Face Time Read Free Page B

to pull it from my pocket.

    Cori Winslow
    LEE. Are you kidding me? How could you even think it was a bad idea?

    Lee Park
    I can feel your enthusiasm from here.  
    What if she doesn’t show?  
    I just asked her to meet me. That’s it.

    Cori Winslow
    Then you go out to dinner by yourself and it’s her loss.  
    You didn’t tell S did you?

    Lee Park
    No. I still haven’t talked to her.

    Cori Winslow
    Good. Don’t.

    I knew she’d say that. Now, I’m stuck. I didn’t bring an extra set of clothes with me for this trip — just the suit for today and traveling clothes for tomorrow. I was in Shaghai before New York, and I had most of my clothes sent home before this last leg so I wouldn’t have to carry them halfway around the world. I open my bag and evaluate my wardrobe options, deciding to change my undershirt, and wear the casual green, buttoned shirt I planned on wearing tomorrow. I’ll leave on my dress pants and save my jeans for the flight home. The city was warm today and a sweater is enough for me for the evening. The temperature will stay in the fifties overnight.
    At 6:30,   the downstairs lobby is busy with people coming and going, checking in and heading into the restaurant for dinner or the bar for drinks. Laura is still not in the bar so I wait in the lobby with full view of the doors.
    With time stretching in front of me, I stand and weigh all my reservations about this date. Maybe this is a bad idea. What if Laura is crazy? And Sandra finds out I did go out on a date, and she was just testing me. She’s been dating other people, but I have not. I tried to set up dates, but they all fell through, and then I left town to travel for work. I’ve wanted to break up with Sandra for months now. Actually, we’ve broken up several times over the past few years. Every time I get up the nerve to cut her off completely, though, I hear my mother telling me what a failure I am. It doesn’t matter to my mother that I’m successful with a high-paying job, a swanky apartment in Seoul, and so much money in my savings account, I don’t know what to do with it. The only thing that matters to her is me marrying a Korean girl from a respectable family.
    I’m thirty-five years old. I haven’t seen my “girlfriend” in almost six months and that was the last time I got laid. Even Cori thinks that’s ridiculous.
    Maybe a real date is what I need. It will either cement Sandra as my life long burden or convince me I can do better.
    I do this too often, sit and weigh every possible outcome. It makes me a good lawyer but a bad decision maker.
    Another gust of wind kicks up down Forty-fourth Street sending bits of paper soaring into the air, and I hear a tinkling laugh that sounds familiar. Leaning forward, I catch sight of Laura, her head bent down against the wind, her long brown hair whipping around her. She clutches her coat closed at the throat and smoothes her hair down with a smile before pulling open the door in front of me.
    “It’s windy out all of a sudden,” she cries, stumbling in and almost right past me. I reach out and grab her arm lightly, and she turns to me, her eyes wide and tearing up from the wind.
    “Lee, I didn’t see you.” She laughs again, blinking away dust.
    “You were blinded by the wind and your hair.” Strands are caught across her face and eyes, and I dislodge a few from her neck that are threatening to strangle her before I notice her blushing. I forgot about the reason I asked her out. She is gorgeous. The attraction wasn’t just the bourbon and her tight sweater.
    “Uh, thanks. Anything I do to my hair doesn’t stand a chance on a day like this.” She takes a deep breath and smiles at me. No, I don’t think she’s crazy. “Sorry I’m late. Do you want to get a drink before dinner? Or…”
    “You’re not late, Laura. On time.”
    “Really?” She pulls out her iPhone and glances at the screen. “I’m usually never on time for anything. Well, that’s good. I