Meeting His Match

Chapter 2-1

Chapter 2

“Knock, knock,” Jillian called as she pushed Natalie’s bedroom door open, carrying two cups of coffee.

As soon as Natalie heard Jillian, she closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep.

“I know you’re faking it. You never sleep past six and it’s seven thirty.” She sat on the edge of the bed and set the extra cup on the nightstand.

“I don’t have a reason to be awake.”

“Yes, you do. I called that studio. After talking with Bradley Winford, and informing him that I’m your lawyer, he assured me his offer is legitimate. You have an appointment in two hours. Go find out what the offer is, but don’t sign anything until I look at it.”

Natalie sat up in bed. “What?”

“Get dressed and get downtown.”

She flipped off her blanket and got out of bed. “How could you do that? I don’t know if I want any part of this.”

“If I didn’t do something, you’d still be sitting here wondering. This way, you find out what they’re offering and then decide if you want to do it. Besides, your video from the other night already has over a hundred thousand hits. You’re a star.” Jillian handed her the cup of coffee.

Natalie accepted it and took a gulp. The hot liquid sloshed in her stomach. How could Jillian do this to her? A TV show. She didn’t belong on TV. She belonged in the stacks. The thought made her stomach turn again. She didn’t have a job. If this TV thing was paying, she should consider it.

Jillian stood. “I have to get to work. Do I have to be late in order to make sure you go to the meeting?”

“No. I can be an adult.” The statement might’ve been more convincing if she’d said it without a pout.

“It’s just a meeting. Get the information. See how it sounds. We’ll discuss it tonight.”

Jillian left and Natalie stared at her closet. For the last couple of days, she’d lounged around the apartment in her pajamas, not seeing the point of getting dressed. She knew Jillian had her best interest at heart by making this appointment. Natalie would feel better getting dressed like a professional.

She pulled her interview suit from the hanger. It was the one she’d worn to get her last job. It would be good practice for future librarian interviews. Jillian had a point. Natalie had spent enough time wallowing. She needed to update her résumé and get back out there. After tying her hair back, she applied a bit of makeup. She glanced at her contact lens case and debated.

Forget it. This was a business meeting, not a date. In just under an hour, she was out the door and on her way to her first interview that wasn’t an interview.

She made good time getting downtown to the studio. Once at the office, she gave the receptionist her name and took a seat. She looked around at posters lining the walls. There wasn’t one show she knew. She sighed. This wasn’t where she belonged.

“Ms. Hale?”

Natalie turned.

The receptionist nodded at her. “They’re ready for you. This way.”

She led the way back to a conference room. Inside, five people looked up. A middle aged good-looking guy stepped forward, his eyes slightly narrow as he took her in. “Ms. Hale, I’m Bradley Winford. I spoke with your lawyer.”

Natalie shook his hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

He gestured to a chair and Natalie sat. He proceeded to introduce the other people sitting around the huge oval table, but she felt so out of place, she wasn’t paying attention. She folded her hands over her crossed legs and waited for Mr. Winford to get to the point.

Unfortunately, he simply sat and stared at her. After a few minutes, she was ready to squirm in her seat. “I’m sorry, Mr. Winford. Is there a problem?”

“To tell you the truth, I’m not sure. You’re not what we were expecting.”

She tilted her head and considered what he meant.

“We’ve only seen you online and this—“ he pointed awkwardly at her, “—is different. You’re obviously the same woman we saw online, but not exactly.”

“Oh,” she said, realization dawning. “You expected me to look like Gem.”

“Well, actually, yes, we didn’t know that…”

He didn’t seem to know how to finish without sounding like an a*s, so Natalie put him out of his misery. “Mr. Winford, Gem is an alter ego. I’m a librarian by day, so I didn’t want to be myself while putting my dating life online. I’ve carefully separated the two areas of my life. In the real world, I’m Natalie Hale. Online, I’m simply Gem.”

He stared, looking almost like he didn’t believe her.

“Seriously?” she asked, arching an eyebrow. “Excuse me one minute,” she said and turned her back to the group.

Her interview suit was definitely the wrong outfit to pull this off, but she’d have to make do. She let her hair down and fluffed it, knowing it wouldn’t look as good as it would if she were heading to a bar, but it would get her point across. She dug through her purse and found her favorite red lipstick and swiped it on. Then she added some glitter eye shadow for emphasis. Lastly, she flicked open a couple buttons on her blouse.

When she spun back around, she pulled her glasses off, winked at Mr. Winford and held her arms close to her body as she leaned forward because it would increase the appearance of her cleavage. You could never go wrong with more cleavage.

He barked out a laugh. “Oh my. That’s who we’re looking for.”

Natalie slid her glasses back on her face so she could see what everyone was doing.

“I’m sorry for the misunderstanding, Ms. Hale, but when you came in you definitely looked more librarian than dating siren.”

Dating siren. That was a new one.

“Now that I’ve proven who I am, can we get down to business? I’d like to know more about what this show is you spoke with my lawyer about. It seems odd for you to reach out to me. Like I said, I’m a librarian, not an actress.”

Mr. Winford settled back in his chair. “We’re not looking for an actress. We need a fresh face. We’re going to be producing a reality dating show. You would be competing against a professional matchmaker. Over the course of six weeks, you will each meet with the same three clients. You help the clients find true love.”

Natalie listened. She didn’t know what she’d expected, but it wasn’t this. “What’s the point of the competition? If you already have a matchmaker on board, why do you want me?”

“We believe you, or someone like you, will keep things interesting for viewers. Your approach to dating is different than how a matchmaker works. We want you to teach others what you’ve learned about dating.”

“You still haven’t explained the point of the competition. What would I get out of this?”

Winford smiled again, a slick smile this time. “You’d get paid for doing the show, of course. Then we plan to offer ten thousand dollars to the winner of the competition.”

Ten thousand dollars? Natalie gulped and did her best not to let them see how much that would mean to her. She inhaled slowly. “And how exactly is the winner determined?”

“Since this is our first run, the show will be a web series, online, streaming only. The market is ripe for this kind of show with the right social media exposure. We’ll film everything and air the first episodes. A week later, we’ll air the other half of the season. After they’ve all aired, we’ll tape one final episode as a wrap up. During that time, the clients will each vote for which of the two of you they felt offered better advice. In addition, we’ll host an online voting platform which will remain open between the airing of the last episode and the finale.”

It was a lot to take in. She still had no idea why her. “When do you need an answer?”

“By the end of the week. We’d like to start filming within the next two weeks.” He slid a folder across the table toward her. “Here’s our boilerplate contract. Have your lawyer look it over and let us know if you have any questions.”

Natalie nodded and reached for the folder. Then a very important thought hit her. “Since you’re obviously looking for Gem to star on this show, does that mean no one will know my real name?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I can choose to be Gem and no one will even know Natalie Hale exists?”

“You can work under whatever name you prefer, Ms. Hale.” He stood. “We look forward to hearing from you.”

Natalie left the office in a daze. In her car, she glanced at the contract and the words jumped and blurred. They hadn’t just talked about a show; they’d offered her a job. She couldn’t deny she was a little excited about the prospect of doing something—something she loved—and getting paid for it. She’d been giving advice on her blog and in videos for free to a mostly anonymous audience.

She blew out a breath and took a moment to tie her hair back. Six weeks. That’s what Winford had said. Six weeks of work on a show and she could still look for a library job. And if she won the competition, she wouldn’t have to panic or dip into her savings to survive.

Tossing the folder on the passenger seat, she wouldn’t decide until Jillian scoured the contract. Even Natalie knew that boilerplate meant there was room to negotiate. What to negotiate for was a different story.

On the way home, she stopped and bought a bottle of wine to share with Jillian. It was part bribe, part celebration.

At least her life was moving forward. It might not be the exact direction she’d hoped, but it was movement.