A New York Romance Read Online Free Page A

stories to get a woman interested in you?” She pulled her purse closer and held it tight in her lap.
    “I told you that you wouldn’t believe me.”
    “Ah, I should get going. It was really nice to meet you,” she said.
    Charlie just wished her well and let her leave. He would often let beautiful girls who showed an interest in him walk out of his life without ever trying to stop them. Then he realized that if he never did anything different then nothing would change for him. You’re going to grow old and be all alone if you don’t change things, he recalled his mother saying. He never considered himself to be alone, even when he was by himself. Loneliness was something he didn’t feel. He felt connected to all things because he loved all things. But now he was beginning to realize what his mother meant by all alone. It had nothing to do with combating loneliness for Charlie. It was a human emotion that he had never let get the best of him, nor could he explain it, but he felt it stirring inside him, deep under all other thing. He would be stuck with this unresolved human emotion for the rest of his life, and perhaps wonder about it for eternity, if he did not change things .
    As she was walking away he suddenly stood up and said, “Wait, Juliet.”
    She stopped and turned around to face him.
    “I am not a dangerous person. At least I don’t have harmful intentions. What do you have to lose by giving me another chance?” He gestured to the booth, “Finish your dinner with me and let me prove it to you, then if you still want to walk away I will not stop you. You can think of us as passing strangers who do not have to see each other again after this meal. I don’t even know your last name and as long as you don’t reveal it to me, you can walk away free and clear, with a full stomach I might add. You will never have to see me again and I won’t look for you. I give you my word.”
    The waiter brought the food to the table and Julie felt her hunger. Somewhat reluctantly, she walked back toward the table. The smell of the food above anything else drove her to do so.
    “Is anything wrong, sir?” the waiter asked.
    “No, thank you for your kind service,” Charlie replied.
    The waiter folded his hands and bowed. “Enjoy your meal. Let me know if there is anything else I can get you.”
    They sat down without a word and began to eat. All they could hear was the sound of background voices boiling like soup, the clattering of metal utensils on glass plates, a baby crying, and the busboy loading up his tray from the empty table across from them, as new patrons waited impatiently by the podium.
    “So you just think of things and they happen?” she asked, in order to break the awkward silence between them.
    “Yes, basically that is how it works,” he replied.
    “Can you make people do things like rob banks and other things they wouldn’t normally do?”
    “It doesn’t work like that; I don’t have control over people. I cannot make someone do something unless they’re willing to let me. It is kind of like, I need a ride, so I think of a ride pulling up beside me and there it is,” he explained.
    “Like a limo ride in the middle of nowhere?” she asked.
    “Exactly,” he responded.
    “I do admit that was a bit strange,” she agreed but still didn’t believe he caused it to happen.
    “I do not usually ride in limousines; I just thought you might relax better in luxury, considering what you just went through.”
    “So all those people nearly died because you thought about being alone with me?” Julie asked.
    “Yes,” he reluctantly confessed.
    “That’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me, almost killing a busload of people just to be alone with me,” she said sarcastically, taking another bite of chicken as if she had not eaten in a week. “Why did you just walk away after the crash?” she asked after swallowing the bite.
    “Everything was already taken care of when I began