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