Most handsome passer-by:
Freshly pressed pink shirt (Gant)
Freshly pressed white jeans (Levi’s)
Brown boat shoes (Timberland)
Gold-rimmed sunglasses (Ray-Ban)
Brown mailbag (Dooney & Bourke)
Fresh, clean scent (Calvin Klein)
Total est. cost: $950
Flirty smile
‘Did you know it was going to be as hot as this?’ Lana said, instantly regretting the fact that she was still wearing her travelling jeans.
‘Air conditioning,’ Annie said, ‘you get all cool and comfortable and then you can’t adjust to the real temperature outside again. Relax, we’ll walk slowly, on the shady side of the street. Fifth Avenue first?’
‘Oh yeah!’
The irrepressible, wild with excitement smile had returned to Lana’s face. The one she’d been wearing as soon as the taxi had carried them over Brooklyn Bridge and into this amazing city.
Down the street they went, past a bookstore, a swanky interiors shop and a smart café. The pavement widened as they approached the Avenue and then – pow! They were standing gobsmacked in the vast canyon of one of the most famous avenues in the world.
Both Annie and Lana had to look right, left, up, right, left and up again to take in the vast scale of this road.
It was wide, wide, wide with multiple lanes of honking, jangling traffic. And it was so high! Five-, ten-storey, even twenty-storey buildings on each side and in the distance skyscrapers, but with the Avenue cutting a vast concrete valley between them.
‘It’s fantastic!’ Lana gasped and did a little dance, ‘I can’t believe it! Look, there’s the Empire State, finally! Right ahead of us. It looks like we could just walk in a straight line and be there.’
Annie was too overwhelmed to speak. She was trying to take it all in: the vast Avenue, the gleaming shop windows all around, the hustle of the crowds rushing past them, the stifling heat, and the overwhelming adrenalin buzz of the place.
Just looking at this street was like chain-drinking espressos. It was incredible!
‘I’m never leaving,’ Lana announced. ‘I’m going to stay here for ever. This is my spiritual home, Mum.’
‘Me too,’ Annie agreed, ‘let’s walk!’
So they strode side by side through the lunchtime bustle, Annie – eyes on stalks – checking out the shop windows, each more enticing than the next, and then, of course, the New Yorkers themselves.
There was a definite New York summer look: pencil thin figure, bright sleeveless dress, big hair, big sunglasses, high heels or manicure with flip-flops plus blingtastic bag.
In the last minute she’d seen a Prada, three Coaches, a Marc Jacobs and a rash of Louis Vuittons: possibly real, possibly fake. These girls loved their arm-candy.
‘Don’t they look amazing?!’ Annie said, meaning the women.
‘I have never, ever seen so many good-looking guys in such a short space of time,’ came Lana’s astonished reply.
Annie gave her a nudge, but now that she looked, she could see it was true.
New York men all seemed to be tall and lean with immaculate hair, sunglasses perched on their heads, tight jeans, clean pressed polo shirts. And they had muscles! Teeny waists! High buns!
‘They can’t all be gay … can they?’ Lana wondered.
Several blocks on, the irresistible window of the 21st Street Deli drew them in. Inside was a salad bar on truly epic New York scale.
‘I don’t know what to get,’ Lana wailed in front of the triple rows of salad on offer. ‘I’m not even going to have room in my box for a bit of everything!’
When they were sitting in front of a huge glass window eating salad and sipping iced tea in the air-conditioned splendour, Annie’s mobile rang.
‘Hello.’
She recognized Ed’s voice straight away.
‘Hi there!’ she replied.
‘You’ve adopted the lingo then.’
‘I’ve adopted the city. I’m a New Yorka now. You guys are going to have to pack up and move over to join us. Kidding!’ she added quickly. ‘Is everything OK?’
‘Yes. We’re just phoning to say good-night,’ Ed said.
‘Good night?!’ She looked out of the window: the Avenue was still bathed in blazing sunshine.
‘It’s 9.30p.m. Babies in bed, Owen in shower, me thinking about turning in early,’ he said and gave a yawn.
‘Long day at school?’
‘It’s always a long day at school.’
‘And you’re all OK?’ she asked again.
We’re fine, Mick and Min have had a lovely day. Don’t worry about us. We’re all coping. Are you having a great time?’
‘As a tourist, fabulous. As a dress-business consultant … we’ll have to wait and see. Elena is all over the place. But I’m hoping we’ll be able to help. Lana’s fantastic. She’s in love with New York – aren’t you, darlin’? Ed, there haven’t been any calls, have there? Tamsin? Anything like that? No,’ Annie answered her own question, ‘they would phone my mobile.’
‘No. Nothing. Have you told her you’re in New York for four weeks?’
‘Well, not exactly. I said I might be out of town for a … bit …’
‘Annie!’
‘It’ll be fine. Honest. OK, we shouldn’t talk for too long, should we? Transatlantic phone bills.’
‘No,’ Ed agreed.
‘Well, bye for now, babes, I love you.’
‘Love you too.’
Then the line went dead and for a moment, Annie felt the pang. London was so far away. If anything happened …
But Lana’s excitement brought her right back to the lure of New York.
‘Where are we going to go next?’ Lana wanted to know. ‘Shall we keep on walking? Shall we take a cab somewhere?’ She pulled her well-thumbed guidebook from her bag and began to flick through the pages she’d marked up.
‘What about Wall Street? Or Central Park? Or the Flatiron Building … it’s really close by. Or the Empire State? Or the Statue of Liberty?’
‘Lana! It’s OK,’ Annie assured her, ‘we’re going to be here for four weeks. We don’t need to see the whole of New York in a day.’
It was 1a.m. British time when Annie and Lana finally flagged enough to venture back to Elena’s apartment.
It was 8p.m. in New York but the pace of the city hadn’t slackened in the slightest. In fact it almost seemed busier. The shops were open till 10p.m. most nights! Annie felt torn between glee because the shopping would never end, and sympathy for the sales staff. Their shift rotas must be nightmarish.
‘D’you think Elena will be in a better mood now?’ Lana asked as they stood in front of the row of bells once again and prepared to buzz.
‘Yeah … I’m sure,’ Annie replied, ‘when I phoned her to say we were on our way back, she sounded much better.’
But when Elena answered the door to her apartment, she looked just as distraught as she had done earlier in the day.
‘What’s the matter now, my love?’ Annie asked, fearing a fresh calamity on the Perfect Dress front.
‘It’s Sye,’ Elena gasped, clearly on the verge of tears.
‘Is he OK?’
Elena nodded.
‘Has he broken up with you?’
Elena shook her head.
‘Then what is it?’
Elena stepped back from the door, letting them and the several bags of shopping they seemed to have acquired into the little apartment.
‘He’s going away,’ Elena wailed, collapsing onto the sofa.
She was freshly showered, Annie noticed, wet hair wafting a delicious scent, but her shoulders were slumped and she looked totally miserable.
‘Where’s he going?’ Lana asked.
‘On a shoot, in Venezuela, for six days.’
Annie couldn’t help the smile that crossed her face. Elena must have it bad if a six-day absence was the cause of this much grief.
‘But, Elena, that’s what Sye does,’ Annie reminded her. ‘He’s a fashion photographer! You should be proud of him. And he’s obviously totally mad about you, anyone can see that just by the way he looks at you.’
‘But this man. This beautiful man,’ Elena exclaimed miserably, ‘he will be surrounded by beautiful models all day long.’
Annie couldn’t believe this lovely girl could be so insecure. ‘He’ll be fine, Elena. You’re the one he wants to be with,’ she said, ‘try and remember that. Now, we need to talk about business.’
‘Oh yah,’ Elena gave a shrug, ‘more bad news. Someone who give us £10,000 to start up Perfect Dress wants money back. So now we have close to zero.’