I jumped off my stool as the door to the kitchen opened and stupidly I expected to see a young girl, my last faded memory being of someone I barely knew being consoled by her parents at my dead wife’s graveside.
But that’s not who came through the door.
A tall, slim woman with golden-blonde long hair, and endless legs is what careered through the door. She was dressed in a short suit with sneakers on her feet. As she saw me she ran and threw her arms around me. All I noticed is that those small pert breasts I glimpsed the shape of through that top were now crushed against my chest. Her arms were around me and her hair was under my nose. She smelled of vanilla.
“Henry. Jeez, man. It’s been years.”
I held her back at arms length and took in her appearance, trying to find some resemblance to Vee, or some hint of the little girl from the graveside but there was nothing. Just a perfect stranger in front of me.
“Amelia?”
“Yes, it’s me. Guess I’ve changed a little, huh? Now why don’t you fix us both a coffee or open some wine, and I’ll tell you why I’m here. I hope it’s not a bad surprise? I figured you’d have space for a guest for a night and Mary said it would be okay?”
She spoke so fast I could barely keep up with her conversation, what with my trying to process that she was here - both in Manhattan and in my apartment - and why she would be here. Opening wine sounded like the best idea so far and so I busied myself, choosing a nice bottle of red and locating two glasses. Amelia hopped on a stool at the kitchen island like she had lived her for years and bemused I joined her sitting on an adjacent stool.
I passed her a glass and ran a hand through my hair.
“So, Amelia. What brings you to Manhattan?”
“Truth?”
I nodded.
“I was so damn bored. My parents just spend all their time at the Hampton’s and I need more from life. I’m twenty-three now. I want a career and I want to live in Manhattan.”
“And you thought I could help you with those things?” I gave her a small smirk as I had no idea what was going through this young woman’s mind.
“Oh God no. I was going to rent a small apartment for a while until I got on my feet, but Ralph asked me to bring you a letter.” Ralph was Vee’s father, the one who’d also been unable to love again.
“How is he? You see much of him?” I asked her.
“He’s really well. I don’t see a lot of him, but he and Mom kept things civil and so he invited us to his wedding last month.”
I accidentally spilled some of my wine down my mouth. “His wedding?”
Amelia leaped from the table, grabbed a napkin and dabbed at my mouth. She was too near, invading my personal space, and I took the napkin from her hand and jumped down from my stool, pretending to wash my mouth at the sink.
“Yeah. He met the most lovely woman. Her name’s Belle. Anyway, we were chatting at the wedding and he said if I was coming to Manhattan I should look you up. That he wondered if you were okay. You never kept in touch with any of us…” Her voice tapered off.
I chose not to reply.
“So, I came to the apartment. Your address was easy to Google, your privacy settings are lame, dude, and I met Mary, who is lovely by the way, and I may have thought you’d remarried an older woman, but she set me straight and said I was welcome to take a guest room for the night. She said I was just what you needed.” She shrugged.
“Mary thinks I live in the past a little too much.” I explained.
“Well, I need showing around Manhattan and I kind of threw caution to the wind and came here with only one job lead.” She took a large gulp of wine.
“Okay, okay. This is all a little much to take in.” I told her. “How about you stay here this week? I have plenty of room. You can do whatever business you need to do and I can get caught up with what’s happening with your family. Maybe I shouldn’t have completely lost touch, but at the time it seemed the easiest thing to do.”
“I still miss her.” Said Amelia. Her stare made me feel uncomfortable, like she was trying to read my mind, assess how I felt about her sister after all these years.
I nodded. “We’ll talk about your sister. But not now, okay?”
She nodded back.
“Right now, I need to work on some emails so how about you go get used to your room or you can chill in the living room and I’ll see you in the morning at breakfast?”
“Sounds great. Can I take the rest of the bottle of wine?” She looked at me with a begging expression on her face. It reminded me of what I saw at the club and I quickly turned away.