book cover of Chain of Fools
 

Chain of Fools

(2015)
A Novella by

 
 
Modern love is hard to find. Liz Walker has pretty much given up on dating, until her boss and close friend Fletcher Raymond beguiles her into going on a dating show called Meet Your Mate. Liz is outraged at the very idea, but Fletcher wants to acquire the show for his growing production company, and he wants to test drive the concept before sealing the deal. Liz agrees only because he promises to let her make a documentary about Oscar Micheaux afterwards.
But she doesn't go willingly into the realm of reality dating. Liz concocts a plan to prove to Fletcher that only scurrilous losers resort to dating shows. She disguises herself to look like a Rodeo Drive hoochie mama so that if the guy is interested in her after her transformation, she can say "See? All men are the same, they're just looking to get a quick lay with a loose woman."
What she doesn't count on is meeting Romare Alexander, a very handsome and refined chef. She's impressed with him instantly, but even more when he shows up for their first date. He takes her to Disneyland, a place she adores. She changed into jeans, Nikes and a t-shirt and they have a ball.
Their next date is of her choosing and she takes him to the Santa Anita racetrack, a place he loves. Romare is surprised at how much fun they have because at first blush, she's not the kind of woman he likes. In fact, his brothers and his cousin goaded him into being on the show because he's so notoriously picky when it comes to the fairer sex. "Raquel", as she's calling herself, doesn't have the down-to-earth look and attitude her prefers, but there's something about her that gets to him.
It's time for their third and final date, and Liz can't think of a way to tell Romare that she's been stringing him along. She's terrified of what his reaction will be because she's actually fallen in love with him. She's sure that he'll think that she's nuttier than pecan pie and he'll drop her like a hot rock.
Romare is blissfully unaware of anything amiss until he catches a news show on CNN where Liz, devoid of her hoochie look, is being interviewed. He doesn't know why she chose to deceive him, but he thinks it has something to do with the bet his brothers made him about the outcome of the show. He's furious when he sees the real woman behind the facade because he's also fallen in love with Liz/Raquel and he hates the idea that she's made a fool of him.
Liz has made a discovery of her own, that Romare is somehow involved with Fletcher because she sees the two men leaving a posh Beverly Hills restaurant together, laughing and talking like two old friends. She also sees Fletcher hand him money, which convinces her that she's been set up.
The couple head for the final taping with similar intentions; they both planned on telling the other person off for old and new. But when Liz got a look at Romare, she couldn't do it. He had the same reaction to her; all the anger went away and he knew that whatever explanation she had, it wouldn't make him stop loving her. They went off together and talked everything over, including the fact that Fletcher was his cousin who really had been trying to get the two of them together and came up with the outlandish idea of the tv show.
Romare proposed and she accepted, with one caveat; they had to pay Fletcher back for his meddling!



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