Page 9 of Fake it For Good
“I did,” she said with conviction. “I’ll go with you. If it’s sketchy, we leave, but I don’t think it will be. I do my research. The place is actually very highly regarded. It’s legal. There have never been any complaints or any legal trouble.”
“How did you hear about it?”
“I happened to overhear one of the partners talking about the weekend partner retreat,” she said with a laugh. “The guy is in the middle of an ugly divorce. He doesn’t want to be the only single guy at this big fancy retreat with lawyers from all around the country getting together to see who has the biggest balls and charges the largest retainers. Anyway, another partner was telling him to hire a date from this agency. I went back to my desk and looked it up. It’s legit.”
“Marie,” I groaned. “I don’t think I can be paid to be a date.”
“Sure, you can. I’ll meet you there at five. Don’t be late. I’ll text you the address right now. Wear something sexy.”
I looked down at my faded jeans and the sweatshirt that had a hole in the armpit. “Yeah, I’m feeling prettyun-sexy right now.”
“Get sexy,” she ordered. “I have to run. I’ll see you there.”
I would meet her, but I wasn’t putting all my hopes on a dating agency. I needed an actual job with actual pay. I opened the laptop and went back to my job search. I liked to have backup plans for my backup plans.
When I got to the address she sent me, I was surprised to see it was in a nice part of the city. I was expecting a brothel, something sketchy with scantily clad women lurking around the building. Marie rushed down the sidewalk. “I’m here,” she said breathlessly.
We walked into the office and looked around. I wasn’t getting skeevy vibes. It was actually very upscale and normal looking. Marie gave her name to the woman at the desk. I took a seat and looked for some evidence of nasty business. I wasn’t seeing it.
“Not bad,” she whispered. “Right?”
“It’s not terrible,” I said. “But I’m not convinced.”
“Hello, ladies,” a woman said.
I had to bite back my laughter. The woman was eccentric. I wished I had the courage to be so bold. I would never dare to wear zebra and leopard prints together. I kind of admired her for not giving a shit.
“Hi,” Marie said.
“I’m Della. Why don’t you ladies follow me?”
I glanced over at Marie, who seemed to be very excited about the whole venture. I was still not convinced. We were led into a massive office decked out with some of the weirdest trinkets I had ever seen. She was an interesting woman. Marie and I sat down in the chairs across from her large executive desk.
“I’m Marie and this is my friend Noelle,” Marie started.
“It’s nice to meet you both,” Della said. Her red lipstick was perfectly painted on without a smudge on her teeth. “Are you both interested in signing up?”
“I’d like to hear more about the, uh, job,” I said.
Della smiled brightly. “Ah, we have a skeptic.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t mean to be difficult, but I have never heard of anything like this. Iamskeptical.”
“Good,” she said and leaned forward. “I like a woman who doesn’t take anything at face value. What questions do you have?”
“My friend is a paralegal and she says this is legal,” I started. “But I’d like to know exactly whatthisis.”
“We are a dating service,” she replied.
“You pay women to go on dates with men,” I surmised.
“And men,” she said, laughing. “Clients come to me and ask for a woman or man to act as their date for a night. I’ve had several clients that needed something a little more in-depth. My girls have pretended to be fiancées and even wives.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I told you,” Marie said. “Not everyone wants to be the only single person in the room.”
“Exactly,” Della said. “Sometimes it’s to get family off their backs or to prove to business associates they have a girlfriend. Sometimes it’s simply because the client is lonely and wants to attend the opera with a date without having to go through the hassle of asking a woman out. Our clients are wealthy, powerful men and a few women. They can find it difficult to date.”
