you. Clenched jaw. Dangerous ‘don’t mess with me’ glint in your eyes. I assume Elisa didn’t say anything you were pleased to hear.”

“My eyes glint? Why have you never told me this before?”

“Because when they glint I’m mostly too scared to open my mouth in your company, and when they stop glinting I forget to mention it. The flowers arrived and they’re beautiful, thank you. Now tell me why you’re stressed.”

“I’m never stressed. Only calm, and slightly less calm.” Giving up the pretense, he rubbed the back of his neck to relieve the tension. “The ability of the human being to screw up its own life never ceases to amaze me.”

“I hate to be the one to point this out, but that’s the reason this is a busy and thriving law firm. If we all got it right, you’d be out of a job.” She set the files down on his desk. “These are for you. And in case you’ve forgotten, it’s Audrey’s birthday today, too. They’re in the kitchen eating cake. If you have a minute, I know it would mean a lot if you could join them. I don’t want to contemplate what our working day would be like without Audrey, and Max is driving her insane. A few words from you would be compensation.”

Audrey was one of the paralegals. She’d been with the firm for two years and had proved herself indispensable after five minutes.

“Thanks for the reminder. And I’ll speak to Max.” Pushing aside thoughts of Elisa and what a reconciliation would mean for the children, Daniel checked the documents and signed. “Have you ever heard of someone called Aggie?”

“The relationship expert?”

“How is it that everyone knows this woman except me?”

“Are you in the habit of asking for advice on relationships?”

“Why would I ask for advice on relationships? I’ve seen every permutation of relationship known to man. And woman.”

“And yet you’re single.”

“Which is why I’m single. So tell me what you know about Aggie.”

Marsha smiled. “She’s wonderful. I bought her book.”

“She’s written a book?”

“Mate for Life. You didn’t see it? It was at the top of all the bestseller lists and in every bookstore.”

“I shop online, a consequence of never leaving my office during store opening hours.”

“It was online, too. Excellent book. She’s wise and sensible.”

“Really? Because she told Elisa and Henry they should get back together for the sake of the children. I don’t see anything wise or sensible about that.”

Marsha pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Perhaps it would be better for the children.”

“Are you kidding? Elisa and Henry loathe each other. Their children will be permanently scarred. Why people think that is the best outcome completely escapes me.” Intercepting the curious look in Marsha’s face, Daniel inhaled slowly and gestured to his laptop. “Find me something she has written. I need to know more about her.”

“That should be easy.” Marsha walked around his desk. “You could start by reading the letter Max wrote to her.”

“He wrote to her?” Daniel shook his head in disbelief. “As a joke, I assume?”

“Why would you assume that? We both know Max needs serious help in the relationship department. Remember the coffee machine he bought his girlfriend as a gift?”

“Call me insensitive, but my interest in my team’s personal life only extends to serious life events, not gift choices.”