InsaneJournal

Botanical Garden, New York, Thursday afternoon
Emily got off the subway train on the obviously named Botanical Garden stop, and found her way out of the station. She wasn't sure if she was at the right side of the building to meet Vincenzo, but at least she was on time. She found her cell phone from her purse, and since she did not see him around yet, she decided to give him a call.

Maybe ten feet away, but the other side of a group of tourists, the familiar thrum at the beginning of the Dr Who theme started. Amarie had put it on Vincenzo's phone for a joke and he'd never got round to taking it off.

It cut off and, "Hello - Em?" His voice came from her phone. "Where are you hun?"

Emily turned around trying to spot where she had heard the familiar ring tone. "I think I'm really close because I heard your phone ringing. Oh, oh I see you now!" she said suddenly when the tourist group moved to go inside. Emily lowered the phone from her ear with a big grin, and quickly closed the distance to Vincenzo, and touched his arm to get his attention.

He had been rubber necking trying to get a sight of her and jumped when she touched him. "Damn - there you are," he said. "Gaddam battery has gone in my watch so I was worried I was late and got here early. How did it go? Get plenty of material?"

Emily laughed, amused by his old habits. "You do know your cell phone has a clock too?" she pointed out, just as she lifted herself up on her toes to give him a small hello-kiss. "We can find a jewellery shop, they can change the battery easily for you. But the meeting? It was great." She looked very satisfied with herself as she patted her bag on her shoulder, and it seemed to be more full now than when they had parted ways a couple of hours ago.

"That's good," Vincenzo said. "So are you ready for botany? Or shall we have some iced tea first? It's hotter here than it is at home."

"That actually sounds good. The subway was really hot and packed with people," Emily said rolling her eyes. "There's a coffee shop here somewhere, isn't there? I can't remember anymore, and the place has probably changed since my student years."

"Yes, I spotted it on my way here," Vincenzo said guiding her in that direction. "Just along past those trees."

"Have you ever been here before? I was here only once, it was a school trip and I can't remember much of it," Emily talked happily as they walked towards the coffee shop side by side. "Mostly that Gregori kept catching the butterflies in one garden until the caretaker told him to stop."

There was that name again. But Vincenzo didn't roll his eyes or twitch. Instead he said, "I used to walk down here of an evening if I got out of work early enough. It was nice and peaceful. There- there's the coffee shop."

"Looks like a nice place. Hopefully we can find a table for us," Emily said when they walked in and towards the counter. "I'm not hungry at all so I'll just have the iced tea. What about you?"

"That's fine for me too," Vincenzo said, looking around. "Look - empty table. Grab it and I'll get our drinks."

Emily squeezed his elbow affectionately as he went to the counter and she headed for the table. She was happy to sit down again and set her bag down on the floor. While she waited, she gathered her long hair on only one shoulder - it was so hot she regretted not putting it up in the morning.

Vincenzo obtained drinks clinking with ice and returned to the table with a smile. He put her drink in front of her and sat down as well. "You look pink," he said. "Across the other side of the park is a very good gelateria. We could stroll over and treat ourselves."

"Good thing you know the place," Emily chuckled and took a sip of the idea tea. "We could have another break there when we get there. What did you do while I was seeing Mitchell? Did you get a hold of any friends?"

"Yeah a few," Vincenzo said. "Most of them were working but Greg - yeah I've got a friend called Greg too - has got a pinched nerve in his shoulder so we had coffee and put the world to rights."

"Do you want to hang out with them more now that you're here? I don't want to be a horrible ball and chain," she offered. Of course she wanted to spend time with him now that they had all week to themselves, but then again he didn't get a chance like this to meet his New York friends very often.

Vincenzo chuckled. "Thanks for the offer but I don't think you'd get much of a kick out of the things we used to do. We've arranged to meet up again sometime later in the year when I've got a free weekend and when you're back in the restaurant."

"Yeah, you're right. I'd better leave you boys to being boys without a watchful feminine eye, that's best for all of us," Emily laughed. "I admit I'm a little relieved to hear that too. I get to have you all to myself for the rest of the week. Because Mr. Ross cancelled our Friday meeting, he had something going on somewhere, I don't know. He promised to give me a call next week though, but we'll see."

"You could maybe interview him over the phone," Vincenzo suggested. "Or one of those video conferences."

"Yes, I'll have to do it on the phone. And if he has some interesting material, like photos, he could send them to me," Emily shrugged. "I got plenty of old photos and some recipes from Mitchell at least. He was a very sweet old man, actually, he's already retired. His back went bust so he can't work properly anymore, but I think I'll invite him over for a dinner in La Fee Verte at some point."

"Why stop with just him?" Vincenzo wondered. "Okay, he was sweet so make a fuss of him but why not see if you can get all the available ex-chefs to come for a photo opportunity? La Fee has always been top notch, for as long as I can remember. It might be interesting to have a round table to talk about how styles change."

"And have the photographer there for it! That would be marvellous," Emily sighed dreamily and paused for a while, looking at the distance, while she imagined the situation. Then she grabbed her bag and took her calendar out. "I have to write that down so I still remember it next week when we're back at home," she said, and made a quick note, looking happily excited.

Vincenzo chuckled and sipped his drink, happy to see her so enthusiastically occupied.

Emily smiled as she put the pen and the calendar away, and looked at Vincenzo with soft eyes as she said, "When it's time to write the foreword to the book, I think there will be an affectionate paragraph of thanks to my better half."

"Better?" Vincenzo shook his head. "But I'll settle for 'other'."

She reached to take his hand. "Stronger. Wiser. Sweeter. Better." Then she grinned. "But I still look prettier in dresses."

"Gah!" Vincenzo laughed. "And there was me getting big-headed. What a way to bring me down to earth." He squeezed her hand. "Drink up. I want to show you the orchid house."

Emily emptied her glass with one last gulp. When they stood up, she took his hand again to walk side by side to explore the gardens together.