Jack had been a student of hers. She’d criticized something he’d made one day and Jack had walked out of her class, never to return. Such things happened with students all the time, but Jack had taken her dig far more personally. Unfortunately, so had she afterward because it was the only time she’d not felt justified.
She’d been cruel to Jack on purpose. He’d been flirting with her and she’d felt the need to nip his flirting off before the attention of a man over a decade her junior ended up ruining her reputation and her chance for the show to be picked up nationally.
She’d danced around and played the avoidance game, waiting for Jack to make the kind of mistake she could fault him for. He’d always had lots of promise as a chef, more so than any of the other students. That’s mostly how he’d ended up where he was. Her personal boost—the one Jack didn’t know about—had only started his journey.
Jack had been twenty-five back then but no better looking than now. He’d always been a gorgeously different looking male with his Asian black eyes and Roman jaw. His hair was solid black and hung past his shoulders. He tied it back for the show. His body was leanly muscled but developed enough in all the right places to catch a woman’s eye, no matter what clothing he was wearing.
He was lucky to be aging slowly and well—two important assets for a television icon. His career should definitely be evolving into something much bigger than a local station in Cincinnati. It just made sense to her. She felt sure it did to Luke as well.
“Trudy?”
Ignoring Luke for a moment, Trudy walked to stand in front of the glaring man from her past. She crossed her arms to mirror Jack’s body language as she met and held his gaze. She wasn’t sure about Jack’s maturity after fifteen years, but she was very sure of her own. She had no problem speaking her mind to people she cared about, even people who didn’t know or deserve her support.
“This is your career on the line, Jack Dozen. Don’t let misplaced pride keep you from using the publicity I can bring you. Working with me is a short three months of your life, but Luke’s idea for this segment has merit. I have no intention of coming back full-time if that’s what worries you. My attorney is putting that stipulation in my contract even as we speak. I’m retired and done—I promise. Don’t blow this opportunity off just because you’re still mad over the past.”
Jack grunted, shook his head, and then glared across the room at his producer. “Three shows, Luke—not three months. If fans don’t respond to the first one, I want her gone, or I’ll go.”
Trudy shook her head. “I’m still in the room, Jack. It’s not good to insult your guest host while she’s listening to you rant about her.”
Jack’s glare turned her way. “You know I don’t want this, and you know why. You’re still as hard to work with as you ever were.”
Trudy shrugged. “Do you think you’re the first chef I’ve ever come across who couldn’t see me as anything other than competition? Be better than that. Chef up and let’s do this segment together.”
Shaking his head, Jack stomped past her and slammed open the office door to escape. It bounced off the hallway wall, making a dramatically loud sound.
Luke rubbed his beard and stared at the now wide open door. Trudy chuckled at the tense expression on his face. Jack’s stormy exit from their meeting would be tomorrow’s gossip at the station. This place hadn’t change a bit.
“How can you laugh about this, Trudy? Jack’s the calmest person around here. He wouldn’t tell me the real reason for his resistance to you, but he’s been in my office for two hours trying to talk me out of doing the segment. What the hell did you do to him?”
Trudy snorted. “If he won’t tell you about our sordid teacher-student past, why should I?”
Luke grinned at her teasing and lifted a shoulder. “Because you and I are better friends than you and Jack?”
That weak defense made her laugh again. “Friends? We’re more like partners-in-crime. I promised you the perfect replacement for me and then I gave him to you. So what if the station manager and the network disagreed? He’s been here for years now. His show is very popular. How much more proof do they need that he’s ready to go national?”
“Trudy, you gave up your finder’s fee and residuals so they’d hire him and give him a chance. Jack owes his career to you.”
Trudy snorted. “Yeah, I can imagine the depth of his disgust if he ever found that out. I had my reasons, Luke. Yes, they were more personal than business, but I’d do it again.”
“Those reasons cost you a ton of money. The more successful Jack gets, the more money you lose because of that stupid deal you cut with the network.”
“Maybe the money wasn’t as important to me as being right. Thanks for not telling him,” Trudy said.
Luke nodded as he shrugged off the gratitude. “You told me never to tell him, so I never did. All this time, I secretly thought it was because he studied under you as one of your students. Now I think Jack would never have taken this job if he had known you were his silent producer. Would he?”
Trudy slowly shook her head. “No. He probably wouldn’t have.”
Luke narrowed his gaze. “He didn’t have any problem spending the finder’s fee money you gave up to make sure he got the job. Want to know what he did with his windfall?”
Trudy hung her head, moving it slowly from side to side. “No. I didn’t want to know when I gave it up and I don’t want to know now. Jack’s life is none of my business, outside of his success. I get enough satisfaction from being right about his value to the network.”
She lifted her head and smiled. “Maybe that’s why I charged the network so much for the twelve guest spots. I’m not completely stupid.”
Luke studied her closely. When Trudy said nothing else, he sighed in frustration. “Okay, I can see you aren’t going to spill any big secrets today. Just tell me one thing, Trudy. Is there some bad history between you and Jack that could erupt on the show?”
Trudy lowered her gaze to her nails. What could she say? That she’d once ignored a sexual pull to a man she’d decided was too green about life in about fifty different ways? She’d done her best over the years to forget why Jack hated her. Apparently, Jack hadn’t forgotten anything.
It was too bad he held so much animosity towards her, but his hate didn’t change what her gut was pushing her to do. Was she still acting out of guilt? Possibly. She could only hope that helping him up the next rung of the celebrity ladder would finally, finally put it all to rest.
“I’ll not let you down… or Jack. You just have to trust me.”
Luke went back to sit behind the desk. “It’s not you I’m worried about. If Jack ever found out what you did for him…”
“But he won’t.” Trudy said firmly. She drew in a deep breath and blew it slowly out again. “Jack’s talented, good-looking, and has great ideas. He has the whole package, Luke. Sure, I can understand why the network isn’t super impressed with him at the moment. It’s tough to stay excited week after week after week. Maybe his normal stuff is a little dry, but he’s not a comedian or a guy who talks incessantly about his personal life. He’ll find the right groove eventually—just like I did.”
“Listen to you. You actually like him,” Luke concluded, shaking his finger at her.
“It’s hard to like someone when he’s always being a shit to you,” Trudy replied smoothly. She shrugged off her profanity when Luke chuckled over it. She didn’t dislike Jack. Wasn’t that nearly the same thing?
“Maybe he’d treat you better if he knew what you’d done.”
Trudy shook her head. “Tell Jack nothing about our discussion… or how he got on the show to begin with. Just help me handle the Baker’s Dozen episodes in a way that won’t make me want to use my knives on him.”
“Like you’d go after Jack with knives…” Luke said, grinning from ear-to-ear. “I just watched you eviscerate him with cold words and an uncaring stare.”
Knowing Luke’s observation
was truer than she’d like to admit, Trudy sighed and turned to leave. “I haven’t been physically in a room with Jack Dozen since the day he walked out of my cooking class. That was over fifteen years ago, Luke. I’m sure things will get more friendly between us as the show goes on. You’ll see.”
Her words held more conviction than she felt, but her mind was now made up. Jack would have to deal with her. Together they would entertain his fans like he never had before and that would catapult him to the next level.
Then her nagging emotional debt to him might finally get paid off.
As for Jack worrying about her returning to the show, that was a joke. All she wanted was to go back to her retired life, her restaurants, and her friends.
She was learning to live happily ever after sans male companionship. Of course, it might be nice to have a few she could call now and again… but she’d work on that later.
It was about to get hot in Jack’s kitchen. Hopefully, the two of them could handle the heat.
Chapter Two
Trudy sighed heavily as she peered at herself in the small bathroom mirror. She really, really, really didn’t want to do this. Her hair looked okay because she’d come straight from having it done at her favorite hair salon, but she hadn’t bothered with professional makeup. The camera would just have to deal with her two light coats of mascara and her nearly nude lip gloss.
Swearing to herself over some unnamed guilt she refused to acknowledge, Trudy dug her mineral powder compact out of her tote and a large round brush to apply it. With her hair swept to the side and back, a sweaty forehead would be the only thing people paid attention if she didn’t lose the shine there. No one would ever hear what she was saying. Looking pale and tired was something she could live with, but looking greasy was more than she could handle.
Knowing she was still stalling only made her madder at herself, so Trudy tossed everything back into her tote and headed to the room Della had asked her to come to when she was finished. The woman smiled wide when she saw her.
“Hi Trudy. Please sit in the seat and turn your body and both legs to one side. There’s tape on the floor to give you an idea of where to put your feet. I find a side position allows me to get the best angle on a client’s face.”
“No problem. It’s been awhile since I’ve been in front of the camera, but I remember the drill. The tape on the floor is called a mark by the way,” Trudy said, trying not to sound as grumpy as she felt. She ordered herself to think of this dating video as practice for her upcoming return to doing a live TV show.
Before Della could start the actual recording, Trudy saw Ann and Georgia slip quietly into the room. Della arched an eyebrow over the unexpected intrusion, but Trudy knew it would take a hell of a lot more intimidation than that to run off her two nosiest friends. Jellica was probably working today or she’d have been there too.
“What are you two doing here? All you’ve done is caught me playing nice. See?” Trudy said, pointing to her butt. “I’m here and in the chair.”
Georgia leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. “We decided not to trust you. You didn’t go to Mariah’s stylist or use her image consultant… and now look at you. You look like frump woman.”
Trudy glanced at Della who ducked her head and closed her eyes to laugh privately. Keeping out of Della’s line of sight, Trudy raised her hands high and gave them a double middle finger salute while Della wasn’t looking. Ann and Georgia both laughed at the insult. Their continued laughter had Trudy automatically straightening in her chair.
“Hold up a moment, Della. We need to fix her before she starts,” Ann ordered. She rummaged in Trudy’s purse on the floor, found what she wanted, and trekked around the camera to Trudy. “Here—please at least use this so you won’t be invisible.” She pushed a red lipstick and a tiny mirror into Trudy’s hands.
Rolling her eyes, Trudy snatched them both from Ann’s open palm. While she applied the expensive red stain to her lips with an expertise she’d nearly forgotten she had, Ann stepped around and ran fingers through Trudy’s now shorter and layered haircut. The sneaky woman included a scalp massage as part of her interference which had Trudy lowering the lipstick and groaning over the release of an incredible amount of tension.
“Good lord,” Ann said, massaging harder. “What have you been doing to yourself this week?” When Trudy closed her eyes and groaned louder, Ann looked over and winked at Della. She massaged a bit more, fluffed hair, and ran her fingertips over Trudy’s earlobes to restore some energy to her face. “Okay, Della. This is the best I can do about her stiffness without putting her completely to sleep. Hopefully some guy will ask about her despite those nearly permanent forehead wrinkles.”
“Oh, stop bragging, you smooth-faced cradle robber. Did you mess up my expensive haircut?” Trudy demanded.
“Are you jealous of my younger man?” Ann asked snidely. She stepped around to the front of Trudy and inspected her hair as she slipped the lipstick and mirror from Trudy’s now lax fingers. “If I messed anything up, it was in a good way. Now you look a little brighter, a little more relaxed, and not like a frump woman.”
Trudy narrowed her eyes at her so-called friends and watched as Ann gave a grinning Della a thumbs up before she went back to the wall where a smirking Georgia waited.
“Want me to toss them out, Trudy?” Della asked.
Trudy snorted. “No. They’d just grill me later until I cracked. Let them stay. I don’t care. I can handle a crowd, even a heckling one.”
“Okay,” Della said, starting the recording. “Say your name, your age, and anything else you would tell someone you’re meeting for the first time.”
Trudy nodded and fought back a resigned sigh before drawing in a breath to speak.
“My name is Trudy Baker. No, wait—that’s not true and I don’t want to start this recording with dishonesty. My actual name is Gertrude Adelaide Baker, but no one left on earth calls me Gertrude because I’d kill them outright if they did. Now you’re probably wondering how I got such a name. No? Too bad, I’m going to tell you anyway. The camera and I are old friends, but it triggers the bossiness in me, so consider yourself warned.”
Trudy laughed dryly at her own bad joke, tilting her head to show her best angle—now that she remembered which way to tilt her chin and turn her head. She may not have liked being on display in her celebrity career, but she did know how to work being the center of attention.
“My maternal grandmother, Oma Herxheimer, was old school German. To this day, I don’t know what kind of dirt she had on my parents, but it must have been good because they allowed her to name me. Oma was both feared and hated, her reputation saved only by her exceptional culinary skills, which she passed on through the business end of a spoon.”
“Your grandmother taught you to cook?” Della asked.
Trudy nodded. “Cooking was the one thing Oma did that kept her from being totally unlovable. Now I know people always say bad things about their relatives, but I swear every word I’m speaking about my Oma is true. The appalling woman also named my brother after Hitler and made sure everyone we grew up with knew it. No worries though, he changed it as soon as he could. My sister, Diana, got lucky. By the time she was born, Oma Herxheimer had gone on to that great beer fest in the sky.”
Della cleared her throat. “That’s good for the introduction. Let’s talk about something else, Trudy. Do you care for people to know how old you are?”
Trudy snorted over Della’s redirection. She mock-glared at the camera in retaliation. “Honey, no one knows how old I actually am except the Ohio Department Of Motor Vehicles.” She grinned wickedly when she heard Ann and Georgia stifling giggles behind their hands. “Okay. Okay. I guess potential dates have a right to at least know my decade. I’m just going to say that I’ve hit the big Five-O and leave it at that.”
Della nodded solemnly and made a mental note to edit out the Hitler commentary. “Let’s talk about your work now,” she suggested, looking for mor
e normal ground.
Trudy shrugged. “I did two years of college to get an associate and then I went to culinary school. I’ve been working as a chef since I was twenty. It’s been a great career, but a demanding one. I also did a cooking show on a local Cincinnati television network for fifteen years. Before, during, and while the show was airing, I also taught at several cooking schools… and still occasionally teach. In addition to that, I own several restaurants and help produce a…”
Trudy halted her revelatory spewing just in time. It would give too much of her personal information away to admit she had picked her replacement for the TV show that once featured her. Jack probably would never see this stupid video, but she didn’t want to take that chance.
She shrugged and took in a deep breath. “I’ve diversified over the last seven years. Besides the restaurants, I have several other financial investments in the Cincinnati area. I don’t work full-time though. At the moment I’m…” Trudy paused, looking for the right words, and then snapped her fingers and smile. “I’m semi-retired. Yes, that’s what I am—semi-retired. I only work when I feel like it.”
“What do you do when you’re not working? Tell us about your hobbies,” Della ordered.
“I like to cook for my friends. I like to read. That’s about all. I’m mostly a boring gal.”
“No, you’re not. You also cook for lots of charity events. I know because I’ve attended them,” Della chastised.
Trudy reluctantly nodded. “Okay, yes… that’s true. The charity events are my way of giving back to my city and community. But,” she held up a warning finger and glared into the camera, “I don’t take solicitations for my services. I volunteer where I feel I can genuinely help, and that’s the extent of my contributions. I won’t be dating some guy trying to get me to cook for his favorite cause.”
“No. Of course not,” Della said, smiling. “Potential dates are forbidden to capitalize on any information contained in your dating portfolio. They would get kicked out of the database for a single report of solicitation.”
Never Ever Satisfied (The Perfect Date Book 4) Page 2
