Meeting His Match

Chapter 8-3

Natalie had never been as nervous as she was right now. She and Mac had worked with the women separately for the remainder of the week, for which Natalie was grateful. She needed to put some distance between her and Mac. Things were getting muddled and it messed with her head. Ever since she let her guard down, she felt like she was more Natalie than Gem around him, which was a dangerous prospect.

Today, she had to do a solo shot with the cameras to set up the individual dates she’d arranged for Jennifer, Ashley, and Melissa. Her plans were different than what Brad had expected, but then again, he’d hired her because she wasn’t a run-of-the-mill matchmaker. As she sat in a tall chair, makeup and hair people came and fussed over her and it took a bit of doing not to swat at them. The lights were bright and she could only see the edge of the set, but it didn’t look or feel like Mac was there.

A few new faces were hovering just on the edges, so she couldn’t get a good look at them. She chose to pretend they didn’t exist. Instead, she focused on what to say to the cameras as she described the plans for each woman. Later, they would edit in footage of the places.

After the success the women had had at a bar she’d taken them to, Nat finally had some confidence in her ability to pull this off. She’d taken everyone to a bar and set them loose. The cameras were tucked in around the bar and the women knew they were still being filmed, but they accomplished more than Nat thought.

Mike waved at her to let her know they were about to start. Nat rolled her lips in and took a deep breath. This was the first time she’d had to go solo in front of the camera. It shouldn’t be a big deal; she did videos by herself all the time.

In the back of her head, a nagging voice reminded her that Mac would see this video. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she wanted to impress him.

She shook the thoughts loose and became Gem. Looking directly into the camera, she said, “I’m so excited about what I have planned for each client. I’ve already said, numerous times that I don’t think I should decide who my clients should date. I’ve spent hours working with each woman to prepare her and give her the tools to attract the kind of man she’s looking for.”

Being Gem in this atmosphere was easy. She winked. “To keep things interesting, I’ve planned to give Melissa, Jennifer, and Ashley unique experiences. Melissa will be going rock climbing.” Nat paused to allow filler for the video clips. “Jennifer will take an art class.” Another pause. “And Ashley will be going to a book store.”

Somewhere behind the camera, someone snickered loudly enough for her to hear. For a second, she thought Mac had arrived after all, but her gut told her it wasn’t him. Her body was on full alert whenever he was around. She had no inkling of his presence right now.

Ignoring the small outburst from the intruder, Natalie continued with a brief explanation of why she’d chosen each of these activities for the women. They managed to get everything in one take, so she hoped Mike was good at his job as he chopped all these segments and assembled them into a TV show.

Nat hopped off her chair and looked for Jillian. Jilly had been wanting to check out the whole TV show filming, but her schedule didn’t usually allow for her to pop in. Nat intentionally set this time up on Saturday so Jillian could come. Unfortunately, she only got to witness Natalie do what she’d been doing in their living room for years.

“That was awesome!” Jillian said as she came into the lights. She lowered her voice and added, “Except for the asshole who laughed at you. Who the hell was that?”

At least she was assured that it wasn’t Mac. Jillian would’ve recognized him. Nat shrugged. “Don’t know. I can’t see much when I’m in the lights.” She looped her arm around Jillian’s and led her away from the camera. “Point him out.”

Jillian lifted her chin and looked around. “I don’t see him.”

“No big deal. I’m sure plenty of others will laugh at me. Gem can handle it.”

“Can you give me a tour?”

“I would, but I don’t know much about anything.” Then she had a thought. She glanced around to find the production intern who’d gotten her into Mac’s mixer. She found him cleaning up the table from food services. “Hi. Remember me?”

“Uh, of course. Do you need something?”

“First, I don’t think we’ve ever been formally introduced. I’m Gem.” She extended her hand.

He shook it. “Spencer.”

“Nice to officially meet you, Spencer. This is my friend Jillian. I was wondering if you could give us a tour of the place. She’s never seen a TV studio before.” She giggled. “Neither have I, but that probably sounds silly coming from someone who’s on camera all the time now.”

“I’d be happy to.” He turned away from the table and led them through the entire studio, offering more than the dime tour. He launched into all kinds of technical details and the information junkie in Natalie ate it up.

When they finally left the studio, night had fallen, but Natalie was still ramped up. She felt good about her taping, she’d learned all kinds of interesting information about television production, and she managed to not see or talk to Mac in days. She was back in her element. “Let’s go to a club. I feel like having a good time tonight.”

“Lead the way,” Jillian said.