Page 53 of Mother Clucker

I stepped out of my car and glanced through the lenses of my sunglasses down the street toward McP’s. A familiar figure caught my eye.

“Oh my gosh. Is that . . .” I began.

“Nick from Cold Feet,” Lucy finished my sentence.

Heck yeah, it was. I’d cut enough footage into promos I would recognize that hot man’s strut anywhere.

“Come on. Let’s get in there.” Lucy was ten feet ahead of me by the time I caught up with her on the sidewalk.

We pushed through McP’s front entrance side by side, almost getting wedged in the narrow space in the process.

Inside the dim interior I slipped off my glasses and walked toward the bartender. “Hi. I’m Heather.”

The old man stared at me, finally saying, “All right.”

“I’m supposed to be meeting some people here. Clay and Tash—” I didn’t have to finish.

“Out back on the patio.” He hooked a thumb at the door next to the bar and then turned his attention to the woman wearing a McP’s T-shirt.

Apparently I had been dismissed as he concentrated on the waitress who’d walked up to the bar with a pad in her hand. “Ray. I need a dirty martini, a longneck, a diet soda and a cosmopolitan.”

I glanced at Lucy. “I guess they’re out back.”

She let out a short huff of a laugh. “Guess so.”

“I’m nervous,” I said as we walked out to the patio.

“I know, right?” Lucy agreed. “It’s like we’re meeting celebrities.”

“We kind of are.” These people might have started out like me, but they ended up being a part of millions of viewers’ lives.

“There they are,” Lucy whispered.

I followed her gaze and saw the table in the back corner. It was like a who’s who of New Millennia Media’s top stars. Clay and Tasha from Hot House. Gabby Lee and Zach from Trash to Treasure. And Nick from Cold Feet.

“Where’s Dani?” Lucy asked.

I’d noticed Nick was alone too. I shot her a sideways glance. “I don’t know. Trouble in paradise?” I asked.

Lucy cringed. “Maybe.”

It was like we knew these people personally. Intimately. We were invested in their lives and yet they didn’t know us at all.

They knew each other though.

Apparently the local cast had formed a friendship. They laughed and joked at the table we slowly, skittishly approached.

They didn’t notice us as they welcomed Nick, the new arrival, with handshakes and slaps on the back.

I felt like an intruder insinuating myself into their circle, but I’d been the one to set up this meeting so I guess I had to.

“Um, hi. I’m Heather from New Millennia Media.”

“Oh my God. Hi. So nice to meet you,” Tasha jumped up and came around to give me a hug.

“This is Lucy,” I said. “We work together in the marketing and PR department.”

Lucy smiled and barely had time to say hello before she received her hug from Tasha.

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