{"id":59665,"date":"2025-03-16T06:14:46","date_gmt":"2025-03-16T10:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/?p=59665"},"modified":"2026-06-24T10:29:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T14:29:00","slug":"a-matchmaker-named-natasha-chapter-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/la-marieuse-sappelait-natasha-chapitre-5\/","title":{"rendered":"A matchmaker named Natasha - Chapter 5"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

I quickly forgot the matchmaker\u2019s good advice. Would I be recognized at every street corner? It had never even crossed my mind. The former philosophy teacher certainly had the means to treat me to brunch at the Ritz, and that\u2019s just dandy. But a woman like me doesn\u2019t go unnoticed; the matchmaker should\u2019ve warned me to be more discreet, at least in the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013\u00a0\u201cYes, Natasha. I should\u2019ve avoided the Ritz and the places I used to go to in my days as a businesswoman so I wouldn\u2019t be recognized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public personalities often find it harder to meet people who are genuinely interested in them as a person, rather than in their social life or bank account. If the redhead hadn\u2019t recognized me, with my fictitious name, the ma\u00eetre d\u2019 served my real identity to him on a silver platter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seated in front of me at the table, this first suitor acted as though he had no idea who I was. A regular at the Ritz himself, he asked me a few basic questions such as \u201chave you ever been married?\u201d \u201cAre you widowed or single, and since when?\u201d \u201cDo you still work?\u201d And so forth. He eventually suggested we move to the hotel bar, adjacent to the lobby, for a digestif. And I accepted!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013\u00a0\u201cLimoncelli, amaretto, cognac, port or Mandarine Napol\u00e9on liqueur?\u201d
\u2013\u00a0\u201cI\u2019d really like a third latte, please. I don\u2019t like alcohol very much, but I love coffee!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comfortably seated on the grand hotel\u2019s new blue couch, the redhead man is talking about travel. He shows me his plane ticket, destination Dubai. Although I\u2019ve had three lattes, my mind and heart dry up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013\u00a0\u201cWhen are you leaving,\u201d I ask, to make conversation.
\u2013\u00a0\u201cOn Thursday, in exactly 5 days!\u201d he replies enthusiastically.
\u2013\u00a0\u201cWhen do you get back?\u201d
\u2013\u00a0\u201cI have an open ticket. Maybe it will depend on you!\u201d
\u2013\u00a0\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d
\u2013\u00a0\u201cLet\u2019s rent a room and have a bit of fun!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YUCK, YUCK and again, YUCK! HELP!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back at home, I kneel and thank the great Manitou and all their angels for saving me from disgrace. A few days later, I tell Natasha about my breakfast at the Ritz and she blames me for not listening to her warning to keep away from spending too much time in his company. I spent nearly five hours with the handsome Casanova!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The matchmaker suggests a second candidate. She cautions me that he\u2019s a very nice man but tremendously miserable. The wife he adored passed almost a year ago and his three daughters, all musicians, insist that their father rekindle his joy for living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since I\u2019m more familiar with the process now, I agree to meet this second shiny knight. Would these daughters have an orchestra conductor for a father? I can\u2019t wait to hear a bit of music!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I take Natasha\u2019s advice and we have an initial telephone conversation. Everything seems to be going well! Not a single false note. I\u2019ll try my luck and meet the next promising candidate in person. To my surprise, I learn that he resides just a dozen kilometres away from me. He texts me the address of a restaurant a good distance away, in Laval. Did his daughters pick the place?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I arrive first and look for an inconspicuous table to hide at. A waiter with a long black apron appears and offers me something to drink while I wait for my date. I order a large coffee, with two creams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013\u00a0\u201cTell me, young man, where is the washroom?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I return to the table, an elderly bald man is struggling to stand up to shake my hand. Yet he squeezes my hand so firmly that I\u2019m certain he\u2019ll keep it forever! I immediately get the sense that, in his place, a few tears are instead speaking to me. I try to be nice, but the words coming out of my mouth drown in sorrow. He\u2019s forgotten his reading glasses, and so I read him the menu. He suddenly remembers that during his last visit there with his dear deceased wife, they\u2019d both eaten shepherd\u2019s pie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019ll be shepherd\u2019s pie for Mr. Bernard, and for me, singlehood until I\u2019m a hundred!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TO BE CONTINUED.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cora
\u2764\ufe0f<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I quickly forgot the matchmaker\u2019s good advice. Would I be recognized at every street corner? It had never even crossed my mind. The former philosophy teacher certainly had the means to treat me to brunch at the Ritz, and that\u2019s just dandy. But a woman like me doesn\u2019t go unnoticed; the matchmaker should\u2019ve warned me to be more discreet, at least in the beginning. \u2013\u00a0\u201cYes, Natasha. I should\u2019ve avoided the Ritz and the places I used to go to in my days as a businesswoman so I wouldn\u2019t be recognized.\u201d Public personalities often find it harder to meet people who are genuinely interested in them as a person, rather than in their social life or bank account. If the redhead hadn\u2019t recognized me, with my fictitious name, the ma\u00eetre d\u2019 served my real identity to him on a silver platter. Seated in front of me at the table, this first suitor acted as though he had no idea who I was. A regular at the Ritz himself, he asked me a few basic questions such as \u201chave you ever been married?\u201d \u201cAre you widowed or single, and since when?\u201d \u201cDo you still work?\u201d And so forth. He eventually suggested we move to the hotel bar, adjacent to the lobby, for a digestif. And I accepted! \u2013\u00a0\u201cLimoncelli, amaretto, cognac, port or Mandarine Napol\u00e9on liqueur?\u201d\u2013\u00a0\u201cI\u2019d really like a third latte, please. I don\u2019t like alcohol very much, but I love coffee!\u201d Comfortably seated on the grand hotel\u2019s new blue couch, the redhead man is talking about travel. He shows me his plane ticket, destination Dubai. Although I\u2019ve had three lattes, my mind and heart dry up. \u2013\u00a0\u201cWhen are you leaving,\u201d I ask, to make conversation.\u2013\u00a0\u201cOn Thursday, in exactly 5 days!\u201d he replies enthusiastically.\u2013\u00a0\u201cWhen do you get back?\u201d\u2013\u00a0\u201cI have an open ticket. Maybe\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":414,"featured_media":59666,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lettre-mme-cora"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":7}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/414"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59665"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82761,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59665\/revisions\/82761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chezcora.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}