Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
A Cold Slap of Reality
JAMIE
Redondo Beach remained one little beach town providing all the exact things a beach town needs: hardware store, wine shop, cheese shop, butcher shop, guitar shop, surf shop, several nail and hair salons, coffee houses, and a feast of options for restaurants, bars, and live music.
Somehow Redondo Beach had kept its OG charm, even though the beach cottages were being quietly and methodically razed and replaced by steel and glass mansions.
Jamie arrived at the offices of Lorna Gray’s matchmaking company located in a shared mixed-use building upstairs from a hopping gastropub in South Redondo.
The smell of French fries and malt vinegar wafted up to remind her she hadn’t eaten since last night.
Her stomach announced its displeasure at this decision with a hostile growl.
Jamie touched her stomach to let it know she was aware and it would be receiving those fries as soon as this was over.
After her preliminary phone call with the enthusiastic matchmaker’s assistant named Oritte who had a charming slight Indian accent, Jamie was instructed to fill out some paperwork online and then show up for an intake meeting.
Even though her initial reaction to Lorna was one of suspicion, when Lorna had offered her a way out of online dating, Jamie jumped at the chance.
Now, however, standing in front of the door to Dinner for Six, her apprehensions about Lorna roared back.
Jamie hesitated, considering what she might be getting into, but she opened the door anyhow.
The reception area was decorated in midcentury modern style complete with an English cream leather chair in the corner and a Nespresso machine.
On the wall behind reception was a poster with silhouettes of six people seated at a heart-shaped table.
The slogan read: Dinner for Six. Modern Matchmaking.
What did that even mean?
“Hello! You must be Jamie Frisco?” A slender, olive-skinned woman in a lilac knit dress and chandelier earrings greeted her with a warm smile.
“Guilty as charged.”
“I’m Oritte. Care for an espresso?” She gestured to the little machine in the corner.
“No, I’m fine, thank you.” Jamie followed Oritte down a short hallway until she opened a door into an upscale conference room with beach vibes: white-washed walls, natural-edge wooden tables, and colorful splashes of ocean-hued art hung on the walls.
Oritte directed Jamie to one of the soft-as-butter white leather chairs.
Jamie’s nerves were under control thanks to a last-minute glass of white wine coursing through her veins, but she felt slightly nauseous.
Perhaps it was the circumstances. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was something artificial about the polished and poised Lorna Gray.
She’d done her research online and although the information was scant and curated, all signs pointed to her talents as a master matchmaker, with credentials and reviews to support it.
She took a long slow breath and let it out.
Derick had dismissed her concerns and chalked it up to Jamie’s hostility toward dating in general, so it wasn’t such a leap for Jamie’s warped mind to consider Lorna an enemy of sorts when she could be Jamie’s saving grace.
“I don’t need saving,” Jamie admonished.
Derick responded by buying her lip gloss and making her promise to go meet Lorna.
Lorna Gray walked in the office, her svelte figure clad in a bright white leather pencil skirt and a black cashmere sweater, her wavy auburn hair falling perfectly against her shoulders. She was angular and sharp, completely glamorous.
“Hi, Jamie, I’m so pleased you decided to come. Forgive me for being so forward, but I get the sense that you’re a little put off by this whole thing.”
Jamie’s anxiety spiked along with her skepticism as she shifted in her chair. Lorna Gray was charismatic and powerful, but she was not going to get into Jamie’s head. “No, not at all.”
Lorna paused and pressed her smile into a thin line.
Jamie felt like she was about to be interrogated; a thin sheen of sweat emerged on her forehead.
Lorna began, “You should know right out of the gate that I don’t take on every single person that crosses my path.
I look for specific people to fit my curated blind date setup.
” She looked at a file. “I have to admit, your experience as a forensic psychologist got my attention. Not your everyday profession.”
“Was. I was a forensic psychologist. Long story.”
“I bet. I also bet your ability to read people is incredibly keen. You don’t do well in that profession without having a razor-sharp understanding of human behavior and motivations. I’ll bet you can see the truth under the surface. Am I right?” Lora raised a carefully manicured eyebrow.
Jamie nodded and sat up in her chair with a sense of pride and wariness.
“And this talent of yours, I imagine it’s served you well in all areas. All except love?”
“I do all right,” Jamie said, backed by zero confidence. She swallowed instead of answering the second part.
Damn you, Derick.
Lorna continued, “Funny, isn’t it? The skills we hone without even knowing it. One of the reasons I’ve been so successful in matchmaking is because I can read people, too. For instance, I’ll bet you’re probably cursing that dapper friend of yours, Derick was it? For making you come here.”
Now Jamie raised a recently plucked eyebrow, but kept her mouth shut in the event it might betray her. Lorna continued.
“And I think there is another far more pressing reason you even agreed to come to me for help. More than just the horrors of online dating.” Lorna stood and started circling Jamie.
“Hmmm. Let me guess. An ex-boyfriend recently got married? You’ve just had a big birthday?
Or … could it be … you’ve been asked to yet another wedding? ”
Jamie shifted in her chair and instinctively looked for the exit. God, it’s hot in here. She pulled on the collar of her shirt.
“Oh, is that it? Your last single friend just got engaged?
“My mother,” Jamie murmured.
This made Lorna stop and look up, and she nodded, seemingly knowing. “Ah. A dating issue complicated by a mother issue. I love a good challenge. We all have our reasons, don’t we.” Lorna chuckled like a James Bond villain.
“It’s worse than that,” Jamie admitted. “I have to bring a suitable candidate to her wedding or…” She let that part slide. “And I need a little help finding the right guy. I am confident I could have found the right person, but I’m in a time crunch.”
“Well, I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” Lorna said flatly and swirled around.
“Your dating life is a fiasco. A goat rodeo of romantic proportions. With nothing to show for it but a scarred heart, I’m guessing a mild drinking problem, and a propensity to stay home and binge-watch period piece dramas.
Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Pride and Prejudice?
Jane Austen becomes a melancholy favorite for the lovelorn. ”
“I’m not lovelorn!” Jamie protested. She felt like she’d been slapped in the face with a three-day-old fish; the truth was cold, shocking, and left a slimy, shameful residue.
“Jamie, don’t you see? I’m here to change that.
Whatever brought you here, another birthday, another bridesmaids’ dress, another obituary that reads single woman, never married, survived only by her rescue dog, or in your case, a demanding mother who requires you to whip your love life into shape, you’re here now.
And hope starts here,” Lorna said gently, as she put a finger on the expansive marble table and stared at Jamie.
Jamie began to feel something like hope at Lorna’s delivery. She certainly had gravitas.
“Most dating services set you up, charge your credit card, and forget your name. That’s not how I do it at Dinner for Six. I am personally involved, and let’s just say I have a knack for this kind of thing.”
Jamie became more intrigued. “You’ve got my attention.”
“Good. Because I’m going to drop some truth on you, not give you a pep talk.
You’re still single…” Lorna picked up Jamie’s dating profile, quickly scanned it.
“And you’re forty-one. You don’t need fairy tales; you need reality.
The reason you are not married has everything to do with you.
Don’t think I’m right? Let me ask you a question. ”
Jamie sat ramrod straight, stung from the straight talk.
“When was the last time you went out on a real date? Hookups don’t count.”
Jamie’s face went pale. She wasn’t going to show her vulnerabilities to Lorna Gray; she was like a terrifying Maleficent of Matchmaking.
So, no talk of Nathan at all. She considered bringing up the series of online flash first dates, but they didn’t really count.
So, she thought about Chaz and answered, “I had a boyfriend, but we broke up.”
“Did this boyfriend take you on dates in the beginning? Proper dates. No going halfsies.”
Jamie thought about Chaz, his chiseled chest, his top knot, his day job selling Skechers, his reggae-vibe-no-worries attitude, his commitment issues. “We didn’t really go on dates. He’d usually come over.”
“Red flag,” Lorna deadpanned.
“With dinner,” Jamie added weakly.
“You are a liar.”
“No seriously, he brought tacos. Sometimes.”
Lorna leaned down to Jamie’s seated level. “You deserve more. You know it. And you knew it then. But you lied to yourself. Because you liked the sex, maybe you even began to like…” Lorna motioned to Jamie with her hand.
Jamie said, “His name was Chaz.”
Lorna cocked her head and squinted her eyes as if his name couldn’t be more perfectly suited to her narrative and then continued, “Chaz, and you thought he’d eventually see how amazing you were.
That he’d figure it out that he couldn’t live without you.
But he didn’t. And you began settling for less and less.
Maybe it got to a point where you realized you couldn’t even talk about taking a vacation together, let alone bring up the topic of commitment.
Even using the term boyfriend in mixed company made him itchy and skittish.
You knew it would freak him out if you put the slightest amount of pressure on him, because he would put the brakes on.
So, you kept your secret. Hoped for more.
And became the saddest version of yourself you could possibly imagine.
And eventually, Chaz broke it off anyway. ”
What kind of witchcraft was this? Jamie swallowed hard and her face became flushed. She pushed her hair behind her ear and tried to mount a defense. “We had an understanding.”
“You deserve more than understandings,” Lorna said flatly. “I’m not asking you to compromise.” Lorna finally backed away from Jamie and sat back down. “You shouldn’t ask yourself to, either.”
Jamie sat in silence for almost a minute, taking this in, realizing the she-witch was right. She said, “Okay.”
Lorna peered at her again. This time she took a little longer, the pause between them growing into an uncomfortable silence. Jamie finally said, “What?”
Lorna took a deeper breath. “I can usually spot dating problems easily. Most people suffer garden variety insecurity issues, jealousy, fear. Once they figure out how they’re standing in their own way, they can adjust. But you have something else going on.
Something deeper I can’t quite put my finger on. ”
Jamie squirmed in her chair as Lorna scrutinized her. “No, not so. I want to find someone. Build a life. All that stuff. I’m completely normal.”
Lorna nodded slowly, skeptically, and said, “Sure.”
It was a good long minute that Lorna peered at Jamie, making her feel naked, vulnerable, emotionally exposed.
Jamie was about to swat her away like a fly when she finally relented and moved away.
Was Jamie happy or just sedated by her small life?
Between wine, her rescue dog Dash, and her tight-knit group of friends, it was hard to say.
It was hard to go out in the world and meet people.
She’d slowly become a little less inclined to accept invites.
A little less fun. A little more agoraphobic.
Home always seemed to sound better. It occurred to her that perhaps she was not happy.
Perhaps she was hiding. Like she had always done, a survival tactic.
But as she knew, surviving is not the same thing as living.
She looked up at Lorna and said with a determination she felt in that moment, “I’m ready. ”
Lorna nodded very slowly. “I hope so. I guess we’ll see, won’t we?” The corner of Lorna’s lip curled up, as if she already knew the ending. “I’ll have Oritte bring in the paperwork.”