Genre: Contemporary romance.
Find it in: Amazon e-books and printed version: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D2GL33F
Chapter 1
Exhausted by the succession of events of the day and in fact of the entire week she had passed in Buenos Aires, the woman placed her small suitcase in the luggage rack located above the line of seats, sat in her place that was located next to the window and anticipating what the hostesses would ask to all passengers put on the seat belt. The seat, located in the tourist class, was very narrow considering that the flight to New York would take nine hours so she decided that at her arrival she would ask her sponsors to take a ticket in the executive category for the following flights, at least for those that exceed certain duration, for example five hours. She thought that this requirement was reasonable since most of her travels were within the United States and therefore shorter.
Following her usual flight anxiety the woman had been one of the first passengers to board and now the rest were entering the narrow aisles of the cabin. The passage consisted of a mixture of Argentines and Americans, the latter in general couples or small groups of elderly people returning from vacations in the distant southern country, wearing striking multicolored print shirts and other garments more appropriate for Miami or Hawaii than for the hectic South American city, whose inhabitants seemed to walk and travel always with a frenetic pace, so different from other Latin American cities the woman had known. The Argentines were distinguishable by their more austere dress and by the amount of packages that they intended to place in the luggage compartments, even forcing their capacity. She begged the seat next to her be occupied by an American; otherwise as she did not speak Spanish that could be a boring and too long trip.
She unwillingly glimpsed a tall, thin youngster who approached watching at the letters of the rows of seats looking for his own. Although at first sight he seemed to be one of the Argentines the lady secretly wished that he would sit next to her, for he was a very handsome young man. She shook her head as if to scare the idea away.
<Lena, he could be … not your son but a much younger nephew. He’s not for you.>
Ignorant of the thoughts that circulated in the woman’s head, the young man stopped in the line where Lena sat, confirmed his location and looked at her smiling.
“Hola.” he succinctly said.
“Hello,” replied the woman, furious with herself for not having learned how to respond in Spanish a single word.
The man placed his suitcase in the luggage compartment and sat down on the aisle seat.
“Excuse me. I have seat 14B.” He said in English, much to Lena´s relief who however again reproached immediately herself.
<Do not make absurd ideas.>
The stewardess walked down the aisle where passengers were still struggling with their suitcases, helping them to store them in the upper compartments and close their doors.
Also the young man put the seat belt on and as his legs were too long for the short space between seats he placed them partially in the hallway after the stewardess had passed.
“Very small seats for such long trips.” said in tune with what Lena had been pondering before. Then smiling again, he extended his right hand and introduced himself.
“Federico Gribaudo.”
Lena was pleasantly surprised again by the man’s formal introduction and answered immediately.
“Lena Javit.”
“New Yorker?” It was obvious that the young man named Federico wanted to initiate a conversation. Although the woman had previously the idea of getting asleep as soon as possible to recover the missing sleep hours of the entire week she willingly accepted the disposition of her traveling companion.
“Yes.” she answered. “Born and raised in New York City.”
Once the ice was broken so easily Lena continued the conversation.
“Is this your first trip to the United States?”
“No, I was a couple of times in Miami, but never in New York.”
“You are probably anxious to see the Big Apple. You have a whole world to discover.”
“Yes, I actually know it from family references. My father lived several years in New York when he was a young man and my mother, who was then his girlfriend, visited him … of course all this happened many years ago.”
“Everything in New York has changed a lot and at the same time the city remains the same.”
“My parents came back a couple of years ago for tourism, to visit all the places they had known together so long ago. It was a sentimental trip. They were in front of the building where my father was renting an apartment.”
“Do you know in which area?”
“Yes, in Brooklyn Heights. A historical site. They talked about it a lot.”
“Actually a good place to live.”
To Lena’s delight the conversation flowed pleasantly. Although his vocabulary was somewhat limited and from time to time he needed help from a particular term, Federico spoke English in a very acceptable way with a particular Argentine accent that the woman already knew from her business interviews. His talk showed clearly that he was an intelligent young man.
“And tell me, Federico.” The conversation had already become colloquial. “What other places did your parents tell you about?”
The long list of museums, galleries and other sites ended up convincing Lena that the boy came from a family of good cultural level.
“You want to visit those places?”
“Yes. I’m going to spend a relatively long time in New York.”
“And what other places did your parents tell you about?”
“Let me think … there was a park they were especially fond of …”
“The Central Park?”
“They were not referring to the Central Park. There was a small park, a closed place, to which for some reason they assigned a romantic connotation. I remember seeing pictures of my parents in front of that place.”
“Gramercy Park?” Lena flinched in her seat with her enthusiasm.
“Yes, I think that was the name.”
“But that’s where I live.”
The conversation entered insensibly into slightly more personal matters. Lena tried without much success not to make her interest too obvious.
“What are you going to do in New York? Are you going to settle in the United States?”
“Not for the moment. I will work in the headquarters of my company for six months, which is what the visa I have at present allows.”
“What company is that?”
Federico gave the name of the firm.
“What is this company´s business?”
“Financial services.”
“Are you an expert in finance?
“No, I’m a systems graduate. I’m going to get trained in the systems that the firm uses around the world. In Buenos Aires they have just opened a branch that will be in charge of their business throughout the South America except Brazil.”
“Have you worked with them long?”
“Six months. As I told you, the firm recently settled in the country.”
Lena finally decided to ask the question that was hanging around her mind.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty three.”
It was the approximate age the woman calculated. At that moment the pilot of the aircraft announced the departure of the flight and the stewardesses made a last control to confirm that everything was in order. Immediately the aircraft began its takeoff and it quickly gained in altitude. After it the conversation continued and it was Federico’s turn to ask, which seemed logical to the woman.
“How long have you been in Argentina?”
“Eleven days.”
“Did you like Buenos Aires?”
“I barely had time to get to know it. I had to travel to Rosario, Cordoba and Mendoza. In each place I could only take a bus for sightseeing. And answering your question … yes, I liked a lot what I saw and I have already made the decision to come another time on a private tour.”
Cedric Daurio Books 