Wells:
“Hello, it’s, um, Peter. How’re you doing? Just wanted to say I had a really great time at coffee and I, uh, just wish we had a little more time to catch up. I’m really looking forward to lunch next week. I’m around tonight, so give me a call when you get in and hopefully we can set something up…Alrighty, talk soon. Bye-bye.”
Katie smiled, listening to the message, thinking how glad she was that she and Peter were back in touch. Sometimes—well, a lot of the time—she felt lonely in the city, and it was nice to know that there was someone she knew so close by, working right at the health club. She deleted the message, figuring she’d call him tomorrow, or maybe just run into him again sometime.
In her bedroom, she opened the closet, trying to figure out what to wear on her date with Andy.
TEN
Peter couldn’t understand Why Katie wasn’t returning his call. He’d left the message two hours ago and she must’ve gotten it by now. She didn’t mention having any major plans for tonight, and she’d even said something about how she had to finish some project for work. Even if she’d gone out for a while, shopping or to do whatever, she had to be home by now.
Lying in bed in his hotel room, watching
Sleepless in Seattle
on mute, he wanted to call again, or try her on her cell phone, but he knew a second call would be very tricky to pull off. If he called again and she picked up, he could have an excuse ready, like,
The machine made a funny sound before
—/
wasn’t sure it was working
. That could come off as natural, but if it didn’t, if she saw through it, it could backfire big-time. She could think he was desperate or, even worse, obsessed. He didn’t want to risk blowing it now, especially when everything was going so well.
He hated that it had come to this, spending the whole goddamn night waiting for his phone to ring. Left with two options—call her again right now or wait to call her at work sometime during the week, he chose option number one. He’d already shown his hand by calling her earlier, and if he waited another day or two to call her again, she might think he’d lost interest.
So he called her landline again, and when her voice mail answered, he had no choice but to leave another message. Shit, why hadn’t he tried her cell? Now he was stuck with nothing todo except wait for her to call back. If he called her cell now and then she came home and found the message
and
the missed call on her phone’s log, she’d think he was some kind of nutcase.
He continued watching the movie. Although he’d seen
Sleepless
more times than he could count, he never got tired of it. The first time he’d seen it, he was sixteen. He’d rented it from the video store in Lenox and loved it so much that he spent a whole weekend watching it again and again. He couldn’t help crying during the scene at the end when Tom Hanks met Meg Ryan for the first time at the Empire State Building. It was the way he looked at her, with all his longing for her finally realized, that always got to Peter. There were other movies like that, ones he never got tired of watching. It was mainly the classic love stories from the eighties and nineties, like
Pretty Woman, Dirty Dancing
, and
When Harry Met Sally
, that did it for him. He liked the predictability of watching movies he’d already seen, of knowing exactly what was coming next. But it had to be a love story or a movie with romance in it. He hated violence. Seeing blood—even fake blood—was way too disturbing.
Peter couldn’t wait to move into the new apartment and watch movies with Katie on their home theater. Maybe, for old times’ sake, he’d christen the new TV set with
Sleepless in Seattle
. He knew Katie would love the movie because she’d love all the things he loved. Maybe he’d even pop the question to her on top of the Empire State Building. She’d appreciate the thoughtfulness of it, and it would be a special moment
“Hello, it’s, um, Peter. How’re you doing? Just wanted to say I had a really great time at coffee and I, uh, just wish we had a little more time to catch up. I’m really looking forward to lunch next week. I’m around tonight, so give me a call when you get in and hopefully we can set something up…Alrighty, talk soon. Bye-bye.”
Katie smiled, listening to the message, thinking how glad she was that she and Peter were back in touch. Sometimes—well, a lot of the time—she felt lonely in the city, and it was nice to know that there was someone she knew so close by, working right at the health club. She deleted the message, figuring she’d call him tomorrow, or maybe just run into him again sometime.
In her bedroom, she opened the closet, trying to figure out what to wear on her date with Andy.
TEN
Peter couldn’t understand Why Katie wasn’t returning his call. He’d left the message two hours ago and she must’ve gotten it by now. She didn’t mention having any major plans for tonight, and she’d even said something about how she had to finish some project for work. Even if she’d gone out for a while, shopping or to do whatever, she had to be home by now.
Lying in bed in his hotel room, watching
Sleepless in Seattle
on mute, he wanted to call again, or try her on her cell phone, but he knew a second call would be very tricky to pull off. If he called again and she picked up, he could have an excuse ready, like,
The machine made a funny sound before
—/
wasn’t sure it was working
. That could come off as natural, but if it didn’t, if she saw through it, it could backfire big-time. She could think he was desperate or, even worse, obsessed. He didn’t want to risk blowing it now, especially when everything was going so well.
He hated that it had come to this, spending the whole goddamn night waiting for his phone to ring. Left with two options—call her again right now or wait to call her at work sometime during the week, he chose option number one. He’d already shown his hand by calling her earlier, and if he waited another day or two to call her again, she might think he’d lost interest.
So he called her landline again, and when her voice mail answered, he had no choice but to leave another message. Shit, why hadn’t he tried her cell? Now he was stuck with nothing todo except wait for her to call back. If he called her cell now and then she came home and found the message
and
the missed call on her phone’s log, she’d think he was some kind of nutcase.
He continued watching the movie. Although he’d seen
Sleepless
more times than he could count, he never got tired of it. The first time he’d seen it, he was sixteen. He’d rented it from the video store in Lenox and loved it so much that he spent a whole weekend watching it again and again. He couldn’t help crying during the scene at the end when Tom Hanks met Meg Ryan for the first time at the Empire State Building. It was the way he looked at her, with all his longing for her finally realized, that always got to Peter. There were other movies like that, ones he never got tired of watching. It was mainly the classic love stories from the eighties and nineties, like
Pretty Woman, Dirty Dancing
, and
When Harry Met Sally
, that did it for him. He liked the predictability of watching movies he’d already seen, of knowing exactly what was coming next. But it had to be a love story or a movie with romance in it. He hated violence. Seeing blood—even fake blood—was way too disturbing.
Peter couldn’t wait to move into the new apartment and watch movies with Katie on their home theater. Maybe, for old times’ sake, he’d christen the new TV set with
Sleepless in Seattle
. He knew Katie would love the movie because she’d love all the things he loved. Maybe he’d even pop the question to her on top of the Empire State Building. She’d appreciate the thoughtfulness of it, and it would be a special moment
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