Eleanor was short, skinny, and had an unremarkable face topped with a full head of extremely frizzy black hair. She had known from a very early age that she could never hope to be a model, but she hadn’t let that stop her from wanting to become a part of the modeling world.
After dreaming her way through school and college, Eleanor came away with no qualifications except a heap of enthusiasm. She had entered her present job right at the bottom of the career ladder. In fact, if she was honest with herself, she didn’t even have a foot on the first rung. But that was fine with her, she’d always been a solid “both feet firmly on the floor” kind of girl anyway. Right now she was fetching drinks and making phone calls, but she was so efficient at these seemingly menial tasks that everyone at Cardiff Mode loved her.
Unfortunately, that included Derek Leeming, Cardiff Mode’s leading lecher.
“Looking gorgeous as always, Eleanor!”
“Thanks, Derek,” she replied, forcing a smile to her lips. Damn, why is he always there when the elevator doors open? If Derek had even an ounce of genuineness about him, she might have liked him. He was romance-novel handsome with his slightly too long dark, wavy hair; pumped up biceps; and slim hips, but unfortunately he was afflicted with a smarmy disposition. Derek was under the impression that all women adored him, when in fact most women tried to run in the opposite direction when they saw him.
“Heavy night last night, was it?” he drawled suggestively.
“Er, no, I’m just running a little late, that’s all. I’ll see you later, Derek, I really have to go.”
“Drinks at Harper’s after work?” he called at her retreating back. Eleanor pretended not to hear him and made a mental note to avoid Harper’s like the plague as soon as she finished her shift. She raced to Jake’s office and made it with two minutes to spare.
“Afternoon, Sunshine!”
“Jake, I’m so sorry! I had a heck of night last night … ”
Jake waved his arms vaguely and Eleanor cut off her explanation, smiling gratefully at the man standing in front of her.
If ever there was a man worthy of drooling over, it was Jake Morrison. Jake had started out as a model and had been at the top of his game for four years before taking early retirement. He had thick blond hair that teased the collar of his designer shirt, and his equally designer jeans hugged one of the cutest butts Eleanor had ever had the privilege of seeing. So to speak.
Unfortunately, as well as being drop-dead gorgeous, Jake was also gay. Eleanor might have been tempted to try and change his mind, but one, that never worked in the real world, and two, Jake was seeing an equally gorgeous male by the name of Danny Butler. It had taken Eleanor a while to get over the disappointment of realizing that the two most gorgeous men of her acquaintance were never going to look at her as anything more than a sister, but in the process she had made two of the best friends she had ever had.
“Have I told you lately that I love having you for a boss?” she sighed.
“Yesterday, I believe,” snorted Jake. “And I’m not your boss, anyway.”
“Every single person who works here is my boss, Jake,” she pointed out.
“Ah, that may be so, sweetie, but you have to start somewhere.”
“I know. I’m not really complaining, Jake. I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”
“Darling, you really need to try a new bed. It’ll do wonders for your state of well-being.”
“Jake, I don’t need a new bed.”
“Oh, not at your house, sweetie, I mean someone else’s bed. You’ve been single for far too long.”
“Pish, not that again,” said Eleanor airily. “I’m fine the way I am.”
“Darling, having a cat for a bedmate is not my idea of ‘fine’. You need a nice strapping lad to fill the position. I’d lend you mine, but I’m not willing to share.”
“Shame,” teased Eleanor. “Anyway, as you’re my boss, shouldn’t you be ushering me towards the door round about now?”
“Nah, we’ve got plenty of time before Dumb and Dumber arrive.”
“Jake, you really shouldn’t be calling Cardiff Mode’s two top models ‘Dumb’ and ‘Dumber’. Especially seeing as they are both far from being dumb. And I thought you told me nine o’clock?”
“I know, but it annoys them and I get lots of lovely smoldering looks when I’m clicking away. And I said nine because I need them here by ten. Brainier than the average blonde they may be, but they aren’t the best time-keepers.”
“Sly, Jake, very sly.”
“As always, darling. Say, now that we have the time, what’s say we grab a coffee at Starbucks? They have a fabulous new muffin that I’m dying to try.”
Jake was a huge muffin fan, and consequently Eleanor knew most of the staff at the neighboring Starbucks by their first names. She also knew when they were trying out new muffins.
“Voila!” she said, pulling a paper bag from her fashionably large carryall.
“Darling, I love you!” said Jake dramatically, grabbing the bag and blowing a kiss at her.
“And here I thought it was me you truly loved,” sighed Danny as he entered the office. “Ooh, are those muffins?”
Eleanor giggled as both men reached into the bag and extracted a still-warm muffin each, biting into them simultaneously and sighing blissfully.
“What’s the occasion?” asked Danny, finishing his muffin in three quick bites and reaching for another.
“I missed breakfast,” replied Eleanor, quickly grabbing a muffin for herself before they all disappeared.
“Oh darling, I forgot, it’s Tuesday! No wonder you were late,” said Jake in his best brotherly-concern voice. “And how was Agatha?”
Eleanor rolled her eyes and snorted at the same time. Ever since Jake had learned the name of her ex-stepmother, he had taken to calling her “Agatha”. Obviously, the link with the famous author had been evident, but Jake had coined the nickname primarily because being called “Agatha” drove Christie up the wall.
“Same as usual,” she said.
“Sweetie, have another muffin,” said Jake gravely. “You need it more than I do.”
“You really have to do something about her, Ella,” added Danny. Jake and Danny had decided that “Eleanor” was too serious a name for their friend, and had dutifully renamed her “Ella” in the spirit of keeping her “young”.
“I know,” replied Eleanor. “I shouldn’t let her get to me. Usually it’s water off a duck’s back, but last night she was even more annoying than usual.”
“There aren’t enough muffins,” stage-whispered Jake. “We’re going to need emergency back-up.”
“Malteasers?” Danny whispered back, waggling his eyebrows.
“Oh, definitely. In the bottom drawer.”
“Oh dear, do I look that stressed?” asked Eleanor.
“You look gorgeous, darling, as always. This is for your inner beauty. We like you better when you are happy and beautiful on the inside as well as the outside. And nothing brings happiness like a chocolate-covered ball.”
“Speak for yourself,” quipped Eleanor, and was rewarded with two matching wicked grins.
Danny pulled out a large box of Malteasers from behind Jake’s desk and shoved them beneath Eleanor’s nose.
“There’s still over half an hour before we have to leave,” said Jake. “Tuck into those, and we’ll soon have you feeling right as rain.”
Grinning widely, Eleanor did as she was bid. After all, who was she to argue with two pairs of blue eyes sparkling cheekily at her?
• • •
The photo shoot went predictably well. Jake and Danny were two of the most talented people on the planet as far as Eleanor was concerned, and when you put them together with a couple of models, a camera, and a ba
g full of makeup, you ended up with magic. Jake had followed his amazing modeling career with an equally amazing photography career, while Danny’s expertise with a makeup palette was unsurpassed.
Jenni Hope and Heather Kennedy were Cardiff Mode’s top two models. Both were classically beautiful blondes with the required legs up to their armpits, non-existent boobs and toothy grins. Unlike most models, though, they were fabulously down to earth. Just as well, really, because Jake and Danny ribbed them for the entire shoot.
“Dumb, you need to look towards me, darling! And Dumber, bend over a tad, there’s a good girl. And squash your arms together a bit, the boys like a little cleavage. That’s the spirit!”
“It’s a good job the boys like a little cleavage, because that’s all I’ve got,” snorted Jenni half an hour later.
“Yeah, tell me about it,” said Heather, giggling. “God may have given me legs to die for, but my boobs apparently already died before they’d finished growing.”
“You can have some of mine, if you like,” offered Eleanor. Truthfully, she was rather proud of her cleavage. She wasn’t overly large in the chest area, but because she was so slim everywhere else, it looked like she had the boobs of Jessica Rabbit.
“They’re wasted on you,” said Jenni, eyeing Eleanor’s chest a little enviously. “All you ever wear are sweaters and jackets. You want to get a low-cut top and an underwire bra. I would, if I were you.”
“Jenni, if I put these puppies into an underwire bra, I’d be walking around blind.”
“Oh, to have a problem like that,” sighed Heather.
“Girls, girls, enough of the breast conversation, please! You’re putting me off my work.”
“Ah, put a sock in it, Jake. You’re done playing with your camera for today; go digitalize them, or whatever it is that you do with them. Jenni and I are taking Ella for bite to eat.”
“You are?” asked Eleanor.
“Make sure it’s more than a bite, there’s a good girl. Our Ella had an exhausting evening last night and she needs her strength built up again.”
“Ooh, you’ll have to tell us over lunch,” said Heather, a mischievous glint in her eye.
“Don’t get excited, I had an evening with Cruella De Ville last night, that’s all.”
“Oh dear. We’ll get you a cream cake to cheer you up,” said Jenni, linking her arm through Eleanor’s.
“You’re on.”
• • •
Lunch with the girls lifted Eleanor’s spirits no end. She was still giggling when she returned to Jake’s office, and was even too happy to be annoyed with Derek when he tried accosting her outside the elevator.
The afternoon was spent making copious amounts of coffee and running messages between the offices. Cardiff Mode’s computers were notorious for breaking down, so Eleanor was usually to be found running around in the form of a human email. By the time four o’clock arrived, Eleanor had never been so thankful that it was tea break.
“I’m sure people wait until the computers crash and then decide they need to send a million messages,” she groaned, taking her shoes off and rubbing her feet.
“Coffee round finished?” asked Jake sympathetically.
“Yeah, everyone on the floor has been served with a steaming brew. Now it’s my turn.”
“There you go, sweetie, I made one already. Thought you might need it.”
“Thanks, Jake.”
Eleanor sipped the hot beverage gratefully and stretched her toes.
“Did you manage to get everything you wanted from the shoot?” she asked idly.
“What a question,” said Jake in mock-horror. “As if I could leave a shoot without at least a hundred fabulous photos.”
“I know,” grinned Eleanor. “I just love it when you raise your eyebrows.”
“Beast,” he muttered affectionately.
Jake spent the next ten minutes showing Eleanor the shots he had chosen to print up for his portfolio. As usual, he had managed to catch Jenni and Heather in all of their fabulous glory. Jake refused to allow any “touch-ups” to his pictures, and was gifted enough with his camera to get away with it.
“The girls will be pleased,” said Eleanor.
“Of course they will. When have I ever not pleased them?”
Eleanor grinned, drained her cup with regret, and stood up.
“Only another hour or so, and then I can go home.”
“More messages to run?”
“Only the one, but I have to make copies for everyone first.”
“We’re all getting one?”
“Yes, from the M.D. I don’t think it’s anything to worry about, though. You know Mr. Lomax. His face always gives it away if it’s bad news and he was smiling like the proverbial Cheshire Cat when I saw him earlier.”
Blowing a kiss at Jake, Eleanor headed for the copier and pulled out the envelope that Mr. Lomax had pressed into her hands earlier that afternoon.
“Make sure you get a copy to everyone, there’s a good girl. Do it after the tea break if you can. I have a feeling everyone will be a little distracted when they’ve read it, and all work will be forgotten for the day.”
The words had sounded a little ominous, but Mr. Lomax’s eyes had been twinkling, so Eleanor hadn’t been worried. Now, as she switched on the copier, she opened the envelope with interest.
To: All Staff
From: Gerry Lomax, Managing Director, Cardiff Mode.
Subject: Retirement.
As I am sure most of you already know, my retirement is coming up in a few short weeks. Several of you have expressed an interest in taking over the reins, but as much as I have great faith in all of my staff, I feel that you all do such a marvelous job at the moment that it would be unwise to move you from your current positions.
To that effect, I have appointed Max Charming, former head of London Mode, as my successor. Mr. Charming has several years’ experience running a Mode office, and his recent relocation to Cardiff means that Cardiff Mode can take advantage of his expertise.
Mr. Charming will be arriving tomorrow morning, and will spend the following month shadowing members from every department. Please make your new Managing Director comfortable, and answer all of his queries as best as you can. I am sure you will find Mr. Charming an excellent man to work with. I have every faith that he can continue to make Cardiff Mode one of the topmost modeling agencies in the country.
“That’ll go down a treat,” she muttered as she fed the paper into the machine. Gerry Lomax was loved by all of the staff, and everyone was sad to see him retire. Of course, almost every department head had secretly hoped that they could move their things into the Managing Director’s office. Max Charming would be a blow to them all.
Still, Eleanor rather liked the idea of somebody new joining the team. Maybe they would offer her a promotion in the near future. Gerry was a great boss, but he didn’t like change. Eleanor would always be that “sweet little girl who makes the coffee and runs errands.” Maybe Mr. Charming would look a little closer and find that Eleanor Gibson was more than the office gopher. Maybe he would see that she also had plans for her future, plans that included all sorts of exciting things.
All right, she didn’t actually know what these exciting plans might be at the moment, but she was sure they would become clearer over the course of time.
Smiling at her inner rambling, Eleanor hit “copy” and began to daydream.
“Miss Gibson! Miss Gibson! Kerry Poole here from The Sun! How does it feel to be the owner of Britain’s top modeling agency?”
Eleanor, smoothly dressed and looking fabulous, laughed coyly before she replied.
“Oh, it’s just fantastic, Kerry. I’ve dreamed of this moment since I was a little girl. Of course, I can’t take all of the credit. I’ve had help fro
m some wonderful people over the years, and I wouldn’t be standing here talking to you now if it wasn’t for them.”
“Yeah, right,” snorted Eleanor, shaking her head. “This is why you failed your exams, Eleanor Gibson. Get your head out of the clouds. And stop talking to yourself.”
• • •
As predicted, work stopped for everyone as soon as they got their “emails”. Some of the staff were relieved that it was somebody new taking the helm, mostly because it meant that nobody would be rubbing their noses in failed applications, but a lot of the staff were worried at the idea of somebody unknown breathing down their necks.
The main topic of conversation at the habitual end-of-work meeting at the elevator was, of course, Max Charming.
“I’ve heard he’s a bit of a bastard,” said Derek, looking suitably worried.
“That’s funny, because Gerry seems to think he’s lovely,” said Jake.
“Yeah, I overheard him talking about this Charming feller last week,” piped up Susie. Susie Rawlings was PA to Gerry, and consequently was the required fountain of knowledge for the rest of the staff. “Come to think of it, I should have put two and two together at the time.”
“Slipping a bit there, Sus,” sniggered Jake. “We can’t have that. I need you to fill my gossip needs on an hourly basis, you know that, darling.”
“I still say I heard he was a bastard,” said Derek huffily.
“Don’t listen to Derek, he’s just jealous. I don’t know about his personality, but Max Charming is a stud. Dark hair, blue eyes, and a butt that brings new meaning to the word ‘squeezable’. Derek’s just got his nose out of joint because he knows all the ladies will be panting after the new guy.”
“Jake!” said Susie reprovingly.
“Excuse me, but women don’t pant.” added Eleanor.
“Trust me, you’ll be panting harder than dog on heat when you see this guy. He’s hot with a capital ‘H’.”
Better and better, thought Eleanor happily.
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A Heart to Heal Page 25