Chapter 41 - Epilogue

3 months later

New York was always magical in early Autumn months. The air was nice ands crisp with a fresh Autumn breeze, leaves were changing from a dark forest green to a nice shade of golden brown and a musky orange. It was Annie's first time in New York City during this time of the year and she thought that it would be a wonderful idea to come to New York and surprise Roxie.

Since Roxie had left the UK, there have been some sudden changes that Annie wanted to discuss with Roxie. Not only that; Annie wanted to check in on Roxie and see how she was feeling since she had left the UK. To Annie's surprise there hasn't been that much communication between both Nathan and Roxie, which really concerned Annie; since both Nathan and Roxie developed a close bond between each other before Roxie went back to New York.

For all Annie knew (and from what Cassie had told her before Annie left to New York); both Cassie and Roxie were living in this run down apartment building in downtown Brooklyn and finding a place to park a car was impossible. So Annie; being the smart intelligent woman she was, decided to get a taxi and have said taxi park a few buildings down from where Cassie and Roxie lived.

"Hey lady; how much longer are we going to wait here for your friend? I still gotta do a full day's work!" the taxi driver remarked. Annie looked at her watch and noticed only 30 minutes have already passed and there has been no sign of Roxie coming out of her apartment building.

"Well I can't just stay out here and ruin my surprise for my friend. That will just ruin everything." Annie pleaded.

"Look; there's a small coffee shop that is right across from your friend's building. How about you go and wait and surprise your friend over there?" the taxi driver suggested. Annie agreed with the taxi driver's suggestion and decided to get out of the car.

Once Annie had gotten out of the taxi, the taxi driver had already unloaded most of Annie's luggage from the back trunk of the taxi.

"Well that's about everything. Are you sure you'll be ok from here? You seem pretty new to the city not to mention a nice girl." the taxi driver asked.

"I think I'll be fine for now and I appreciate all of your help. At least I know I have met once decent person from New York." Annie said. As she said this she handed the taxi driver some money and turned around and started walking over to the coffee shop.

Now the coffee shop that Annie was planning on waiting for Roxie was more of a quaint cafe` quick service restaurant than just your typical quick on the go coffee joint. So Annie was at ease when she entered the little restaurant and ordered some lunch. After she had ordered her food; Annie found a nearby booth and placed her luggage on one side of the booth and sat down on the other side, waiting for Roxie to come out of her apartment building. In less than 15 minutes, Annie's food had arrived at her table. Just as Annie was about to have her first mouthful of her lunch; Roxie came out of her apartment building with someone that Annie had never seen before. This caught Annie by surprise because from the last time she had spoken to Calvin, Paul, Landon and Cassie both Nathan and Roxie were messaging, Face Chatting and talking on the phone almost every single day since Roxie had left the UK. As soon as Annie saw Roxie with this random stranger, she took out her cell phone and quickly took a handful of photos. Annie then started to dial a phone number on her cell phone.

"Hey; it's me. I just got here to New York and saw Roxie. You're not going to like what I'm about to tell you, but it looks like we might have a problem." Annie said.