The Pretend Boyfriend novel Chapter 60

He drives another ten blocks and valet parks at Crisco's, a chophouse he sometimes frequents for lunch. He likes the Porterhouse there. He walks in, feeling just a little self-conscious as the waiter eyes him up and down.

"Would it be a table for one, sir?"

"Yes."

He has to get over this irrational feeling that everyone knows who he is and what he has done. It has gotten worse as the trial date approaches, even though the newspapers have long since dropped the speculations. He's not enough of a celebrity to keep the gossip mill going.

The waiter picks up one menu. "This way, please."

The chophouse is crowded. The low murmurs of talking patrons at every table fill the atmosphere, which is scented with the tangy aroma of barbecued beef ribs and sizzling steaks. Is it his imagination or is everyone surreptitiously sizing him up?

He blinks, trying to clear his head.

The waiter draws up a chair to a table for two in a corner. "Please have a seat, sir. Someone will be with you shortly."

That's when Brian sees her. Right across the room, dining with a silver-haired gentleman who has a stack of documents on the table beside his plate.

Red hair. Grey eyes. Flawless complexion.

He freezes.

She looks up and sees him too. The air in the room suddenly turns frigid.

Delilah Faulkner's face contorts, and before Brian can involuntarily back out of his chair, she points to him, opens her mouth like a banshee, and screams.

He is hurtled backward by the force of her distress. It is as though the air between them has contracted and become a pummeling bag. She is screaming as though he is the Phantom of the Opera, the Antichrist made flesh in this suddenly stunned restaurant of diners.

The waiters rush to Delilah. Her chair is upturned and her dining companion is equally stunned. He looks towards Brian, and does a double take. The diners around their table fling themselves out of their chairs, leaving their half-eaten meals on their plates. It's literally pandemonium in here.

The line connects.

"Hello?" the voice on the other end says. "Dr. Robertson's office."

Brian's voice comes out strangled. "H-hello? I'd like to make an appointment with Dr. Robertson, please. It's urgent. I don't think I'm in very good shape right now. Tell him it's Brian Morton." Pause. "Yes, he knows who I am."

The movie was so-so, despite Emma Stone's best efforts to save it. Sam had not heard about the incident at the chophouse, so she assumes all is well with Delilah.

As this is their first outing together, Sam is on her friendliest behavior - the one she usually puts on when she wants to impress a new client. She's treading water very carefully. Too friendly, and you'd spook Delilah - the former Adele Jankovic. Too standoffish, and you run the risk of never having her see you again.

It's almost like a first date, the way she's going about it.

After the movie, they decide to go to an all-night diner for milkshakes. Only they are not really having milkshakes. Sam is on a diet. She has to watch her weight because she now runs a gym, and it wouldn't do for a gym owner to resemble something out of a Pillsbury carton.