Thinking I could probably bump into him and make it seem like an accident.
Wondering what his name is. And whether he’s as nice as he seems. And whether he likes piña coladas and getting caught in the rain …
<<Jennifer to Beth>> Hmmm. I’m judging. I can’t help it.
<<Beth to Jennifer>> But I didn’t really do anything. He was there. And I was there. And we both like popcorn …
<<Jennifer to Beth>> You didn’t have to exalt.
<<Beth to Jennifer>> Au contraire, mon frere. It would have been impossible to do anything but.
<<Jennifer to Beth>> How do you know it was his kid? Maybe it was his little brother. Or his Little Brother.
<<Beth to Jennifer>> No, they were acting like father and son. I had 75 minutes to evaluate the situation. I ended up—remember, don’t judge—following them into their theater, Pokemon: The First Movie, and sitting about six rows behind them. McG sat with his arm around the kid’s chair the whole time. He even got up three times to take him to the bathroom. And when the movie was over, he really carefully put the boy’s scarf on.
<<Jennifer to Beth>> So, you stayed in there for the entire movie? You didn’t go to Fight Club?
( So judging right now.)
<<Beth to Jennifer>> Do you think I was going to miss a chance to sit in the dark with My Cute Guy for an hour and a half? I already know who Tyler Durden is. (And I went back to catch the last showing of Fight Club after I followed My Cute Guy home.)
<<Jennifer to Beth>> Take it back. You didn’t follow him home.
<<Beth to Jennifer>> I tried. I lost him on the freeway.
<<Jennifer to Beth>> That’s something a scary person would do.
<<Beth to Jennifer>> Really? It felt more nosy than scary.
<<Jennifer to Beth>> How did you lose him? Was he driving evasively?
<<Beth to Jennifer>> No. Have you ever followed somebody in a car before? It’s really hard, even though he drives a pretty distinctive car, a Toyota Corolla. (An ancient Toyota Corolla, the kind people drove back when it was still embarrassing to drive a Japanese car.) I’m hoping that means he’s divorced and can’t afford a decent car. But that might be an evil thing to hope; there is a child involved. I wish I knew whether he wore a wedding ring …
<<Jennifer to Beth>> I wouldn’t guess Emilie would be throwing herself at him if he wore a wedding ring.
<<Beth to Jennifer>> Good point. Even so …I’m just not sure I’m ready to be a stepmother.
<<Jennifer to Beth>> It’s a lot to think about.
<<Beth to Jennifer>> It is.
<<Jennifer to Beth>> You’re not going to try to follow him again, are you? Now that you know what kind of car he drives?
<<Beth to Jennifer>> Hmmm. Probably not. But I’m still going to hang out in the break room a lot, hoping I’ll run into him.
<<Jennifer to Beth>> That’s fair. I don’t think you can get arrested for that. What would you do if you did run into him?
<<Beth to Jennifer>> If I literally ran into him? I’m not sure. But it might involve never washing this sweater again.
<<Jennifer to Beth>> Would you talk to him? Would you flirt with him?
<<Beth to Jennifer>> Are you kidding? What kind of a floozy do you take me for? I have a boyfriend. More than a boyfriend. I’m living in sin.
<<Jennifer to Beth>> You are a complicated woman.
<<Beth to Jennifer>> No. Doy.
LINCOLN DIDN’T WALK by Beth’s desk that night. The next time he saw Christine, he wanted to be able to tell her that he still hadn’t. But at the end of the night, before he left, he printed out the paragraph that Beth had written about him. He figured this was crossing yet another line. (How many lines do you get?) But it was the closest Lincoln had ever come to getting a love letter—even though he didn’t really get it, he took it—and he wanted to be able to read it again. He tucked the paragraph into his wallet.
THE NEXT NIGHT, Lincoln parked his Corolla right next to The Courier’s front door.
I’m here, he thought. Find me. Follow me. Make this inevitable.
From: Beth Fremont
To: Jennifer Scribner-Snyder
Sent: Tues, 12/21/1999 11:46 AM
Subject: They’re tearing down the Indian Hills in March.
I just got a call from the old owner. They’re having a big farewell weekend right before they start tearing out the seats. They’re expecting people to come in from out of town for it. Cinerama fans.
<<Jennifer to Beth>> That’s too bad. Every time I drove by and saw that the building was still there, I thought that maybe they were going to change their minds.