Meeting His Match

Chapter 4-3

Natalie had spent the next few days plotting and planning. She knew what she was up against with Malcolm. He had a database of men who were looking for relationships. Nat knew she’d have to get creative if she wanted to help these women. She brainstormed with Jillian and every other woman she knew about the best places to find single men and where to go for a great date.

She’d narrow her selections after she met with the clients. Coming to the meeting fully armed was how Natalie liked to run things. Of course, no one would expect that from Gem. With her notes in her bag, she dressed in one of Gem’s favorite outfits. The short black skirt, pencil-thin heels, and a fuchsia silk tank top that tied in the front showcased her best assets. The heels made her look taller. The pop of color drew attention to her great cleavage. And the tie in the front always allowed men to imagine unwrapping her.

As she headed for the studio, Natalie hoped they had a better space set up than the conference room. No way would that make for good TV. She was surprisingly calm given that this would be her first time in front of a camera as a faux matchmaker with her clients. Her nerves didn’t jangle even a little. Odd.

But then she remembered that since she’d given Malcolm access to the clients first, she wouldn’t have to see him today. Her week had been relatively quiet since their brief email exchange. She didn’t know what it as about that man, but something pushed every button she had.

The thing was, she knew he was attempting to be decent, but her gut wanted to rebel against it every time.

With any luck, she would have a simple meeting with the clients to gauge how she should plan teaching them the art of finding the right guy. She snorted. As if she knew how.

The little seed of doubt struck, and she swallowed it down.

She did know how to find a guy. It would be up to each woman to assess how right a man was for her.

As soon as she walked in, she was ushered into a studio. It looked professional enough to her. The three women were all waiting and from across the room, Nat watched their body language. Jennifer sat stock still, only her eyes shifted around the room. Melissa chatted with the guy who fitted her with a mic and Ashley paced slowly around, checking out the people setting up.

Nat swallowed hard. Showtime. She walked forward with a smile on her face. Before she could open her mouth to introduce herself, a guy stepped up and pinned a mic to her blouse. Then he faded away like a ninja.

“Hi, everyone, I’m Gem.”

Ashley and Melissa came closer and stood on either side of Jennifer’s chair. None of them said anything.

“How are you all doing? Excited?”

Ashley smiled and Melissa nodded, but Jennifer just continued to stare at her. She’d definitely be a tough nut to c***k.

“I’m not a TV person, so I can’t give you direction about how to sit or stand or where to look. My plan is to simply talk with you, get to know you, and then talk about my plans and philosophy for dating.”

“Excellent,” Ashley said.

Jennifer tilted her head and pushed her long ponytail over her shoulder. “What makes you different from Malcolm?” She pointed up and down at Nat’s outfit. “Other than the obvious.”

Nat bit down her initial response. “He’s a matchmaker. I have no idea how he works. I’m a dating expert, a pick-up artist. I can help you attract men, a lot of them, so you have your pick of who to date. I don’t think it’s my job to find a guy and tell you he’s the right one for you. I want to teach you to be comfortable finding your own guy.”

Jennifer eased back and nodded. Nat hoped that worked. She clapped her hands. “Ready to get started?”

From the corner of her eye, she saw a cameraman wave at her. s**t. They’d already started. She pointed awkwardly to the round conference table. “Let’s all have a seat.”

As they each took a chair, Melissa asked, “Why are you meeting with all of us at the same time? Shouldn’t it be more personal than that?”

“I like to be efficient. Sometimes we will meet individually. For this initial meeting, it makes more sense to be together so I don’t have to repeat myself. I need to get to know each of you beyond your audition videos. I need to know where you’re from and what you want in a guy. Why your past relationships didn’t work out.”

“Okay.” Jennifer leaned forward. “I’m divorced. My husband cheated on me. I’m successful, and that intimidates men. I need to find one who won’t be, because I’m not going to dumb myself down to get a man.”

“What kind of guy are you drawn to?”

“I tend to go for quiet types.”

“So, no rock stars for you?”

Her eyes shot wide. “Lord, no.”

Nat smiled. “Why do you think you intimidate men?”

“I like intelligent men. I like to be able to carry on a conversation beyond where I had lunch. Because I have opinions I can back up, and I can stand on my own, I’ve come across too many men who want to be leaned on more than I’m willing to do.”

“Obviously, you want an educated man, then, someone successful in his own right who won’t be threatened by you.”

“Of course. My problem is, they all look like that at first. Things tend to take a turn after a while.”

Nat knew how that went. She could definitely sympathize with Jennifer. She turned to Melissa. “How about you, Melissa? What are you looking for?”

“Aren’t we all looking for the same thing? True love? I’ve been engaged. Twice.”

Nat held up a hand. “Who broke it off?”

Melissa pressed her lips together. “I did.”

“Both times?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

She fidgeted with her hands on the table and when she realized she was doing it, she tucked her hands in her lap. “I knew something was off. We were comfortable and maybe even in love, but something was missing. The spark, you know?”

“Was the spark there when you first met?”

Melissa’s squinted and looked up at the ceiling. She bit her lip and returned her gaze to Natalie. “Thinking back now, I’m not sure. If you had asked me then, I would’ve said absolutely. Now, I’m not so sure.”

Nat studied her for a minute. Melissa might’ve been so desperate to settle down and get married that she jumped on any train that came along. Nat began to wonder if she was really ready now. Maybe she needed to play the field a little more. Melissa cleared her throat and Natalie realized she’d left them all hanging.

“Sorry. I was just thinking. Let’s move on. What kind of man are you looking for, Melissa?”

“I don’t know. I’ve dated guys from all walks of life. Different careers, personalities…I’m open to just about anything.”

Nat smiled. “That’s good to know.”

Melissa laughed. “I don’t know if I like that smile. It looks a little wicked.”

Ashley bumped Melissa with the back of her hand. “Wicked can be good.”

All three women laughed, and Nat finally started to feel comfortable.

“How about you, Ashley? Tell me about yourself.”

“I’ve dated around for years. I wasn’t looking for something permanent, but now I am.”

Nat leaned forward with her elbows on the table. “And why are you here?”

“Because I think I’ve fallen into a rut for dating. I’m so used to having the casual thing that I don’t know what to do differently to find the permanent thing.”

Of the three women, Ashley seemed the most grounded, which felt weird since she appeared to be so flighty. Nat tried not to judge, having been on the receiving end too often, but she wasn’t sure she could help Ashley. She could teach these women to fish, but they needed to figure out which fish to keep. Nat knew nothing about that. Her self-doubt crept back in.

“Cut!” someone behind her yelled.

Nat turned in her seat. “Is there a problem?”

“We have enough.”

“Wait. What?” She stood and turned to completely face the guy. “Who are you?”

She remembered seeing him in Brad’s office, but couldn’t remember his name.

“Mike. Your director.”

“Well, Mike. While it’s great you think you have enough footage or whatever, this is my time to meet with my clients. I wasn’t told there was some kind of time limit.”

“There isn’t. Talk away.”

The people behind the cameras continued to buzz around and Nat figured they would just have to ignore them. They’d done a good job of ignoring them so far, but it was a little easier when they were all quiet. Although now that the crew was no longer hyper-focused on her and the clients, Nat relaxed and could be a little more herself.

She waved a hand over her shoulder. “Let them do their thing. I’m not done. I want to learn more about all of you. If we’re going to get this right, I need to know who you are.”

Settling back in her chair, she added, “And I like to get things right.”

As she interviewed the women about past boyfriends and best and worst dates they’d ever had, questions continued to pop up in the back of her head. Did they cut Malcolm off during his interview process? What did he ask the women? Would it be unfair for her to get that inside scoop?

She kept a running list of these questions while listening. An excellent multi-tasker, she absorbed it all. Malcolm Sterling might still win this competition, but she was definitely going to keep swinging.

Without cameras running, all of the women loosened up, including Nat. She kept her Gem persona in place, but the conversation became just that: four women sitting around a table dishing on their love lives. Melissa, Ashley, and Jennifer were all open, honest, and vulnerable. Like Jennifer, she wondered if it had been a mistake to meet with all of them at once, but she felt it was important to distinguish herself from Malcolm and interviewing could be a tedious process.

The group thing turned out to be a smart move. The women had become friendly as they shared their war stories. This might be fun after all.

Nat glanced over her shoulder. Biting her lip, she thought about how long she should keep the women. The camera crew had mostly moved out. She suddenly wanted to dig in and start working with the girls. Part of her was afraid the producer would get mad if they didn’t get it on camera.

“What’s going on?” Jennifer asked. “You look like there’s a problem.”

Nat’s attention returned to the table. Maybe a little experiment might work. “I had this urge to start working with you now that we’ve gotten to know each other some, but it appears the cameras are all off.”

“Work with us how?” Melissa asked.

“Flirting 101.”

Melissa’s eyes widened.

With a quick look over her shoulder again, she smiled. “Let’s start small. It’s going to seem cliché, but all those stereotypical moves we see in Hollywood productions actually work. Just don’t go over the top.”

“Huh?” Melissa asked.

“For example, eye contact is key. However, you don’t want to flutter your eyes like you’re caught in a sandstorm. Make eye contact, look away, and then look back.”

Jennifer leaned forward. “Looking. That’s your advice? I make eye contact with people all day. So what?”

Nat bit back her sigh. “Melissa needs to practice eye contact. You have it down pat. In fact, we might want to soften you up some. Your eye contact tends to border on the aggressive side.”

Jennifer snorted. “One more problem men have with me.”

Nat smiled and turned back to Melissa. “You dodge eye contact. Even talking to me, you meet my eyes and then dart away. You’re not shifty, but it comes across as you being unsure of yourself. That second look—that’s the one that tells a guy to come over.”

Nat spun in her chair and wished they’d met anywhere but in the studio. Slim pickings here. One of the production interns was clearing off a table in back. She leaned closer to the women. With a thumb hitched over her shoulder, she said, “See him?” They nodded. “Watch.”

Nat angled her chair so she wasn’t completely turned around, but she could see the intern, which meant he could see her.

She watched him move for a couple of minutes and like clockwork, he felt her attention on him and their eyes met. Nat put on her slow smile and dragged her gaze away. Then she shifted her chair a little more in his direction and looked over again.

When their gazes locked, it was like a tractor beam. His feet shuffled forward until he stood in front of her. “Uh, did you need something?”

Nat’s smile widened. “No, thanks. I was just talking to my clients about getting a man’s attention. You helped me prove my point.”

His cheeks grew pink. “Uh, anytime, I guess.” He returned to whatever cleanup he had to finish.

“You make it look easy,” Melissa said.

“Men are easy.” At least initially. But Nat refused to say that out loud for fear the women would give up before they had a chance to start. “Next time, we’ll go out in the field and practice basic flirting techniques.”

“I thought you were going to help us find the men of our dreams,” Ashley said.

“I am. Who better to pick the man than you? Who am I to tell you who to love? My goal is to help you cast your net in the right places to catch the right type of guy. Then it’s up to you to decide who’s a keeper.”

Jennifer stood. “That makes sense. We’ll see what you’ve got.”

Nat guessed that was as good as it was going to get with Jennifer. At least for now.