Free Tomorrow Will Be Too Late by Ellen Wolf

fizzle out , of course . ’ H e smiled politely, once again giving her the impression of a polite stranger discussing some banal issue that didn’t really matter. ‘ When I ’ m back in a few months, no one will remember that we were an item.’ His face tightened just a fraction into a cold grimace. ‘ One thing I ’ ve learned from my dubious brush with fame and being in a spotlight is the fact that these things don’t really last. People get bored and move on to something new, exciting , and shocking.’
    He remembered the storm his divorce kicked up, of course. She had r u n away fast enough to avoid being confronted with the fruit of her labor, but had a pretty good idea how much it must have featured in the local news. He must have been dragged through dirt and grime, the truth about the split buried under an avalanche of exciting speculations and plain fabrications that sold the paper s ten times better.
    ‘You can think about this until tomorrow,’ he said now, his blue eyes cool. ‘I believe we will have some rehearsal then . Thomas was all tied in knots about it when we spoke earlier today.’
    She had no clue about it , and she cursed Alice, realizing what had happened. Her sister had decided once again to leave it for the last minute. Most probably she had decided that it would be easier to give her just enough info bite by bite, making it more digestible that way. Kate had never been one to love social gathering s, and Alice would remember that, of course. Not spooking Kate too much must have been her credo of the day, she thought resentfully, imagining the phone call that would follow later in the evening. Her sister was a great strategist and would decide how much time was enough to reel her in a bit more without balking.
    ‘I see you had no idea?’ W as there anything he didn’t notice? ‘ Well , we ’ re supposed to have a meeting at the church to discuss the ceremony with the pastor, as I ’ ve been told. It’s a very official thing done with his family, or at least some of them. I ’ m sure your sister is stressed out enough trying to orchestrate it in the best possible way.’
    Was he actually taking Alice’s side here? She looked at him dumbfounded, as he nodded casually, leaning forward.
    ‘ As such , I hope you will make the right choice, Kate. It will go much smoother if we are on the same page, you know.’
    ‘ And if we aren ’t?’ S he had to ask, even though she knew the answer. ‘ What if I turn you down, Justin? Are you going to do some spectacular announcement at the church, humiliating my family? Is that what you’re threatening to do?’
    He looked as if he wanted to answer something spontaneous, his eyes darkening dangerously. But the n he must have thought otherwise because his beautifully cut lips pressed firmly together for a second, the already familiar sarcastic smirk returning to his handsome features.
    ‘ Well , that’s for you to find out, isn’t it, Kate?’ H e rose to his feet in one fluid motion, the room shrinking to the size of a shoebox. No man had a right to be so overwhelming, she thought unhappily as she followed him to the door in an almost instinctive response. He was like a magnet pulling everything to his center, she mused as she watched him open the door. Unstoppable and powerful, he brought the rest of the world gravitating toward him, including her, it seemed.
    ‘I’ll pick you up tomorrow at two , ’ he said, his hand on the doorknob. ‘If you think about disappearing and making me a fool a second time, I’d strongly advise against it. And , ’ he seemed to hesitate for a moment, before adding, his face impassive , ‘ this dress looks amazing on you, Kate. I thought that poppy red was your color so far, but I stand corrected. See you tomorrow.’
    He left, leaving her standing in the middle of her hallway. She felt frozen, the warm sunlight pouring from the living room doing little to warm her icy body. It was late afternoon , and