Page 61 of I Love My Mistake
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Forty-Five Minutes After We Left My Place
Ishoot a sideways glance up to Mark’s handsome face. His thumb tenderly caresses the soft underside of my hand as we stroll down the path. His profile has a regal quality to it, his nose strong and noble. The self-assured way he holds his head says he knows who he is. I really admire that about him.
“Are you going to tell me, or am I going to have to beg?” His eyes flicker, but he doesn’t answer me. Instead, he purposefully watches the people around us with more interest. Nice try, buddy. “You’re not getting off that easily,” I sing.
He still offers me no reaction, pretending not to have heard. Sweeping his free hand across the view, the sunlight catches those tiny gold flecks in his warm brown eyes, taking my breath away, he says, “Look at all this. It’s amazing.” Smiling, I look to see what he wants me to see, Central Park through his eyes. This truly beautiful park is surrounded by skyscrapers on all sides; two and a half miles of trees, flowers, ponds and bridges, with multiple winding cemented paths cutting through. There are two skating rinks, a zoo and a conservatory, though I’ve never been to the zoo. I love coming here. It’s disarming how peaceful it is considering the fact it’s centered smack dab in the center of the craziness that is New York City. Central Park is the perfect symbiotic juxtaposition of nature-meets-urban; mother nature and man dancing together.
Mark’s gaze falls on the area by the fountain and I look to see people of all races and ages relaxing there, many gesticulating through conversations we’re too far away to hear, their listeners attentive. Mark smiles, watching the joggers – of which there are seemingly millions. All of them are geared up with technology’s latest; staring ahead, breathing hard, feet pounding in a modern beat as they move toward their goals. And since it’s Saturday, there are even more families out than usual, pushing expensive strollers with their children staring out from fastened-in seats, wide-eyed and overwhelmed. Winter is on her way. The locals are out by the truckloads. We embrace the warmth with everything we have for as long as we can, knowing soon it will be necessary to spend most of our time in doors.
Locals… I’m one. But Mark is not. Don’t think about him going back home, Nicole. Don’t think about it.
Mark points to a lone retro-painter tucked away with his easel and imagination in a corner of lawn to our left. “I love that guy right there.”
I nod and, as though the painter could hear me from seventy-five feet away, I whisper, “Look, he even has on a beret like he’s on that hill where the painters used to go in Paris. Or do they still go there? I’m not sure.”
Mark looks down to me, curious and relaxed. “Have you been to Montmartre?”
I shake my head, looking at the artist as I talk. “Not yet. I haven’t been to Europe as an adult. I went to Milan and London when my mother was doing the runways, but I was five or six so I don’t remember any of it.” I shoot him a quick smile. “I want to go. Have you been?”
He brings our hands up to his mouth and kisses my fingers. “Not yet. Let’s make that happen.” He looks up and points to the American Elms lining the path. “Look at the leaves! We have some changing like this in San Francisco, but nothing like this. These are incredible.”
Their reds, gold and yellows, blended perfectly by Mother Nature, take my breath away every time. If I give myself more than a second to look at them, I can lose myself in their beauty. It opens my heart the same way a sunset does, or a baby’s smile. “They’re beautiful… and they’re all the colors of fire, see?”
“Spoken like an artist.” He winks at me and once again brings our hands up to kiss my fingertips.
“Mmm… I love it when you do that.”
He throws a sexy smile my way. “Yeah? I’ll remember that.”
I look at his mouth, longing to kiss it forever. I shake my head at my luck and give him a firm playful poke in the ribs. “But you didn’t answer me.”
He yelps and laughs. “What do you want to know?”
I roll my eyes. “Come on!”
Playing innocent, his eyes go cartoon-like and wide. “What?”
“How did it go with the investors? I’m dying to know and you haven’t said a word about it!”
His smile falls. His grip loosens on my hand as he frowns. My stomach sinks down with my spirits. It never occurred to me that the meeting wouldn’t go well. Oh God… and here I am, prying! He would have told me if it was good news. He would have shouted it to the whole park! That’s what happens when your dreams get answered, isn’t it?
I reach over to hold his hand with both of mine, our feet keeping time as the leaves fall around us. “Hey. You know what? There will be more people to talk to. Apps are a huge deal right now. Everyone wants in. You’ll get financial backing sooner than…”
His free hand flies up to save himself from my pep-talk. “Nicole.”
“I’m sorry. I should just be quiet about it. It’s none of my business…”
“Nicole.” He stops walking and faces me, serious. “Guess what?”
My lips make a thin line and I bite them, feeling horrible. “Mmm?”
“They liked my idea.” He gives me a mischievous smile.
“They did?” My jaw drops to China.
“Actually…” His smile expands into the proudest grin. “They loved it.”