All the characters in this story except Emily Barton and Bill Thompson belong to Rupert Holmes and AMC. This is just a fanfic and no infringement is intended. This story takes place a week after You Met Your Match.
"Hilary, why won’t you have dinner with me? We need to talk about us," Jeffrey Singer asked his ex wife as Hilary walked from Betty’s office to studio A.
"Jeffrey, how many times have I told you? I will not go out with you, and there is no us. There hasn’t been an us ever since that you married that Czech tart," Hilary re-explained to her ex husband for the umpteenth time as she tried to walk away from him.
"But, Hilary..." Jeff continued to try to convince her,but the door to studio A hit him in the face.
"No buts. Jeffrey, the next time I go out with you is when hell freezes over. If you ask me again, you will get another black eye. I’m sure Pavla Nemkova would love to see her husband with two black eyes. Now if you excuse, I have to be on the air," she replied with her usual demeanor toward her ex as Mackie, Maple, Eugenia, Mr. Foley and Mr. Eldridge joined Hilary in the studio for "This Girl’s Kinfolk." C.J. signaled the group in the studio to begin the broadcast. Jeff sighed and walked out of the studio.
"Hey, Sherwood, how’s the eye?" Jeff asked Scott as he came out of the green room.
"O.K., still hurts a little. How you doing with Hilary?" Scott replied.
"At least she's talking to me now. Last week, she was ignoring me. Every time I ask her out, she turns me down," Jeff answered Scott with a note of sadness in his voice.
"Jeff, you need to get out and get your mind off Hilary. Why don’t you ask Maple or Betty if they have any friends who might have dinner with you? Maybe if you get back into the game again, you would be happier," Scott suggested to Jeff.
Jeff was about to turn down Scott’s idea, but then he decided not to. "You know, Scott, that isn’t a bad idea. I do need to get my mind off Hilary. Maybe it would make her a little jealous to see me out with other women" Jeff said to Scott as he smiled, thinking about the ways to make Hilary jealous.
"You're learning, Singer," Scott replied with a laugh as he clapped Jeff on the shoulder and headed to studio B.
As Jeff turned around, he saw Betty coming out of the manager’s office. "Hey there, Betty, got a question," Jeff said.
"Sure, what?" she responded.
"I’m sure you know that my relationship with Hilary hasn’t been the best lately. Scott suggested that I start seeing other women. So, I was wondering if you have any single friends that might want to have dinner with me some time," Jeff explained to Betty, hoping that she would help him.
"I don’t know, Jeff. I don’t think you are the type that my friends are looking for," Betty replied.
"Please, Betty, I need to get my mind off Hilary. The more she turns me down, the more she stays in my mind. I will do anything. Just set me up with somebody," Jeff pleaded with Betty with a lost puppy dog look on his face.
"Fine, Jeff. Give me time to ask around my building. I will let you know in a few days," Betty replied.
"Thank you, Betty! You're a lifesaver. Don’t tell Hilary," Jeff responded with a smile on his face and a new energy in his body.
"Mum's the word," Betty answered Jeff.
The next day, Hilary noticed that Jeff had stopped his daily date begging. That seemed very odd to her. She saw Jeff studying his script for Rance Shiloh. "Jeffrey, I'm curious. Why haven’t you asked me out yet?" Hilary asked him.
"I've decided to stop, Hilary. You keep turning me down. I've decided that it is not worth it anymore. I'm done with torturing myself over you, Hilary. Now if you excuse me, I have to be on the air," Jeff replied.
"Well, Jeff, if that you feel, fine with me," Hilary responded, hiding her disappointment from Jeff.
As she was mentally pushing the sad thoughts to the back of her mind, she saw Scott walking down the hall and had an idea. Inwardly, Hilary needed Jeff’s daily date begging to keep reminding her of his mistake. But outwardly, she hid her true feelings.
"Scott Sherwood, just the man I wanted to see," Hilary declared with a dramatic air.
What do you want, Hildy?" Scott asked her suspiciously.
Hilary ignored the use of the hated name. "I need a favor from you. Jeffrey has decided that he doesn’t need to beg me for dates anymore. So, if he isn’t interested anymore, I will have to find a way to re gain his interest. Maybe you could get me a date with one of your friends?"
"I don’t know, Hilary. You wouldn’t be interested in my friends," Scott answered her.
"Scotty, what if I sweetened the offer, maybe with some extra money, maybe for you to take Betty out?" Hilary asked, taking advantage of his weakness toward money and Betty.
"Fine, Hilary, give me a few days," Scott answered her.
"And Scotty, not a word to Jeff," Hilary told her conspirator.
"Not a word," Scott repeated.
Several days later, Jeff approached Betty in the writer’s room.
"Betty, do you have a date for me?" Jeff asked her nervously.
"Actually I do. There's this girl in my building, Emily Barton. She just got out of a relationship. When I described her to you, she seemed interested. But she won’t go on blind date. Apparently, that's how she met her last boyfriend. So, we are going to lunch tomorrow at the buttery and she is going to meet me here. How does that sound?" Betty replied.
"Betty, you are a lifesaver. You don’t how much you improved my day," Jeff answered her.
Unknown to Betty and Jeff, Hilary and Scotty were in the green talking about the exactly same thing.
"So, Scotty, what man have you chosen for me?” Hilary asked.
"It wasn’t easy, but I found somebody. His name is Bill Thompson. He is a good guy, Hilary. He just got out of a relationship. But, he is wary about blind dates. I invited him to go to the Buttery for a beer after work tomorrow. Make sure you're here," Scott replied.
"You know, Scotty, you aren’t so bad after all," Hilary told him.
"What about the money you promised me?" Scott inquired.
"Here you go," Hilary replied as she pulled out several dollar bills from her purse.
"Thanks, Hildy...I mean Hilary. You just made my day," Scott told her he counted the money with a child like grin on his face.
The next day, a young blonde woman entered the station. "Excuse me, my name is Emily Barton. I'm supposed to have lunch with Betty today," the woman told Gertie, who was sitting at her desk, eating lunch.
"I'll call her," Gertie replied as she turned around to the board and placed the call. "Betty, Emily Barton is here. Is she a sponsor?" Gertie asked.
"No, Gertie, she' s my friend. We are just having lunch together. Tell her that I will be out in a second," Betty replied.
Gertie turned around, faced Emily and said, "Betty will be out in a few minutes. Make your self comfortable."
Several minutes later, Betty was finished with her work. She took her jacket and bag off the rack. As she was heading toward the lobby, she saw Jeff coming out the men’s room. "Jeff, Emily is waiting for me in the lobby. You want to meet her now or after we come back from lunch?" she asked.
"I'll meet her now," Jeff answered.
As Betty and Jeff go to the lobby, Jeff told himself to keep calm. "Hi, Emily, sorry, I had to finish up some work," Betty told her friend.
"It's ok. Who is this?" Emily responded to Betty as she looked at Jeff.
"Emily, this is Jeff Singer, the guy I told you about," Betty replied.
"It's nice to meet you, Jeff. Betty did a perfect job of describing you," Emily said to Jeff as her stomach grumbled
"It sounds like we should get going. It was nice meeting you, Jeff. If you want to call me, Betty can give you my phone number." Then the two women walked out the door.
"So, Jeff, what are you planning?" Gertie asked with a knowing smile on her face.
"Gertie Reece, I am not telling you one word about it," Jeff answered her with a huge smile on his face.
Later that day, a man walked into the station. This time, Maple sat at the receptionists’ desk reading a magazine. The man looked at Maple with a very interesting look. "Excuse me. I'm looking for Scott. He said that he had a woman who was interested in eating dinner with me. Are you her?" the man asked, with a tone of flintiness in his voice.
"I don’t think so, but if you're interested..." Maple began to flirt back, but Hilary cut her off.
"Maple, do me a favor and stop flirting. It shows your true nature," Hilary told Maple, with her usual demeanor.
You know, Hilary, he isn’t even my type," Maple replied as she got up and headed for the green room.
"Sorry about that. Maple sometimes forgets that this isn’t the red light district. You must be Bill. Scotty told me all about you. I am Hilary Booth, of course," Hilary said.
"It's nice to meet you, Hilary. Where is Scotty? He said that we would go out for a beer," Bill asked.
"Right here. Sorry, I was asking Betty out again and, as usual, she turned me down. There's always next time. I see you met Hilary," Scott said to Bill.
"Scott Sherwood, pining for one woman. That is truly a miracle from heaven. And I have met Hilary," Bill replied.
"You ready to get going?" Scott asked.
"Yeah. It was nice to meet you, Hilary. How would you like to have dinner sometime?"
"I don’t see why not. Here's my number. Call me," Hilary told Bill as she wrote down her home number and gave it to Bill.
"I certainly will do that," Bill replied as Scott pulled him out the door.
That next Friday, both Hilary and Jeff seemed different. Jeff walked around with a big goofy smile on his face, while Hilary was uncommonly nice to everybody, including Gertie. Both Scott and Betty knew the reason, but unknown to each other, they both held the same secret.
"Hey, Betty, have you noticed that Hilary and Jeff are acting strange today?" Scott asked her as he stepped into the writer’s room to pick his script for Bedside Manor. Betty answered him with an uh huh, but Scott knew that she was hiding something. "Wait a minute. You know something? Do you know what I think you know?" he asked her pryingly.
"Scott, I promised Jeff that I wouldn’t tell anybody, and that includes you," she replied, but Scott knew that she knew something.
"C’mon Betty Roberts, I'll tell you my secret if you tell me yours," Scott responded, hoping that she would tell.
Betty kept telling herself not to tell Scott, but she knew that she had to tell somebody, so she decided to let her guard down and tell him. "Fine, but you won’t tell anybody. Promise me."
"Sherwood’s honor," Scott replied.
"I set Jeff up with one of my girlfriends from my building. He practically begged. Your turn, Scott, and tell the truth," she said.
"What’s fair is fair. Hilary saw that Jeff had stopped asking her out, so she told me to find a date for her. I was going to say no, but she gave me money. You know me, Betty. I can’t turn down money. I set her up with one of my buddies," Scott explained as he got an idea and turned on the charm.
"You know, Betty, with the money Hilary gave me, I have enough to take someone out to dinner. Maybe you would like to help me spend the money."
"Scott, absolutely not," she told him as the phone rang and she picked it up. Scott was about to ask her out again, but decided not to. He picked up the script and walked out of the room. There was always next time.
That Friday, Jeff took Emily to the Commodor. Both Emily and Jeff were unaware that Bill and Hilary were several tables down. As soon as they sat down, the waiter brought them their menus. "So, Emily what do you do for a living?" Jeff asked.
"I work at Dart Publishing. I read manuscripts," she told him as the waiter came over to take their food order.
"Oh, sounds interesting," Jeff replied.
"It is. I read this very interesting manuscript the other day. The author of this manuscript was an assistant costumer at MGM several years ago. He talks about how they made the costumes for all the big movies like Gone With The Wind and The Wizard of Oz. He met Judy Garland and Clark Gable and all these big stars. Very engaging. I almost got into it, but I caught myself before my boss did," Emily explained. Just then their food came. They talked more over dinner and found that they had a lot in common.
Several tables down, Bill and Hilary were also having dinner. "So, Hilary, Scotty told me that you worked in theater for a few years. What was that like?" Bill asked.
"It was interesting. You get to see the country, meet different people. I enjoyed it," she replied as she took a bite of the food.
"Did you spend some time in New York?" he asked her.
"A few years. I miss it sometimes, but Pittsburgh has its own way of sneaking into your heart," she explained.
"I know," Bill replied. "I'm originally from Philadelphia. It’s not as big as Philly, but I like this place. It’s a nice mix of a town and a city." The music started and Bill and Hilary got up to dance, while Jeff and Emily did the same.
The music played for a few minutes. As the music stopped and the crowd dispersed to their tables, Hilary saw Jeff, and calmly walked over to Jeff and Emily’s table. Bill followed her. "Jeffrey, what are you doing here?" Hilary asked him, thinly veiling her anger and jealousy.
"I'm just enjoying an evening out with a date," Jeff explained as he reveled in Hilary’s reaction as Bill came over.
"Emily, what are you doing here and with another man?" Bill asked jealously.
"Bill, I'm enjoying an evening with a date. We agreed to see other people, remember?" she replied calmly while she looked at Hilary and she realized that Bill was on a date too. A wave of jealousy washed over her, but she pushed it away.
"Emily, we need to talk alone," Bill told her as he pulled her away from the table to an isolated corner away from Hilary and Jeff.
"Bill, if I remember correctly, you said that we should see other people, not me," Emily said to Bill.
"Em, I know that, but I miss you. I can’t stop thinking about you, honestly. Please, don’t leave me," Bill pleaded with Emily.
She was about to turn him down, but something about the way he said it made her change her mind. Her face softened, and she said to him "I missed you too, Bill." They hugged and shared a kiss.
Back at the table, a very annoyed Hilary said to Jeff "Well, Jeffrey, you have done it again. You'd better bring a bodyguard to work, because you never know if you will return home alive." She walked back to the table she and Bill had shared, picked up her bag and jacket, and walked out. When she passed the table where the astonished Jeff still stood, she hit him intentionally with her bag.
A second after Hilary walked out, Bill and Emily walked back to the table, holding hands and smiling. "Thank you, Jeff, for making me realize how much I missed Bill," Emily said.
"Yeah, thanks. We really appreciate it," Bill told Jeff, while the men shook hands and Emily gathered their things.
"No problem," Jeff replied, hiding his disappointment as Bill and Emily walked out. Then the waiter handed Jeff the check. Jeff groaned inwardly as he pulled the money out of his wallet for both tables. Jeff gave the money to waiter, told him to keep the change, pulled his jacket on and walked out.
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