She shook herself. Nathan and Tom and a crew had raced, probably wildly, across, the city to the airport and rushed right up to a security barrier – just to say goodbye. That was Nathan, alright. She remembered her agent, “Oh, Nathan met me at the airport ta say ‘goodbye,’ since I had to catch that last minute flight. Yes, yes, that’s okay. Tell them tis a deal.” and she had cut the connection before having to deal with any more questions.
[The retired American basketball star and his fan were the last team to arrive but this was a non-elimination leg]
CHAPTER 12 [Tenth Leg (Israel to Norway — Five teams remaining]
The Meet and Greet was going particularly well, she thought. There weren’t too many in the line, and everyone so far had only wanted an autograph, or a photograph, or to present them with some trinket. Marie sat beside her, busily signing an extra photograph. The security guard just behind them was alert but quite relaxed. The next pair of admirers bustled up as the handler gave them a nod. They were two women, both well-dressed; one in her thirties with shoulder-length, black hair, and the other in her forties with long honey-blonde hair, though both were currently grinning like teenagers.
The younger one spoke first. “May I ask you a personal question?”
Oh, oh, potential trouble, but keep smiling and use a neutral response. “You kin ask; I don promise ta answer, tho.”
The woman blushed. “What is Nathan Moore really like? I mean he is just so great on television, but that’s just television.”
For a moment Ariana stared. Fans paid up to five hundred dollars for a few minutes of time at a Meet and Greet; this was the first time anyone had asked her about Nathan first thing. They would usually gush about the Fantastic Race and then ask a question about Nathan. Thoughts spinning and flashing like fireflies caught in a whirlwind, she groped for a response, but all inspiration had evaporated, and she finally looked the woman in the eye and made the only answer she could think of. “If the UN ever holds a nicest person on the planet contest, you’ll know the vote’s been rigged if Nathan doesn’t get at least first runner-up,” Her chest had a sudden, heavy ache.
“Was he a good teammate?”
The ache grew worse, and she didn’t want to put a name to it. Her response was as hard as it was automatic; “Ta be askin for a better teammate would be tryin God’s patience.”
The other woman, a little older, who had been listening quietly broke in. “Are the two of you together at all? You and Nathan? If you aren’t, I’d like his phone number.”
She felt her face freeze, and wondered if the woman were serious.
She heard Marie laugh, prodding her into remembering the first rule of public relations for celebrities – unless the fan was downright crude or dangerous, just laugh to give yourself time to think. She forced a laugh and remembered she was an actress and tried to rise above the consternation. She stopped when she noted that the woman wasn’t laughing. “Well, Nathan is a dear, dear friend. He’s the president of my fan forum. But we aren’t – involved – or anything like tha.” The woman continued to look at her, and she scrambled for higher moral ground. “I don know if I should be givin Nathan’s number out ta a stranger, so I’ll hae to say…”
She heard Marie clear her throat and leapt immediately to the certainty that Marie was going to suggest the woman just join the Ariana Collins Fan Forum on-line and she could send messages right to Nathan any time, just like any other member. Without any conscious thought, her foot darted sideways to rap Marie smartly on the ankle. Marie swallowed her words, and rapped her back, which Ariana ignored.
The woman ignored the byplay or didn’t pick up on it. She bent down on the table, writing briefly on a small piece of paper. She handed it and a small photo to Ariana, who reached to take it automatically. “I understand. If you could just send that along, I would appreciate it.”
“I’ll see what I kin do,” Ariana replied, sounding cool, even to herself. After a few more minutes of small talk, the pair moved away and were replaced by a man pushing a small girl in a wheelchair across the stage. The girl looked wasted and drawn, but she was smiling angelically, as if all of her dreams had come true. Ariana rallied to smile back just as happily, pushing the previous encounter firmly to the back of her mind.
At the end of the Meet and Greet, as they were making their weary way back to the bus, Marie nudged her elbow. “Ya could hae just told her ta join the fan forum. Isna Nathan’s contact information there?”
“Me fan forum is no an on-line datin site,” said Ariana, a little more coldly than she might have wished. She walked just a trifle faster, wanting the sanctuary of the bus.
“What did she gae ya?”
Without thinking Ariana passed her the tokens she hadn’t bother to look at.
“Maureen McNamara,” Marie read, matching her pace. “Wi an address and phone number in California. And a picture….”
Ariana was suddenly aware that Marie was no longer beside her. She glanced over her shoulder, stopped, and then walked back. Marie passed her the small picture with a bemused look and no comment. Ariana looked at it. The photograph was unmistakably that of the woman. In a thong bikini. With no tan lines. And she obviously took exceptional care of herself, or had her pick of plastic surgeons. Ariana felt her cheeks go flush.
“You’ll hae ta tell me wha Nathan says when he sees tha,” Marie commented, drily.
Ariana’s cheeks were near blistering hot, and she hid the picture in her palm. “Nathan will be no interested in the likes o her.” she turned and headed even faster toward the waiting bus.
Marie hurried to catch her up. “Most men wouldna mind gettin a picture like tha.”
“Nathan isna like tha.”
“Really?”
“I know him.”
“An how well might tha be, then?”
Ariana mounted the bus steps and was turning to glare at Marie, when she was hugged, hard, by Cassie from behind. “We’re sorry! We just couldna wait! We watched while ya war busy. We kin play it agin. Team Number One! Ya set the new record! Ten o ten times! Oh, we are so proud o ya!”
Ariana found herself in her favorite chair with a cup of her favorite tea and was quietly watching as Linnae, Lavender and Cassie provided a running commentary on what was coming next on the show to Marie. It had been the most tiring; no, brutal, set of tasks, and then had come… the after. She had not noticed anything of the next two hours, and shook herself, startled, out of her deep introspection by Marie’s touch on her shoulder. “How did ya ever make it through tha obstacle course in less than a minute?” Marie asked, staring at her. She shrugged, hating to have to let go of the marvelous memory, “I just thought o it as Madam Telema’s dance class, and didn’t want anyone ta think I couldna do it.” As Marie shook her head and turned away, Ariana had a cold curdling in her stomach knowing she had just been less than totally honest to her friend – she had made it through because Nathan had been cheering her on and she hadn’t wanted to disappoint him.