‘Hello,’ said Kelly-Lee. She was slightly discomfited. Girlfriends she could handle, but she didn’t know they had a child. That was annoying. And Austin didn’t look anywhere near old enough. ‘Have you come to visit your dad?’
‘My dad’s dead,’ said Darny rudely, as he always did under the circumstances. ‘That’s my brother.’
‘Awww,’ said Kelly-Lee. Darny knew that ‘awww’. He and Austin exchanged glances.
‘Come here, tyke,’ said Austin.
‘Here, little man. Let me get you a cupcake. I don’t know if you have them in your country. It’s a special American treat, and here’s a Christmas one just for you!’
Darny rolled his eyes, but he wasn’t about to turn down a free cake.
Issy smiled tightly. Kelly-Lee glanced up at her. ‘Oh yes,’ she said. ‘I forgot, you bake, don’t you?’
‘Yes,’ said Issy. She had realised what was weird about the smell; they were pumping it in. It was chemical. They hardly baked here at all.
‘For a real job or just for fun?’
‘It’s a real job,’ said Issy.
‘Oh,’ said Kelly-Lee. ‘I wanted to be an actress for a real job.’
‘Well, it’s nice to meet you,’ said Issy, slightly confused.
‘Me and Austin here have been hanging out, haven’t we?’ said Kelly-Lee, playfully putting her hand on his lapel. Then she came out from behind the counter to pick up some cups littering the tables, making sure she bent over at each one so Austin and Issy could both check out how amazingly tight and rounded her bottom was, after several hours of Pilates a week.
Issy raised her eyebrows at Austin.
‘Um, she’s been very friendly,’ said Austin.
‘And don’t forget to call me!’ said Kelly-Lee. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll look after him for you when you’re not here!’ And she smiled her enormous wide American smile right in Issy’s face and gave her a cheery wave with her dishcloth before disappearing into the kitchen.
Issy was fuming. ‘Who the hell is that?’ she said.
‘I don’t know, some girl,’ said Austin, confused.
‘Some girl? Some girl? You just happened to walk into a cupcake shop and start chatting with some girl?’
‘It was just chatting,’ said Austin.
‘So you didn’t take her number?’
Austin thought back. ‘Well, she did give me her number … but I didn’t ask for it. I don’t even know where it is. She only gave it to me in case you didn’t get on that plane.’
Issy blinked in disbelief. ‘What, if one cupcake girl wasn’t available, any one would do?’
‘No! No!’ said Austin. ‘You’re getting this all wrong. You’re taking everything all wrong! You have done since the moment you got here.’
‘I haven’t seen you since the moment I got here,’ said Issy, realising to her horror suddenly that she was on the brink of tears. They hardly ever fought. ‘Which I suppose I’d better get used to, seeing as you’re moving here with all the new people you know and all the cool New York stuff you do and I’ll just go back home and get on with my dreary baking life, which, by the way, is REAL BAKING,’ she shouted through the back so Kelly-Lee could hear. ‘Not this plastic crap they’re churning out here with fricking vegetable oils and sell-by dates. Do you know what the sell-by date of a cupcake is? It doesn’t have one. About an hour. So this is crap and everything here is crap and you’re coming here, for ever, and I realise I have to put up with that, but I don’t see why you should bloody start flaunting your new girls and new interests in front of me before I’ve even left.’
Austin was stunned. He’d never heard an outburst like this from Issy before. He looked at her, upset. Also, he hadn’t understood the bit in the middle about vegetable oil.
‘Issy … Issy, please.’
‘No!’ said Issy. ‘Don’t turn this into me being all ungrateful and stupid. You make up your mind about what you want and don’t tell yourself you don’t know or that you’re still weighing up options. I met the people you’re going to be working with. They seem very confident that you’re about to move away from everything we have. But don’t worry about telling me, I’ll just put it together all by myself.’
She turned round, grabbed her hat and stormed out of the shop.
‘Is she all right?’ said Kelly-Lee coming through from the back all wide-eyed and sympathetic. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t realise she’d fly off the handle like that. Is she like that a lot? I hope I didn’t say anything wrong. Some people are just very dramatic, aren’t they?’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ said Austin, not putting her straight, and leaving money for the coffee.
‘This cupcake is awful,’ said Darny. ‘By any reasonable judgement, it’s a terrible, terrible cake.’
‘You’re so cute,’ said Kelly-Lee. ‘I love your accent.’ Austin turned to Darny. ‘Can you stay here for five minutes?’ he said. ‘I’d better go and get Issy.’
‘With her? No chance,’ said Darny. ‘You can’t leave me, it’s illegal.’
‘Please, Darny,’ begged Austin.
Darny folded his arms and looked mutinous. By the time Austin had bundled him out on to the street, there was no sign whatsoever of where Issy had gone.
It was growing dark outside. It was icily, bitterly cold, as cold as Issy had ever known. People were dim outline shapes in enormous puffa jackets and huge hats and furs, like bouncy marshmallow men, hurrying and rushing to get inside. The sun was setting in bright pinks and reds and golds, cutting through the skyscrapers and casting endless shadows across the busy pavements. Issy hardly noticed; she ran, blindly, up the street, tears pricking at her eyes. It was time to face the truth, she knew. Austin was going to move here. He was going to make his home, and Darny’s home, over here, and that would be that. And all the girls would be all over him like a shot, and …
She could hardly think any more. She found herself back on Fifth Avenue, pushing blindly through the crush, the sheer weight of people slightly freaking her out when she was disorientated and just needed somewhere to have a really good cry, in private. There didn’t seem to be a lot of privacy in this city.