Chapter One
McDonald’s, Winchester Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK
Hayley
Walker had quit her job. She had quit
her job. What had she been thinking?
Escape was the answer to that one. Finally ridding herself of sweaty Greg and
his desperate attempts to fold and press her
at the dry-cleaning firm. But now,
an hour after the deed had been done, she was starting to realise she should
have thought a lot less about escape and a lot more about money. Or rather, her
lack of it. And exactly what she was going to do after Christmas. Throwing in
the towel had been a kneejerk reaction. A desperate leap. Was she going to live
to regret it? Part-time party planning wasn’t going to bring home the bacon or
the expensive cereal with the free books.
‘Do
they have Yorkshire puddings?’
Hayley
looked up from her phone-tapping and faced her nine-year-old daughter, the
eater of the expensive cereal with the free books. Angel had half a
cheeseburger hanging out of her mouth and she was trying to ram in the straw of
her Diet Coke too. Hayley hadn’t heard exactly what she’d said, something about
pudding. She was too busy wondering if she had time to search the job section
of the local paper before they left the country whilst also running through the
whole travel itinerary in her head. Bang went her hopes of new clothes for them
both for this trip. What was going to be on-trend this winter?She’d never
really believed in the tweed phase. Maybe, if she didn’t sleep, she would have
time to make alterations on what they did
have in their wardrobes. She put the
lid on her thought box and focussed on Angel.
‘Angel,
manners in a restaurant please.’ Hayley pulled the cardboard cup away.
She
watched Angel’s eyes spiral upwards, then around, taking in every inch of the
McDonald’s. No matter what her daughter’s look was saying, it was a
restaurant. Serviettes made it so and it was the only restaurant Hayley could
afford right now. Even more so after today. She sighed. This McDonald’s was their place,
mum and daughter bonding over burgers. It was a constant,
familiar,
and familiar was comforting when she was about to throw them both halfway
across the world.
‘Well?
You haven’t answered my question.’ Angel exaggerated the words for all she was
worth. ‘Are. They. Going. To. Have. Yorkshire. Puddings. In. New. York?’
Hayley
put her phone on the table. She didn’t know the answer. But it was obviously
important to Angel. More important to her daughter than the fact she had never
been on an aeroplane before and she had to sit still for eight hours and she
was about to discover a whole new country. Who would have thought Yorkshire
puddings could be so critical?
‘I
don’t know,’ Hayley said. ‘But I can find out.’ She smiled at her daughter.
‘Google
it,’ Angel came back.
‘What,
now?’
‘Free
Wi-Fi in McDonald’s. You always say that.’
Angel
sucked at her drink, eyes bulbous like marbles.
At
the moment there was nothing better than free. A bubble of pride bounced off Hayley’s insides. She
watched Angel biting down on the straw with her perfect teeth, her cheeks a
little reddened, her mousey brown hair set in two pigtails with tinsel woven
into the bobbles. Angel was the best thing she’d ever done. The only real,
satisfying thing she’d achieved and she’d done it, for the most part, on her
own. She swallowed down a knot of emotion and sucked at her own drink.
‘I
can’t wait to meet Uncle Dean’s new boyfriend,’ Angel said.
Hayley
started to choke on the liquid in her mouth and dragged the straw out. Her phone
fell out of her hand and into the cardboard tray of chips she hadn’t touched
yet. ‘What?’
‘We
Skyped last week when you were staring at those forms on the internet for hours.’
Angel
was right, all Hayley had done the past few weeks was fill in forms. She
thought she needed a visitor’s visa. From what she’d read it would have been
easier to send them the blood of a unicorn and spoilers for the next season of Game of Thrones.
If only someone had mentioned ESTA to her before her head had got so close to
exploding. New York – a Christmas holiday to Angel and an important mission to
Hayley. She had spent the past two months straining her eyes to burning point
on late night internet searches. Now it was time for the hunt to get up close
and personal.
Hayley
swung her attention back to Angel.
‘He’s
called Vernon. Vern for short and they met at some really cool party Uncle Dean
got invited to.’ Angel flicked one of her pigtails. ‘Will we get to go to
really cool parties?’
Hayley’s
mind was working overtime. Her brother had a new boyfriend he hadn’t mentioned.
Did they do Yorkshire puddings in America? Could she get hold of a unicorn?
Luggage scales –
she
definitely needed to get some luggage scales. SHE HAD NO FULL-TIME JOB!
‘I
don’t know, Angel. We’re going to have a lot to do when we get there and …’
‘That’s
pretty close to a yes.’
‘Are
you going to finish that burger?’
‘Are you going to eat your chips?’ Angel put
her tongue into the bottom of her mouth and poked it forward, tilting her chin.
‘You
know making that face is like swearing in America,’ Hayley warned.
Angel
changed her expression and looked at her mother with only slight scepticism.
Hayley
pointed a finger and grinned. ‘Gotcha!’
‘That’s
not fair!’ Angel screeched. She reached across the table and stole a chip from
Hayley’s tray, popping it into her mouth.
Hayley
smiled, picking up a chip herself and dunking it in ketchup. Fries were about
as uncomplicated as you could get.
Hayley
looked out of the window onto the street. It was already dark, the sky
blue/black with menacing grey clouds converging above the city skyline. People
were wrapped up in wool coats, passing by, rushing home from work or to late
night shopping, their breath visible in the freezing air. In just a few days,
she and Angel would be leaving it all behind and travelling thousands of miles
across the ocean for Christmas in the Big Apple. Minus temperatures in double
figures and streets full of Santas, Michael Bublé music and candy canes.
Hayley
watched a woman pushing open the door of the restaurant and she reached forward
across the table to tap Angel on the arm.
‘Fashion
alert at three o’clock.’ Hayley made the tapping more insistent. ‘Angel Walker,
tell me what you would do for this woman with nothing but a scarf and a hair
clip.’
‘Oh,
Mum, really?’ Angel looked at the woman heading for the counter. ‘I think she
looks fine.’
‘Purlease!
Cream boots with that grey coat?’
Angel
sighed. ‘What colour is the imaginary scarf?’
Hayley
grinned. ‘What colour do you think the imaginary scarf should be?’
‘Red?’
Hayley
shook her head, screwing up her face in disapproval.
‘Brown?’
‘Uh-uh.
One last go?’ She watched her daughter look the woman up and down, assessing.
‘Spots!’
Angel exclaimed.
Hayley
clapped her hands together. ‘Yes! I’m thinking a bit of Dalmatian print,
clipped onto that coat like a drape. She would go from faux-pas to fashionista
in a second.’
‘Are
we going to tell her?’ Angel asked.
Hayley
laughed and shook her head. ‘No.’
It
was just a game now. Something to occupy the designer side of her brain. It was
all she’d ever wanted. Making creations to grace the catwalks, seeing the
clothes come to life, delivering the finished products to high-end stores all
over the world. She swallowed as she
looked
back at Angel. It seemed like a lifetime ago. And it was. Her life had changed
beyond recognition. She’d gone from spending her nights cutting up fabric and
laughing with friends over bottles of Lambrini, to night feeds and nappy changing.
The only fashion she’d ended up dictating was her baby girl’s, despite attempts
to pass off puke stains as en vogue. She’d chosen to become a mother and mothers made
sacrifices. What else was there to say?
‘Vernon
has a dog called Randy,’ Angel blurted out, interrupting her thoughts.
A
chip lodged in her throat and Hayley had to cough. ‘What?’
‘I
think he named him after that judge on American
Idol.’
Hayley
sighed. ‘Let’s hope so.’
Balmoral Road, Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK
Angel
had sung the Michael Bolton version of ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’ on
repeat since they’d left town. Now they were parked up and the song was just
reaching its final crescendo. Usually Hayley would have joined in – she had
almost perfected the hair flick and the high gruff voice – but she was still
panicking about the amount she had to do before they left. It helped that she
didn’t have a job to maintain any more. How wrong did that sound?
Giving
in to the first drink with manager Greg had been her biggest mistake. Him not
taking no for an answer the second, third and twelfth time of asking couldn’t
be put on her, but the getting too close beside the dry-cleaning steam machine
had been the last straw. Fondling business suits and stain-covered cocktail
dresses for six months was definitely enough. Her options were now open, which
would have scared her more had she not been squirrelling away money from a
second job as a party planner. Things had been busy on the run up to Christmas,
she’d even scored some extra cash giving some of her richer clients fashion
advice. With a clear diary for next year and just enough funds to cover this
trip, she could now concentrate on what was important. The search.
Hayley
screwed her eyes tight shut and gripped on to the steering wheel. Despite her
bravado with Angel, she was excited and terrified in equal measure about this
trip. In the far corners
of
her mind, heightened by the fact she was now unemployed, this trip to New York
had all the makings of an escape plan. It could be a chance to see how the land
lay over there, how Angel
took
to the US life. Her throat tightened just thinking about it. She and Angel,
starting afresh, new horizons, doughnuts the size of dinner plates and cruising
every floor of Barneys.
Hayley
opened her eyes. It would only be window shopping for now, with her finances as
they were. She looked to Angel. Her daughter had pulled down the visor and was
pouting to
herself
in the vanity mirror like she was about to pose for a selfie.
Unfortunately,
Hayley wasn’t like her ridiculously clever brother, Dean, who had been
headhunted for his position with Drummond Global. She had no extraordinary
skills to offer the
US.
Just a hard work ethic and … well, just that. She and millions of others were
all looking for the same sort of change. New York, paved with gold, a concrete
jungle where dreams could
come
true.
‘Shall
I put it on again?’
Angel
had turned in her seat and was now looking at Hayley, her finger poised on the
button of the in-car CD player.
‘No!
Not again.’
Angel
let out a laugh that made Hayley’s skin prickle. Right now her daughter seemed
innocent and unburdened but Hayley knew better. She knew what Angel was
thinking and hoping
for
before she went to sleep each night and she was going to do whatever it took to
solve it. New York could hold answers for them both.
‘Come
on, let’s go and show Nanny your new coat,’ Hayley said, opening the car door.
She
stepped out of the car and shut the door, putting her hands into the pockets of
her coat. The trees on the street cast dark shadows against the orange glow of
the streetlights. Frost was starting to coat the windscreens of the parked cars
and half a dozen houses had flashing and blinking Christmas lights on their
brickwork or hanging from their eaves. Outlines of decorated Christmas trees
were just visible behind net curtains and Hayley sucked in the quiet of the
English suburb, turning her attention to a cat jumping up onto a neighbouring
fence. Her whole landscape was about to change for a couple of weeks. Was she
ready for all that could bring?
She
watched Angel run up the path, the bag containing thenew bright red duffle coat
clutched in her hand.
Hayley
took another moment, leaning back against the car and surveying the house she’d
grown up in. It hadn’t changed in twenty-eight years. The small, black, iron
gate was still half off its hinges, the grass trimmed neat but the rose bushes
overgrown. It was a hotchpotch, some things working, other bits uncared for. It
had been a little like that with the people inside. Dean had been thoroughly
nurtured, was still cared about; she had been left to garner weeds. For someone
relatively self-sufficient it hadn’t been a problem, until she got pregnant and
her dad died.
The
cold wound itself around her and she internally shook. She didn’t resent her
brother. She loved him with every fibre of her being. But as soon as Angel had
come along things had
deteriorated.
Her mother just didn’t look at her the same way. There were awkward silences,
guarded help, emotional detachment. Rita had been there for her in every
practical way possible,
but
that was where it ended. Money and advice had been handed out rather than love
and support. Even now it still felt a bit hollow.
‘Mum!’
Angel called. ‘Nanny says if you don’t come in now I’ll have to shut the door.
It’s letting all the heat out!’
Hayley
rolled her eyes and braced herself. She had to be positive, smile and, most
important of all, not mention that she’d lost her job.
One Wish in Manhattan
The temperature is dropping, snow is on its way and Hayley Walker is heading for New York with one wish… to start over.
With her daughter Angel, Hayley is ready for adventure. But there’s more to New York than twinkly lights and breathtaking skyscrapers. Angel has her own Christmas wish – to find her real dad.
While Hayley tries to fulfil her daughter’s wish, she crosses paths with billionaire Oliver Drummond. Restless and bored with fast living, there’s something intriguing about him that has Hayley hooked.
Can Hayley dare to think her own dreams might turn come true – could A New York Christmas turn into a New York Forever?
Travel to the Big Apple this Christmas and join Hayley and Oliver as they realise life isn’t just about filling the minutes… it’s about making every moment count.
My review of One Wish In Manhattan can be found
here
About Mandy Baggot
Mandy Baggot is an award-winning author of romantic women’s fiction and a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. A contributor to writing blogs and short story anthologies, she is also a regular speaker at literary festivals, events and women’s networking groups.
Mandy loves mashed potato, white wine, country music, Corfu and handbags. She has appeared on ITV1’s Who Dares Sings and auditioned for The X-Factor and lives in Wiltshire, UK with her husband, two children and cats Kravitz and Springsteen.
