Claudia Carroll - Meet Me In Manhattan

Published by Avon

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins 2015

Copyright © Claudia Carroll 2015

Claudia Carroll asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007520909

Ebook Edition © March 2015 ISBN: 9780007520923

Version: 2015–24–02

‘An original, funny and poignant story … a very modern fairytale, full of Claudia’s trademark wit and humour’

Sheila O’Flanagan

‘Full of warmth, humour and emotion, this is a wonderfully written, unconventional love story that charms from the very first page. I adored it and didn’t want it to end. Read it – I guarantee you’ll love it’

Melissa Hill

‘It bubbles and sparkles like pink champagne. A hugely entertaining read’

Patricia Scanlan

‘An emotional roller-coaster ride … keeps the reader wondering until the very end’

Irish Independent

‘Claudia Carroll has done it again, with a heroine you just want fate to smile on’

Heat

‘I was holding my breath … the story really touched my heart’

‘ Fun, breezy, and kept me guessingand oohing and aaahhhing until the end!’

‘Truly captivating’

‘Will lift your spirits’

‘If you love page-turning women’s fiction with depththen this book is for you!’

‘I so enjoyed this unusualstory of friendships and love’

‘Very freshand brilliantly plotted’

‘A total page-turner with companionship, fear, laughter, and a whole bunch of other emotions that will take you on a journey like no other’

‘Officially one of my favourite books of the year!’

‘Some sobs, but lots of laughterand joy’

This book is warmly dedicated to Susan McHugh, Sean Murphy, Luke and of course my gorgeous Godson, Oscar.

With love and thanks, always.

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Praise for the Novels of Claudia Carroll

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Epilogue

Keep Reading …

Acknowledgements

About the Author

By the Same Author

About the Publisher

Dear Reader,

First of all, I wanted to say thank you so much for picking up Meet Me in Manhattan . This book has been an absolute labour of love for me, and I really hope you enjoy it as much as I loved writing it.

One of the things that my readers ask me all the time is; where do you get all the ideas for your books? From anywhere and everywhere is the answer really, but for Meet Me in Manhattan , that magical road to Damascus moment came when I stumbled on an article about the whole dating/catfish phenomenon. And it got me thinking, the whole plethora of internet dating sites has changed our whole dating culture unrecognisably in the past decade, hasn’t it? We’ve all heard the horror stories about what happens when online dating goes belly-up, and they’d terrify you into staying single, and living with nothing but cats for company, till you’re old enough for nursing homes.

So then I started thinking, suppose my heroine is in an online relationship with a guy who lives on a whole other continent? For instance, the States? Where, because of the logistics of it, they physically can’t meet up as often as they’d like? And then I thought, in that case where better to set this story than Manhattan?

The thing is, I’ve a bit of a life-long love affair going on with Manhattan. I’ve been going there ever since I was a teenager, when my Dad would run in the NYC marathons year after year and we’d all tag along to support him. I swear to God, at this stage, I could nearly teach a night class on the best discount stores and outlet malls in the Tri-State borough. (But then, I’m a gal whose three favourite words in the English language are ‘reduced to clear’.)

And so Meet Me in Manhattan started to take shape. I had a ball working on this and researching it was even better still, and I’m praying that you’ll all enjoy reading it. And if you’d like to get in touch, there’s nothing I’d love more than to hear from you. You’ll find me on Twitter @carrollclaudia and on Facebook at ClaudiaCarrollBooks.

Hope you enjoy and happy reading!

xxxx

Exactly 8 p.m. on a Saturday night and here I am. Sitting all alone at a table for two in Fade Street Social, only one of the swishiest restaurants in town, primped and preened to within an inch of my life.

Peppering with nervous tension of course, but we’ll come back to that.

It’s a perfect table too – if I’d planned it, I couldn’t have chosen any better. I’m right in the middle of the restaurant at a gorgeous table facing the door, so that every time it opens, I get a clear view of exactly who’s just arrived. And more importantly, so that when my date gets here, he can’t miss me.

Can he? I think, a tad anxiously.

No, course he can’t.

Now there’s the slight-ish concern that he hasn’t the first clue what I look like in the flesh, or I him. But then we did exchange photos via the Two’s Company website and although mine is a slight bit of a cheat – taken ten years ago at twilight and with the light behind me so as to minimize the wrinkles, and come on, who of us hasn’t done it? Point is though, if his photo is even halfway accurate, then I’m seriously onto a winner here.