Chapter 7 - Unexpected Date

Five hours earlier Logan walked into his office and found his personal assistant Jeffrey sitting in the chair in front of his desk. “The picture?” Logan asked, standing next to Jeffrey. Jeffrey unlocked his phone and held it out for Logan. “Do you think this is her? Her name is Natalie. She’s probably what one would consider a C actress. I looked into her schedule, she has a shoot today at Sunset Studios.” Logan studied the picture. “She does look like woman in that photo of mine from that night…what other evidence do you have?” “Zoom in on the left hand. That’s your mother’s ring.” Logan pinched the screen to get a closer look. It was the ring alright. He moved the picture over to look at her face. It certainly looked almost identical to the woman that was in the photo he had from the night in Vegas, just with more makeup. His heart leapt and he smiled. He finally found her. “My god, it is her. I can’t believe you found her. Logan handed Jeffrey’s phone back to him. “Arrange a meeting with her for me. I want to meet her today, as soon as possible. How long will she be at the studio?” “Her agent said she is there until 8:30 pm.” “Damn. I can’t wait that long. Call the agent back, see if there’s any way I can meet Natalie while she’s there at the studio.” “Yes sir. Shall I use your real name?” Jeffrey asked, grabbing his phone. “No, use Andrew, I don’t want anyone to know it’s me,” Logan said. Andrew was a nickname Logan had used since childhood, when he was temporarily placed in foster care. He liked the different identity he felt with his foster parents. He wasn’t the heir to his family’s company in their home, he was just an ordinary country boy. “I’m going right now to prepare to meet her,” Logan continued. “Message me as soon as you finish talking to the agent.” “Yes, sir,” Jeffrey stood and left, already dialing the number. Logan smiled to himself. “Time to meet my wife.” After finding the perfect suit, Logan found himself standing outside the front door to Sunset Studios. He adjusted his tie and looked himself over once more in the reflection of the glass door. He smoothed his hair and smiled. It didn’t matter that this wasn’t a luxury suit, he could make anything he wore look damn good. He entered the studio and introduced himself to the secretary just inside the door. “Hi, my name is Andrew. I’m here to see Natalie.” The secretary clicked her mouse and looked at the screen of her computer. “Ah yes, I see that you arranged to see her. Please have a seat, I’ll call a production assistant to escort you back into the studio.” Andrew sat while the secretary made a phone call. Moments later, a tall, skinny young man walked into the waiting area. “Andrew?” He said to Logan. Logan stood and nodded. He shook the young man’s hand. “Natalie is on sound stage 3. They are in the middle of shooting her scene, but we can stand inside and watch until they are done. Please be sure to silence your phone.” Logan checked his phone as the production assistant led him into the sound stage. They stood behind the crew. Logan spotted Natalie in the middle of the set standing next to another actress. Both were wearing 1800s-style dresses. Logan wondered to himself what sort of production this was. “Alright, quiet on set please!” A crew member yelled out. Logan guessed this must have been the assistant director, a term he picked up on from the several interviews he had done over the years. “Roll camera.” “Camera rolling,” the cameraman responded. “Roll sound,” the assistant director said. “Sound rolling,” a man wearing headphones called out. “And…action!” Logan watched as Natalie sprung to life. She was very beautiful, he thought. He also thought she seemed kind of familiar, like she reminded him of someone he knew. He just couldn’t quite put a finger on who. “Cut! Moving on,” the assistant director called out. “Natalie, Stacy, you ladies can take a break, we’re going to set up for the next scene.” Logan watched Natalie as she smiled at the assistant director then moved to a director’s chair. She picked up her phone and made a video call. “Ah, I’ll take you to her once she’s done with her call,” the production assistant said. Logan nodded. He watched Natalie as she spoke on the phone. He wasn’t able to see the person on the phone, but he did notice she seemed very flirty with whoever it was. Logan was taken aback by this, but told himself it was probably just a friend she was talking to. She blew a kiss at the phone and hung up after just a few minutes. Logan’s heart dropped. He was surprised by the jealously he felt at this action. The production assistant led Logan to her. “Miss Natalie, you have a visitor,” the production assistant said, then briskly walked away. Natalie looked up from her phone. She looked Logan up and down, a hint of annoyance on her face. “Can I help you?” “I just…uh…” a normally confident Logan found himself unnerved by this woman. “I just wanted to see you, invite you to my place later tonight. I planned a surprise for you.” Now it was Natalie that became unnerved. “Who are you?” Logan’s heart sank. Did she not remember him? “It’s me, Logan. The ring I gave you that night in…” he shook his head. “Have you forgotten already? It’s a token of our love.” At this, Natalie looked confused, then her eyes widened. “I…I have to go, we’re about to start shooting again.” She hurried away from him towards the production assistant and began talking to him, while pointing at Logan. Logan was unable to move away from the director’s chair. He was hurt and confused and for the first time in his life, had chased a woman away instead of making her swoon over him. He had no idea how to handle that. After being kicked out of the studio, Logan made his way back to his car. His driver faithfully got out of the car to open the door for him. Logan slammed the door shut behind him. “To the office,” he said quietly. He noticed the driver and Hazel exchanged confused looks, but he remained quiet. “Sir, is everything okay?” Hazel finally broke the silence after several awkward, quiet minutes. “No, everything is not okay,” he shook his head and turned to face her. “After just a few words with my wife, security threw me out and called me a crazy fan. Can you believe it?” More awkward silence. Finally, Hazel asked, “Is your wife an actress?” Logan sighed. “Yes.” Hazel knew her actress sister was filming somewhere nearby. Was it possible that… “No,” Hazel thought to herself. “That’s crazy. There’s no way my sister is the one he’s married to. With her need to be center of attention always, she would never be able to keep that news to herself.” Still… “May I ask her name?” Hazel asked Logan.