The Hidden Horses of New York: A Novel by Natalie Keller Reinert

Author:Natalie Keller Reinert [Reinert, Natalie Keller]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-11-26T07:00:00+00:00

The High Line was crowded, but that was expected; the park was always packed these days, whatever the weather. It had been added to tourist checklists alongside the Statue of Liberty and Times Square, and so out-of-towners dutifully shuffled along its elevated tracks, through the twisting, gyrating condos built around it, looking into people’s living rooms and gaping at the wealth on display.

Lana had stopped in a liquor store and picked up a small bottle of rum while Jenny was waiting for their gyros from a nearby cart, and once their Cokes had been sufficiently depleted, she added the rum with a flourish, first taking care to make sure there were no uniformed observers. “This is the kind of thing you have to watch out for you when you’re a park cop,” she said with a grin, handing over Jenny’s doctored bottle of Coke. “Miscreants like us, drinking the devil’s sarsaparilla in a public park.”

Jenny tried to imagine herself enforcing laws from atop a big draft horse. “Am I mean enough to stop anyone from doing anything, let alone a New Yorker?”

“Definitely not. You’re just back-up. The extra cowboy, the one who holds the horses during the shoot-out.”

“I can do that.”

They watched the sunlight fading into pinks and yellows through the fangs of modern architecture, and then the reverse effect as the city’s lights came on and began shining heavenwards, lighting the sky from the ground up. A cool breeze began to blow across the Hudson River, pulling at elaborate twists of hair and raising goosebumps on bare arms. Jenny shrugged on a drab gray cardigan she’d had in the bottom of her tote bag. Lana eyed it with dismay. “Were you going for a sad grandma look when you bought that? Or did someone break into your apartment and put it in your dresser?”

“I just keep it on me for the subway,” Jenny said defensively. “It gets cold on long rides. I’m not dressing up for the mariachi band on the D train, Lana.”

Lana shrugged. She was a person who would dress up for the D train. Lana was always prepared to dress up, for any occasion. “So Jenny, what’s going to happen with you and Aidan?”

She was also a person who was prepared to dress up any occasion with some serious conversation bombs.

Jenny took a long swig from her rum and Coke. “Nothing’s going to happen. He’s pretty serious about Lily.”

Lana laughed. “He’s not serious about Lily. He’s just running around the city trying to keep up with her. That girl is about to dump him. Aren’t you paying attention?”

They were standing near a translucent panel that overlooked the cross-street below. A few rows of seating had been built so that people could sit and stare pensively at traffic. Jenny sat down and kicked off her sandals. The High Line was slowly emptying out as tourists were wandering off to find dinner, or to gawk at the garish lights of Times Square. Their surroundings were starting to feel like a city where people lived again, and less like a theme park.

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