Love on Parade Read online

  After wandering the park for nearly an hour, they hadn’t seen anywhere close to all of it.

  They went to the Met where she spent an inordinate amount of time staring at Washington Crossing the Delaware. For some reason, that portion of the museum felt more restful than some of the others, though the area near the front did as well. She couldn’t remember what that section was called.

  Norris, who had been responding more quickly to his name as the day went on, showed her some of his favorite pieces.

  They hadn’t even made it through half of the museum when they decided to call it a day. Rather than finding a restaurant for dinner, they went to the vendor outside the museum. It cost about four dollars for both of them.

  Big spenders.

  She knew he wasn’t hurting for cash, but she was glad for the real New York experience. “What part of the city do you live in?” she asked as they sat on the stairs.

  “Not too far from here. I have an apartment nearby.”

  “Cool.” She wasn’t sure how to ask the next question. “4I’ve heard stories where apartments are the size of a postage stamp and you have like six roommates. Is that you?”

  He managed to stop mid bite so he could laugh. “No. Nothing like that. I have a nice, three-bedroom apartment and no roommates.”

  Three bedrooms. No roommates. That meant he had some serious cash. Not just decent money, but lots of it, if he lived like that in Manhattan.

  Or so she assumed. That’s what she’d always heard about Manhattan.

  “Do you own it?” she blurted out before she could stop herself. “Or is it rent-controlled?” That’s how it worked on Friends.

  This time he was mid-chew. He did a kind of half-head shake, nod thing. She wasn’t sure what that meant.

  She probably needed to learn more about Manhattan life than what she’d seen on a 90s sitcom.

  “Never mind,” she went on. “That was rude.”

  “It’s fine. Just not something I get asked often.”

  But she noticed he didn’t actually answer the question.

  “What do you do for a living?” He hadn’t told her that either.

  He tilted his head. “I’m an event organizer, mostly.”

  She blinked. “A party planner?”

  Norris-if-that-was-his-real-name laughed. “Not exactly. More like events for cities or towns.”

  “Like the New Year’s Eve Party?”

  He laughed again. “Nothing quite that big. More like festivals and such. Around here I do festivals for the different areas. Like the Fall Fest and Parade in Greenwich Village or the Spring Concert on the Green at a park in Tribeca. In smaller towns, upstate and around the country, I do Fourth of July festivals or Thanksgiving parades. Usually I work with smaller cities rather than towns, actually. They feel like towns after living here, but they’re not.”

  “How many people live in them?”

  Norris thought for a second. “Hundred thousand or so.”

  It was Brittany’s turn to laugh. “That’s a city, not a town. My town is under ten thousand.”

  He finished the last bite of his dinner. “I doubt a town that size could afford me, to be honest, but it would be a challenge to make a world class event with a small-town budget.”

  As they started back toward the park, Brittany tried not to wonder what he’d think about Winterfest in Trumanville. It surely wouldn’t be up to his standards. Good thing he’d never have to find out.

  It was much too early to be standing on Sixth Avenue next to a newspaper stand.

  At five in the morning.

  On a holiday.

  But Cole was there.

  Because he’d met a pretty girl he liked a lot.

  Woman. She wasn’t a girl. That much had been apparent the moment he met her and if it hadn’t been, the fact that she had a teenager who was almost an adult herself would have confirmed it.

  Brittany had met with her daughter a couple of times. Mattison was with the band for the entirety of the trip, though they made several forays into Manhattan. Cole had decided it was better not to meet the girl. He and Brittany weren’t a couple. Wouldn’t last beyond the holiday since the two were headed back to Missouri first thing in the morning.

  No reason to be introduced to Mattison when he wasn’t going to be in her life at all. Even an introduction as a friend was pointless.

  He gripped the hand warmers inside his gloves. If his fingers were already going numb from the cold at five, what would they be like at noon? Blackened nubs that needed amputating?

  At least he had good boots on, though he feared they wouldn’t be enough either. Maybe he could find some cardboard, or have his assistant bring some. It would make the ground slightly less cold.

  He’d done his research though - or had his assistant help him with some. He’d bought two collapsible chairs for them to sit on, then scoured the parade route for the best place to be - and on the correct side to get the best view of Brittany’s daughter.

  “There you are.” Brittany huddled in her winter coat as she walked up next to him. “This is a great spot.”

  With the barrier in front of them and the newsstand behind, they could only get pressure from people from the sides, and he had a plan to deal with that. An employee would be joining them with his family, something they’d always wanted to do, and run interference on one side. Another employee, this one a single mom, was already on the other. Both employees were being well-compensated for helping him out on their day off. And all the kids were excited, or so he’d been told. They weren’t actually there yet.

  “How did you sleep?” Cole asked her.

  She shrugged. “Not great but not awful either. Going to bed early helped me get some rest, but I couldn’t settle down enough to sleep until close to midnight.”

  “Well, if you want to go back to bed for a bit, I can hold down the fort here.” He wasn’t crazy about her walking the streets by herself, just like he’d wanted to pick her up to come here, but she’d insisted she’d be fine.

  “Nope. I’m good. I do think I’m going to get breakfast though.” She tilted her head toward the McDonald’s a couple of doors down. “You want anything? Coffee? Hot chocolate?”

  “Coffee is fine. Black.”

  It would give him something hot to hold on to. “But I can get it.”

  Before he could protest, she was gone. At least it gave him a chance to have a quick conversation with both of his employees about the day.

  They were to act as though they didn’t know Cole, or at least not well. Acquaintances perhaps, but not that Cole was the one signing the paychecks. None of children had never met him. The single mom had been lamenting that her daughter wanted to come, but it was so early. Making it something she was paid for made the early hour much easier to deal with.

  Cole set up the chairs he’d brought and took the cardboard his assistant brought after a text from Cole, using them to block off an area big enough for the others too. He took a seat leaving the empty space between himself and the other employee. It took up the whole news stand, but they’d be well protected from the crowd Brittany clearly didn’t love.

  “Here you go.” Brittany returned about half an hour late. “The line wasn’t too bad, but you’d think after all these years of having people camped out on their doorstep, they’d be a little better about their speed of service.”

  “It’s probably hard to keep up.” They were the only place open on the block, despite several other fast food places making their home on the same street.

  “Probably. And I doubt many people want to work this morning, even if they’re getting paid extra for the holiday.” She leaned against the metal railing that comprised the barrier then jumped back. “It’s cold.”

  Cole laughed, his breath puffing out in front of him. “It’s the coldest Thanksgiving on record, even colder than last year. The barrier is metal. Do the math.” Then he winked at her to let her know he wasn’t too serious. Stepping back, he motioned for her
to move past him. “I brought chairs.”

  A grateful look crossed her face. “Thank you. I wasn’t sure about standing for the next seven or eight hours.”

  “I also have hand, foot, and body warmers, too. I’m not sure how well they’ll work.”

  “I bought a new coat just for today. The most expensive article of clothing I’ve ever bought, including my wedding dress.” She took a bite of her bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit.

  But she’d also given him a tidbit of information. He hadn’t asked about the relationship that resulted in her daughter, and she hadn’t volunteered the information. Now he knew she’d been married at one time, at least. It didn’t mean the man was also the father, but it would make sense.

  For the next five hours, they talked more about the same everything and nothing they had been all week. They talked with the police officers who walked up and down the street keeping an eye on things. They watched as city workers removed the stoplight right above their heads when the construction scaffolding meant it couldn’t be moved out of the way properly.

  It fascinated Cole. He’d had no idea that the arms could be loosened and swung off to the side temporarily. The others on the intersection were fine, but not the one right above them.

  They’d been asked to move of course, but promised they’d have their spaces back. Other spectators tried to jump in, but Brittany was ruthless about elbowing her way back to their spot. Their chairs and other belongings were still there, verifying their claim.

  News crews wandered by a couple of times. One producer gave Cole an odd look, almost like she recognized him and wondered why he wasn’t in the bleachers somewhere, but he hadn’t wanted to throw his money around. He knew Brittany wanted to experience the parade like this. Where she would be able to see her daughter.

  And they had chairs, so they didn’t have to stand the whole time or even sit on the ground.

  Finally, about an hour after the parade started more than a mile away, the energy started to change around them. Everyone leaned over the railings hoping for the first glimpse of the star balloons that led the parade.

  “There they are,” a kid yelled from a few feet away. “It’s coming!”

  The excitement was palpable even for Cole who would have thought he was more jaded than that.

  Apparently not.

  “Do you know what number band your kiddo is in?” Cole’s employee’s wife had become Brittany’s new BFF over the last few hours.

  “I think she’s in the sixth band, but I’m not sure.” Brittany turned to Cole with the biggest smile he’d seen from her all week. “Thank you for making this happen for me. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”

  As she turned back toward the first balloons coming their way, Cole wondered what he’d have to do to see that smile after her flight back to Missouri.

  Too bad he wouldn’t get to find out.

  Chapter 3

  Brittany leaned over the barrier and stared down the street. Were those sousaphones with giant stars in the bells turning the corner a few blocks away at Central Park?

  They were.

  “Here they come!” She didn’t even care that she was screaming. Brittany handed her iPad Mini to Norris. “You’ve got the Live feed covered. I’ll record on my phone so I can upload it later in case the live stream doesn’t work very well.”

  “Got it.” He held it over her head as the group in front of the band passed them.

  Brittany pulled her glove off and managed to get the camera app open on her phone and turned on the video. At least she remembered to change the function and didn’t just wait to take a picture the whole time. One of her new friends was snapping pics on her phone and would share them later.

  The banner carriers walked by followed by dancers. Then the first half of the band. In the middle was the drum line. It had to be almost time.

  Mattison said she was near the end and second from the far left as they walked.

  The second half of the band started to pass. Brittany found herself on her tiptoes, biting her lip.

  “See her yet?” Norris asked, nearly yelling over the noise of the crowd and the band.

  The band stopped as Brittany found her. “There she is!”

  Her girl couldn’t have been more than thirty feet away, probably less. The only way it would be better was if they’d stopped three or four rows farther ahead.

  “Mattison!” she yelled as they put their instruments down to do the dance they’d learned just for this moment.

  Mattison looked straight at her and grinned but didn’t have time to wave before going into the dance with the rest of the band.

  The entire band was wearing earmuffs provided by the store sponsoring the parade. Thank goodness. Even with her layers upon layers, Brittany was fairly certain it was going to take her days to warm up.

  Three layers of Cuddle Duds under her jeans and thick socks helped. Hand, foot, and body warmers helped more, but mostly when she was able to press them to her skin. She’d had to take the lift out of her left shoe because her socks were too thick and the way the boots were designed, it was cutting off the circulation to her toes.

  After they finished their dance, with a chant Brittany couldn’t quite understand - though Late Night Tonight host Terry Thompson was mentioned - the band stopped and waved to the crowd, milling about slightly without ever leaving their actual position.

  Mattison waved at Brittany, the grin on her face the biggest one Brittany had seen in a long time. The families on either side were taking pictures for her, too. She couldn’t do it all, but she’d enlisted help.

  “Mattison!” Norris called. “Over here!”

  All of the kids in the families on either side of them were waving and shouting her name, too. They were so excited to find out she knew someone who was actually in the parade.

  Mattison said something to the chaperone standing near her. He nodded, and she broke formation, running toward Brittany.

  “I have like two seconds,” she said, squeezing Brittany as tightly as she could with the barrier and her saxophone between them. “Hug and a picture and I gotta go. I shouldn’t be surprised you made new friends.”

  With their heads together, the guy next to them took the pictures. Her video was a hot mess by now with the camera on her phone still running. It didn’t matter.

  “Got it,” he said. “Got a bunch.”

  Another quick hug, and Mattison high-fived all the kids as she ran back to her spot in time to do their dance again before they started marching forward.

  Mattison waved as Brittany turned to follow the band down the street. As they moved farther away, she finally turned the camera off, but Norris turned the iPad mini back toward her like she’d told him to earlier.

  “Thanks for joining us everyone! I hope it went through okay and wasn’t horribly pixelated. I’ve got the video on my phone and will post it later. Probably after I take a nap because you saw my earlier live post I’m sure. We were out here by five this morning! Mattison will read all the comments and stuff later, but right now, I’m going back to huddling in my coat to stay warm.” She waved. “Bye!”

  Norris pressed the screen with his ungloved thumb. “And clear. That was really cool.”

  He actually sounded impressed.

  “The super cool New Yorker thinks it’s cool?” The adrenaline was already starting to fade. “I think cool is an understatement.”

  The kids all crowded around Brittany as she sank into the seat Norris had brought for her.

  “That was so cool.”

  “I wish we could have heard them play.”

  “I wanna do that when I grow up.”

  The whole thing made Brittany smile. She answered their questions but tried to point them back to the parade. She didn’t want them to miss anything. They were all headed the same direction, more or less, afterward, so she assured them they could talk then. Maybe they could grab pizza together as a group or something. Were the pizza places even open on Tha
nksgiving?

  The Chick-fil-A behind them wasn’t, and she was pretty sure the McDonald’s had closed after breakfast.

  Not far behind the band came the NYC Parks Mounted Unit.

  “Oh, my goodness!” She snapped a couple of pictures with her camera. “Those horses are huge!” They had to be taller than she was, even at the shoulder. She didn’t know how tall, but ginormous was the word that came to mind.

  Norris laughed. “They are. I have a friend who knows some of the officers. Want me to see if I can set up a time for you to meet them later today?”

  Brittany hesitated then shook her head. “No. It’s Thanksgiving. Plus, I’m pretty sure a nap is calling my name when we’re done here.” She’d need the blankets to warm up. While Mattison was marching by, she’d almost forgotten how cold she was but that didn’t last long.

  In another half hour, the screams and cheering from up the street indicated that Santa was on his way. And just a few minutes later, there he was.

  Even though she was an adult, Brittany found herself irrationally excited to see the big man in red. He even waved directly at her. If only she’d been able to stay a couple of days longer and take Mattison to see him. It would be fun and make for some memorable photos.

  Instead, they had to be at the airport before six the next morning. In all fairness, that wasn’t based on the original flight time, but she didn’t have much choice when they’d changed the flights. Just like she hadn’t when they’d flown out the weekend before at 5:30 in the morning. She hadn’t known the Springfield-Branson National Airport had people there before four in the morning, but she did now.

  Slowly, the crowd around them began to dissipate. Brittany found herself caught up in the crush. She gripped the back of Norris’s coat to stay with him, though if they got separated, she’d just head back to her hotel and take a nap. They’d talked about getting together for dinner, but no definitive plans had been made just yet.

  As they reached the next cross street - 47th Street maybe? - they headed across 6th Avenue. Her hotel was at 8th Avenue and 51st Street. It had taken her about fifteen minutes to walk it in the morning, but she wasn’t sure how long it would take now.