Authors: Susan Wright
By the end of the day, Kali was eager to
go to dinner with him. She had managed to whisper at one point, “Let’s meet at
the deli at the end of the block instead of in the plaza.”
He nodded, and nothing else was said.
But when she hurried up to meet him after work, already getting excited, her
heart fell when Hunter said, “I’m sorry, but I just got a call that the
Conservancy Garden may be able to take the fountain. They want me to be up
there in an hour so I can meet with the director before the gates close.”
She wasn’t able to swallow her
disappointment. “Oh… well, that’s good. If we can recycle the fountain, we
should do it. Where’s the Conservancy Garden?”
“It’s in Central Park, on 5
th
Avenue and 100
th
Street.” He checked his watch. “I’m hungry so I’m
going to grab a bowl of noodles. I know it’s not what you had in mind, but do
you want to join me? Then we can go up together to the garden. It should be
pretty at sunset.”
She smiled, feeling better. “That sounds
nice.”
He explained on the way down to Delancey
St. that the director was making a special trip up to the garden from the park
headquarters on the west side. But instead of listening, she kept watching his
mouth, when he spoke and the way he gestured. She kept thinking of the thrill
she had felt when he faced off with those thugs on the subway. And how he had
kissed her while her eyes were covered until everything spiraled away into
bliss. All of the things she had forced from her mind during work hours. Now
she could indulge herself.
He took her to a tiny storefront Chinese
noodle shop that was filled with steam. Several small round tables and rickety
chairs were next to the refrigerated display cases for pastries lining both
walls. A counter cut off the back half where the kitchen was going gangbusters
turning out food for the steady stream of customers that came and went.
Hunter didn’t ask her this time; he went
ahead and ordered two bowls of noodles and chose several buns from the display cases.
The woman tending the counter couldn’t speak English, but that didn’t seem to
slow either of them down as they smiled and thanked each other.
Hunter set everything down on the table,
including a bottle of water that he opened and placed on her side. “I noticed
you drink water instead of soda. That’s good. It’s better for you to not drink
soda.”
“Yes, doctor.”
“That’s ‘yes, sir’ to you.”
She made a rude noise before she could
stop herself. Then covered her mouth with her hand.
“I’m sure I can make you say it, with
the right encouragement,” he said.
He laughed and deftly took a bite of
noodles, as she looked down in confusion.
“I’d love to hear you call me Sir
because you’d have to force yourself to do it.” His voice lowered. “Just the
thought it of makes me get hard.”
She looked around quickly, but nobody
was listening. Leave it to Hunter to make her so flustered with a few words.
She had to stoop over her bowl and bite off the noodles, letting the rest slide
back into the broth. It was the most awkward food you could possibly eat on a
date. But it was delicious with bits of shrimp and spices. She had no idea what
they were, but it tasted good.
The buns were even better. She bit into
one, and it was filled with shredded BBQ pork that was somewhat sweet. She
could have made a meal on those pork buns alone. The other one had a dense
custard cream that, funny enough, wasn’t as sweet as the pork. She ooh-ed and
ah-ed over the unusual tastes.
“I love to watch you eat,” Hunter said.
“You don’t hold back, do you? I hate women who pick at their food. Why eat out
if you’re going to order and then sit there staring at it?”
She picked up the bowl to drink the last
of the broth. “I like to try new things.”
“That’s what you said in your email.”
Kali swallowed and wiped her mouth with
the paper napkin. “You never did answer it.”
“Didn’t I?” He stacked up their bowls.
“No.” She stayed seated though he was
making motions for them to leave. He had managed to distract her from the
conversation about relationships they were supposed to have over dinner. “Since
I told you what I want, now it’s your turn. What are you looking for?”
“I’m not looking for anything
particular. I take what comes along.” He leaned over and touched a light finger
to her lips. “And I’ll definitely take you.”
It sent a shiver up her spine. The way
he was looking at her, like he wanted to slurp her up like he did with the
noodles… everything else flew out of her head. For a moment, she thought he was
going to kiss her right there.
But instead he said, “We’re going to be
late if we don’t go.”
They headed over to the subway, and as
they went down the stairs together, it brought back vivid memories of when the
gang had chased them down. Hunter’s posture changed as if he was remembering
it, too. When they got onto the train car, he squared his shoulders, glancing
around at every man nearby as if assessing their potential for causing
problems.
“That was the scariest thing that’s ever
happened to me,” Kali said quietly.
He understood. “It was off the hook.”
Hunter was standing right in front of
her, and she was against the door, so he blocked her off from everyone else.
The car had a lot of people standing nearby, but it wasn’t packed.
Feeling him so close, rocking in time
with the train, she couldn’t think of anything except how he had stood between
her and the gang. Exactly like this. She remembered how she had rested one hand
lightly against his back, too afraid to look at the approaching men.
Hunter had kept her safe. He had done
what he needed to do.
It made her weak in the knees. She
wished he would kiss her now. But he was too keyed up to let down his guard.
And he was probably right. Now she knew how quickly something could get out of
hand.
Getting off uptown, they walked several blocks
to Central Park and entered through the wide iron gates just minutes before
seven o’clock. At the bottom of the flight of steps was a broad avenue of
trees. Running down the center of the promenade was a grassy plot surrounded by
hedges. Along each side were flower beds filled with spring blossoms and
trimmed bushes. It looked lovely in the rosy twilight.
As they walked down the promenade toward
the back, Hunter said, “Look at that!”
At the end was a small gray fountain
sitting in the middle of a broad circle of grass. It was lost in the midst of
such an expanse. And the trickle of water spouting from the top was not
impressive either.
“Our fountain would look so much
better!” Kali exclaimed. “It’s huge compared to that one.”
Hunter was nodding, his eyes alight.
“And it’s a nicer color for this setting. It will anchor the avenue of trees
without being overpowered like this one.”
A middle-aged woman wearing a dark
green work shirt walked up and introduced herself as the director of the
Central Park Conservancy. She liked what she had seen in the photos Hunter had
emailed her, and when they marked off how much bigger the fountain was, she was
delighted.
“My only problem is that we don’t have
anything in the budget for moving it,” the director said. “We have the pavers
and the manpower to widen the base for it, and the plumbing was run a few years
ago, so that’s fine. How much would it cost to move such a huge object?”
“I spoke to Mr. Ryan about that,” Hunter
said. “He’s offered to donate the cost of moving the fountain up here to the
Conservancy Garden. We can dismantle it into sections for easier transport, so
it’s only a matter of a big truck and a forklift to unload it once it’s here.”
That was the first Kali had heard of
this, but she saw the opportunity and added, “We’d like to take photos of the
move and let some of the papers know about our donation of the fountain to the
Conservancy Garden. It will be good publicity for Central Park as well as
SunTech.”
The director was enthusiastic about the
deal, and Hunter looked very happy to find a good use for the fountain. They
talked about the timeline and details of the move which would have to happen
very quickly to match the plaza renovation timeline. It got quite dark before
they wrapped it up.
As they were walking back to the subway,
Hunter said, “It’s a good thing you came tonight. I wouldn’t have thought of
the PR angles like you did.”
“You did all the work on this. Robert
must be thrilled.”
“He will be when I tell him.”
“But I thought you said he would donate
the transport up here?”
Hunter grinned. “I got him to agree to
that before I started calling places. I didn’t want money to be a problem if a
community park or green space wanted it. I wasn’t expecting Central Park to have
budget issues, but parks are underfunded.”
Kali glanced at him, struck by his
delight over the whole thing. He was the one who had made this happen. He had
done outreach to all sorts of parks and public spaces, trying to find a place
that could use the fountain.
She remembered he said his last project
was a pro bono piece for a park in Bed-Sty. There was something really
admirable about that. His motive in finding a home for the fountain was even
more altruistic than hers—even though more publicity for the project would
bring more publicity for him, he hadn’t considered the PR angle until she
brought it up.
He hesitated when they reached the top
of the subway entrance. They both looked down into the black maw and neither
one made a move to step down.
“It’s such a nice night,” he said. “Our
date’s been busted up and we both have work tomorrow. But what do you say about
walking a little further down to the river? There’s a water ferry there we can
take to Williamsburg.”
“Oh, that sounds lovely.”
He gave her a sideways look. “I think
secretly you like being on the subway with me. You like it that you were
afraid, now that it’s over.”
She looked at him quickly, but there was
no judgment in his eyes. “You’re probably right.” To change the subject, she
asked, “So why didn’t you answer my email? For real.”
“You might not like my answer,” he said
slowly.
She felt a chill. Here it was. “I
thought you said honesty was the most important thing.”
“It is. But some people really don’t
want it when they get it.”
“Now I’m really curious. What did you
think of my answer?”
He grimaced. “I don’t think that’s what
you really want.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think you don’t know what you want.”
“Oh, really? So you know me better than
I know myself?” She felt a little irritated. “That’s funny from someone I just
met two weeks ago.”
“Ten days,” he corrected absently.
That irritated her even more. “So tell
me what do you think I really want?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But I do
know that those things—a husband, kids, a nice house—those are things you’ve
been
told
you want. It’s the story you tell about yourself, that you
tell other people, because it feels safe. It’s not really you.”
“What do you mean? It’s not really me?”
“It’s a front you put up, your way of getting
through the world. You want people to think you’re a nice person, a
good
girl
. So you do things to please other people. But all the while, you’re
hiding behind your façade of niceness, judging people and hoping they don’t see
you in there making calculations about what they want and what you’re willing
to give in exchange.”
Her mouth fell open. “How can you say
that about me?”
“Maybe it’s unconscious, this pretty way
you have of dealing with people.” He looked at her harder. “But I think you
know what you’re doing. That you think things out. That you rarely do anything
by impulse. Even what happened with me the other night. You thought that
through, put everything on the scales, and made the choice to ask me back to
your place.”
Pinned, she felt pinned like a dead
butterfly. Every scallop and color block catalogued, and put in her proper
place according to size and type.
He’s right,
she thought helplessly. She couldn’t have spoken for the world. She felt naked
and exposed, even more than when she had been lying naked on her coffee table
with her shirt over her face. Her shirt over her face! No wonder she liked it.
To be hidden from his prying eyes. To be able to relax and not have to think
and wonder…
His arm went around her shoulders. It
felt better than anything she had ever felt before. “It’s okay, Kali. Everyone
has their shining armor they wear when they battle life. But you can’t get lost
in thinking that the way you learned to deal with other people is really
you
.
You’re in there, struggling to get out. To find what’s really important for
you. Maybe it’s SunTech and the environment. Maybe it’s something different.
But you have to give yourself space and the freedom to make mistakes, to take
alleyways and go down side paths. Because sometimes that’s the best way to find
yourself.”