“You’re probably right,” she said.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said.
“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”
I kissed her gently on the cheek, which raised no protest, and headed out. I got out my phone, hoping Clementine had at least already ordered.
Chapter Six
Addie
It was a dream. At least I tried to convince myself it was. Only I was confident there was just too much evidence to the contrary. Not least my hair cut. Everything had happened more or less the way I remembered it. The makeover. The horrible date. The producer taking me back to my place and me asking him to stay. That last bit wasn’t so bad. I really did want him to stay. It would have been better if he actually had, but I could also see his point. He had a show to think about, and I didn’t want Clementine to have to be waiting for his call all night.
I suddenly had the urge to tell someone and there was only one person who came to mind.
“What’s up, buttercup?”
“Well, hello to you too,” Mercy said, her tone distinctively icy.
“Sorry. I’m also sorry I didn’t call before. As you may have deduced from the radio silence, I got accepted for the show.”
“Figured,” Mercy said, the very picture of stoicism. Rather, she sounded like it at least.
“I am currently sitting in the Sixty hotel, done up like a 21st century Daisy Buchanan.”
“Jealous!” Mercy announced, as if it weren’t obvious.
“Don’t be too much. The date I was done up for turned out to be a disaster.”
“Define disaster,” Mercy said.
“He broke a wine bottle on the side of the table to make a weapon and the producer had to punch him out.”
“That’s a disaster alright,” Mercy concurred.
“At least the producer made sure the guy had signed a waiver, so the show won’t suffer too much.”
“See? A silver lining already!” Mercy said.
“Yeah, for the producer particularly. He wouldn’t do well in prison. He’s much too pretty.”
“Someone’s got a crush.”
“Don’t be silly!” I protested.
“C’mon Addie. We’ve known each other since kindergarten. I recognize the signs.”
“No, I mean I think it might be more than a crush. A bit more anyway. Crushes are for teenagers. I’m way past that now,” I said.
“Oh, I see. So, love at first sight, is it? Much more mature. You’re entering Disney princess territory.”
“It was not at first sight.”
“Tenth?” Mercy asked.
“Not exactly,” I said.
“How long have you known him exactly?”
“That’s not important.”
“Nice deflection,” Mercy commended.
“What is important is that I really feel something for him, and I think he might for me, too. I can’t know for sure, of course. It could just be wishful thinking, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the signs.”
“Sign of the apocalypse?” Mercy asked.
“No, signs of affection. For the record, if I do see a sign of the apocalypse, I’ll say ‘the time is nigh.’”
“Oh, the science guy.”
“No, that’s Bill Nye.”
“Right, I always get those two mixed up.”
It was really nice talking to Mercy again. It was almost like her oddness kept me sane by comparison.
“Did you hear about this lockdown business?” Mercy asked.
“They’re going into lockdown?”
“Yeah, the whole city. Due to the pandemic. This Coronavirus— you know, COVID-19, as they’re calling it— is spreading quickly and the government wants to keep everyone safe.”
“Oh. Wow,” I said, feeling a bit stunned.
I had heard about the virus but my life had been so busy that I hadn’t been paying enough attention.
“That’s really crazy,” I added. “As if we’re living in some kind of sci fi movie.”
“I know, right? I wonder how they are going to keep the show going,” Mercy mused.
“Just what I was thinking.”
Of course, when I talked to Tobias again, I found out they had a plan. I should never have expected otherwise. It wasn’t a very good plan, but it was a plan just the same. It didn’t require me giving up and going home, so I was already in favor of it.
“You want me to do what?”
“Online dates, with video-calls,” Tobias calmly explained.
I don’t know how they did it, but they had gotten me into the office without any trouble. The lockdown hadn’t started yet but was coming soon. Not that Tobias seemed worried. Not in an invincible, He-Man idiot kind of way. More like the ten-steps-ahead, thought-of-everything way. I got the strong sense he had a deck of aces up his exquisitely tailored sleeve.
The dates were set up in rounds. Video-calls were a lot cheaper and could be shorter. There was lot of concern about the show getting boring, so they were just going to shoot as much as they could and edit together the most interesting bits. It was the age-old approach of throwing everything at the wall to see what stuck.
“Ready?” Tobias asked as a skeleton crew set up the video-date equipment in the hotel room.
“I guess.”
“That’s the spirit,” he teased.
“I’m just not sure about this. I mean, I’m not a Luddite or anything, but dating by computer just seems odd.”