Paranoia (Michael Bennett #17)

CHAPTER 32

ROB TRILLING FELT nervous. He took a moment to check himself in the rearview mirror of his car. He smoothed out the cowlick on the left side of his head and wished he had a little more fashion sense. Pretty much his only system was a simple one his grandfather had taught him. If he wore tan pants, he matched them with a dark shirt. If he wore blue pants, he matched them with a light shirt. His sister tried to update his wardrobe occasionally, but Rob always fell back on his grandfather’s color schemes.

He slipped out of the car and walked two blocks to the café. He’d driven past it once to make sure he knew exactly where it was. He didn’t want to make any mistakes or be late. He checked his watch for about the tenth time, then turned the corner.

Rob took a deep breath and marched directly to a table on the sidewalk in front of the café. He smiled and said, “Hope I’m not late.”

Mariah Wilson, the pretty paramedic he’d met yesterday, smiled back and said, “Right on time. I don’t know why when someone’s late, everyone at the fire department likes to say they’re on ‘NYPD time.’”

He liked that she felt she could joke with him. He sat across from her and ordered a Diet Coke when the waiter came by.

She held the stem of her glass of white wine. “I’m not on duty today. I can drink at lunch.”

Her smile captivated him. And made him more nervous. He’d been thrilled to get her lunch invitation, but he still wasn’t sure if he should be treating this as a first date or a friendly meal. Either way, he intended to use all of his limited interpersonal skills.

They immediately bonded over the fact that they were both relatively new city employees. Unlike Rob, however, Mariah had grown up in New York, on Staten Island. Her father was an administrator for the city’s public works department. She had been a paramedic for only ten months.

Mariah said, “I’m glad you could meet me.”

“I needed a break. Trust me, I was looking forward to this all morning.”

“I generally work one day on, two days off. That gives me more time to spend with my parents and little sister. Are you close with your family?”

“Some of them. My sister lives north of the city in Putnam County and I get to visit her quite a bit. Right now my mom and grandfather are over from Bozeman, Montana, visiting her. I’ll try to get up and see all of them together as much as I can while they’re here.”

“Are you close with your dad too?”

Rob hesitated. He knew the answer. He hadn’t really seen his father since he was a child. He just wasn’t clear on what he should say. He settled on “Not as close as I should be.” That was the truth.

As Rob paid the lunch bill, he noticed something behind him catch Mariah’s attention. Her eyes flickered up and then she did a double take. He looked over his shoulder to see a muscle-bound guy in his early twenties walking toward them.

Mariah mumbled, “Shit.”

“What’s wrong?”

“My ex-boyfriend.”

Now Rob Trilling was starting to remember all the problems involved in dating.