Free The Follower by Jason Starr Page B

obviously didn’t even try. She was in faded jeans, sneakers, and a Wesleyan sweatshirt. She wasn’t wearing makeup, her hair was back in a ponytail, and she was wearing glasses instead of contacts. She didn’t even look as put together as she did when she went to the gym to work out. She looked the way she did when she did her laundry at that Laundromat on First Avenue.
    Peter tried to not let his disappointment show. Forcing a smile he said, “Hey, Katie.” Then, just to be polite, he added, “Wow, you look beautiful today.”
    “Thanks,” she said. He expected her to return the compliment but she didn’t. “So where are we going?”
    “I thought maybe we could grab some lunch. There’s this Japanese place I read about in Zagat just up the—”
    “Oh, I already had lunch, I’m sorry. I mean, I could sit down with you, but I’m not really dressed for it or anything. Can we just get coffee?”
    “Sure,” Peter said, struggling to stay upbeat. “Coffee’s cool. Actually, I had a late breakfast myself, so that would be great.”
    He was hoping that they at least could go to a little outdoor café, have cappuccinos or something, but when they left the health club she was quick to say, “There’s a Starbucks right across the street,” and all he could say was “Great.”
    As they headed there, they made small talk, mostly about the gym. She was saying that she liked it most of the time, but they didn’t have enough machines, which was a pain, especially when she went right after work. She asked him how he liked his job so far and he said it was “all right” and that the people he worked with were “really cool.” He noticed that Katie seemed slightly distracted and that she looked tired, as if she hadn’t gotten much sleep last night. He was dying to ask her what was wrong, to be a father figure and help her through whatever problem she was having, but he also knew that ittook time to build up that kind of trust. He couldn’t expect her to open up to him right away. He had to earn her confidence, with body language and by telling her what she wanted to hear. Eventually, she’d realize, unconsciously,
I
trust this guy
, and that’s when she’d fall in love with him.
    At Starbucks, he ordered a triple grande skim latte and he knew what she’d have—a venti coffee—before she asked for it, because he’d seen her buy coffee at Starbucks several times before.
    There were no tables, so they had to stand, waiting for one to free up. This definitely wasn’t turning into the perfect, romantic afternoon he’d envisioned. Katie still seemed distracted and upset, and he wanted to do whatever he could to change her mood. He knew the most attractive thing about his appearance was his smile, because he had perfect straight white teeth and dimples that girls seemed to like, so he smiled and laughed a lot, trying to get her to notice. Finally, a table became available, near the bathroom, and they sat down.
    He thought the conversation was getting better, and her mood was improving, but he’d noticed, a few times, her checking her watch, which kind of irritated him, and then she said, “I’m gonna have to get back in, like, a half hour,” which really pissed him off.
    Staying totally relaxed, doing a really great job of hiding his emotions, he said, “What’s going on?”
    “Oh, nothing,” she said. “I mean, I have to just do this project for my boss, and it’s due tomorrow. It’s nothing, but I have to take care of it.”
    Peter knew she was telling the truth, that she wasn’t making up an excuse. Even though something was obviously troubling her, he knew she was very attracted to him, that they’d made a big-time connection yesterday when they’d met, and if she didn’t really have work to do, there was no way she’d want to go home and miss out on a chance to spend more time with him.
    “That’s cool,” Peter said. He was going to tell her how disappointed he was, but he didn’t feel