by Denise Irwin
Grant had scheduled the models for a dress rehearsal in the shop for the next day. It would be the last chance to see how well they walked. She certainly did not expect them to walk as well as the professional models did. Her concern was that they walk well enough for the judges to see her designs. Most designers hired just one or two models for the show, which required time in the dressing room, to change into the next outfit. Daniella couldn’t run the time risk, so she chose two models per outfit. Not only would Daniella’s plan save time, but if one of the models got the last minute jitters, the second one would be able to walk the runway.
Grant had entered the shop and was standing next to her. She was so engrossed in her designs she didn’t know he was there until he spoke.
“Bonjour Daniella.”
Daniella chuckled, “I was so focused that I didn’t hear you come in.”
Grant handed her a fresh cup of coffee, “What do you think?”
She took the coffee as she told him, “I think these are good, très bien.”
Daniella needed someone else’s opinion, so she asked the only person available to critique her designs. “Grant, I’ve walked through the mannequins twice this morning, would you please walk through them and give me your honest opinion?”
“Je serais ravi de Daniella.” Grant walked slowly through the mannequins assessing each one. He tilted his head to one side and placed a hand along his chin as he studied each. Daniella followed him as if she were a puppy looking for a treat. Grant walked through the mannequins a second time, and once again didn’t speak a word.
“Grant you’re killing me with suspense. Say something. Say anything. If they suck tell me that you think they suck.”
“Daniella, Ils sont magnifiques.”
Daniella closed her eyes before she spoke. “English Grant, tell me what you think in English.”
“I am so sorry; when I get excited you know that I revert to my native language. I said they are magnificent.”
“Does that mean we’re ready?”
“I believe it does other than seeing them on real people.”
“What time do our models arrive tomorrow?”
“I asked them to be here no later than 9:00 tomorrow morning. That would give Charlene time to make any last minute adjustments.”
“When the rest of the team arrives, please tell them that they have the day off. Would you join me for lunch?”
Grant hesitated before answering. Daniella had never asked him to join her for lunch. Thoughts raced through his head checking and rechecking every detail for the show. She would never be so bold as to terminate him two days before the biggest fashion show in all of France. “Thank you for your generous offer. Have I done something to offend you?”
“How could you think that? I want to discuss some backup options for the show in case we’ve missed something.”
Daniella spent the morning drafting new designs. If she did well in the show, it was likely the show would generate new design orders. While her thinking was a bit premature, it never hurt anyone to be prepared. Grant stuck his head into her office at 12:30.
“Daniella, shall we go for lunch?”
She chuckled, “I don’t know where the morning went. Of course, let’s go. It’s such a beautiful day, shall we walk?”
Before he answered, Grant thought to himself. What is it the Americans say about people they know who aliens take away in spaceships? He could not remember what they said exactly, but Daniella was not behaving normally in his mind; she had never invited him to join her for lunch.
“Yes, that is a marvelous idea. A walk in the fresh air would be nice.”
They stopped at a sidewalk café. Daniella ordered a bottle of wine as she perused the menu. Grant thought she had definitely gone over the edge ordering wine in the middle of the day.
“Grant, I think I’m going to order a salad so that I will fit in my own outfit, but please feel free to order whatever you like.”
“Merci, I believe I will have the quiche and a salad.”
Daniella saw that Grant was watching someone over her left shoulder. When she turned to see who it was, she saw an attractive young man. “Grant, do you know that young man you’ve been watching?”
“No, mademoiselle, I do not know him.”
“Well then, I tell you what, I’ll excuse myself to use the restroom. He appears to be dining alone, so while I’m gone, go over and talk with him.”
Shocked by her suggestion he told her, “Daniella that would be most inappropriate on my part.”
“Has he been watching you?”
Grant’s cheeks turned deep red in color. “Yes, he has.”
“Then if you’ll excuse me, I need to use the restroom.”
Daniella looked back to see that Grant did not need to approach the young man in question because as soon as she left the table, he rose from his chair, and walked to Grant.
On her way to the restroom, Daniella spied the love of her life dining at an indoor table. When she approached his table, she saw that he was dining with a beautiful woman. She thought nothing of it until she saw the disturbed look on Michal’s face.
Michal stammered as he stood to greet her, “Daniella, what a surprise.”
She wasn’t sure what to say to him after his alarming look. “Grant and I are having lunch outside.”
Michal made no move to introduce her to the woman he was dining with, so she stuck her hand out and introduced herself, “Hello, I’m Daniella McPherson.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you Daniella, my name is Samanta Laroque.”
Michal said nothing. He sat there with a dumfounded look on his face, so Daniella excused herself, “It was a pleasure to meet you as well. Enjoy this glorious weather.”
She was fuming by the time she returned to her table. Grant saw a disturbed look on her face, so he asked, “Daniella has something gone wrong? You were so happy when you left to use the restroom and now you look angry.”
She sniggered, “Tell me about that young man. Did he ask for your number?
Grant blushed, “Yes he did. I invited him to the show.”
“Wonderful! Grant, do you know a woman by the name of Samanta Laroque?”
As if the sunny day had suddenly turned gray with looming clouds, he answered Daniella, “Yes I do. She is a designer with the House of Victoria. Why do you ask?”
“She’s having lunch with Michal.”
“Then I am sure it is a business luncheon.”
Daniella could tell by the forlorn look on his face that there was more to the story, but she didn’t press him for more. The show was more important to her than even Michal was. She needed to go over the show details with Grant. She’d deal with Michal and his lunch partner later.
When she and Grant were satisfied with the details, Daniella needed to use the restroom. “Grant, can you wait for a few minutes while I use the restroom?”
“Of course I can.” While he said nothing more, Grant knew finding Michal having lunch with another designer had unnerved her. Michal tended to be a womanizer and was often seen with other women. Grant had no idea what Daniella saw in him. In his mind, she deserved a better man in her life, but it was not his place to tell her what he thought. Grant thought the world of his boss. She was prone to being cranky and of course, she was a perfectionist, but so was he, so they worked well together. He sat quietly at the table thinking about Gaspard, the young man he had met today.
Daniella stole a quick glance at the table where Michal had been having lunch. He and Samanta had moved on to dessert. It looked like some sort of chocolate cake that they shared. Samanta was giggling over something. Daniella went to the ladies’ room without speaking to them. She felt certain that Michal had seen her as she was leaving, but she refused to acknowledge his existence. Grant was waiting at the table for her to return.
“Grant, please take a walk with me.”
When he stood, she laced her arm around his. Grant wasn’t sure what she wanted, so he pl
ayed along. They rounded the corner at the end of the block when Daniella couldn’t hold in what she needed to say any longer.
“Grant, I adore our working together.”
“Je le fais aussi bien.” In his mind, he begged her not to ask about Michal. If that is the direction she took, he could not lie to her. It was not because she was his boss it was because he truly liked her as a person.
“If I understood what you said, you agreed that you liked working with me.”
He chided her, “Daniella, we really must work on your French.”
Daniella giggled, “I’m sure that after living in France as long as I have it’s quite annoying that I still don’t have a handle on the language.”
“Daniella, I feel there is something you want to say or perhaps a question you want to ask. Please talk to me. This talking in riddles could take all afternoon.”
As they strolled along the sidewalk, Daniella asked, “Grant, Michal is a womanizer, isn’t he?”
“I am not sure how to answer that. Michal loves beautiful women. To him they are like candy that he cannot resist. Does that mean he does not have feelings for you? It may not. If you are asking a gay man for advice, I may not be the best choice.”
“Ah, Mon chéri, that may not be so. Surely you have been in love and found that your lover took many lovers that you were not aware of.”
Grant nodded his head in agreement. “C'est plus vrai et Oui, il m'est arrivé.”
“So then, what would you do if you were in my shoes?”
“Daniella, I do not think you should draw conclusions based on such little information. When the show is behind us, ask him what his intentions are. You spend many long hours in your office. Left on his own, Michal may feel that your shop is more important to you than he is.”
She thought about what he’d just said. Grant was right; she was jumping to conclusions on very little information.
Daniella laughed, “Grant, you may just be onto something. I’ll see you in the morning.” She gave him a hug and a light kiss on his cheek, before they left in opposite directions.
Daniella took a long walk contemplating her options with Michal. They were not married nor were they engaged. He had not invited her to live with him; instead she had wormed her way into his house. He hadn’t seemed to mind, but there was a chance she’d overstepped their relationship boundary lines. Perhaps she should return to living in her apartment after all; she was paying the rent and utilities on it. If she’d made Michal feel boxed, it was likely he would follow his roaming eyes. She considered returning to her apartment tonight and changed her mind. There was no reason to upset the apple cart before the show. She would act as if seeing him at lunch with a beautiful woman meant nothing to her, at least until after the show.
She stopped at a small grocery store where she purchased the items she’d need to prepare a decent dinner. Daniella could not remember the last time she’d prepared a meal for him. She and Michal ate out most nights. He would arrive home this evening to find her cooking dinner as well as excited about the show.
Before she started cooking, she took a shower after which she dressed in a pair of tight jeans that required her to lay across the bed on her back and suck her stomach in to zipper them up. She chose a soft pale blue silk blouse and a pair of sandals.
For dinner this evening, she chose scallops. She would sauté them in butter with garlic. Once sautéed, she would let the scallops simmer in a white wine sauce. Daniella would place them on top a pasta nest. While they simmered, she’d prepare a fresh salad with dried fruit and nuts.
Pleased with her choices so far, she set the table for two and watched the clock. Dinner preparation would begin about one-half hour before Michal returned from work. He should arrive no later than 7:00 that evening, so at precisely 6:30 Daniella lit the candles on the table. She searched through his kitchen for a cork screw. Once she uncorked the bottle of white wine she placed the bottle in an ice bucket to stay chilled. She rummaged through his kitchen looking for a sauté pan. When she found it, she lit the stove and sautéed her scallops and garlic.
Daniella was delighted with herself when the aroma filled the air. She poured herself a glass of wine, using some of the wine from the bottle to create the sauce. She would wait for Michal to arrive before she assembled the salad.
At 7:30, that evening, Daniella, poured herself another glass of wine. It was likely that Michal was working later than usual, but he’d be home soon. She took her second glass of wine into the living room where she sat on the sofa. At 8:00, Daniella turned the stove’s flame beneath her pan off. She left her scallops in the pan; they would reheat quickly when Michal came in. She blew the table candles out poured herself a third glass of wine and returned to her perch on the sofa.
She must have dozed off on the sofa. When she woke, the clock told her it was 10:15 and still no Michal. Daniella did something she’d never thought she would be capable of doing. She went into the bedroom and sniffed the pillowcases. There was a light scent of perfume on them. The perfume she inhaled was expensive. However, it was not her perfume.
At 10:30, Daniella left Michal’s house and drove to her apartment. She left the food in the pan, and the dishes on the table, along with the scented candles. That light whiff of perfume confirmed for her that Michal had been in that bed with another woman. She did not bother to pack her personal belongings since she could retrieve them later. She just wanted out of his house before he returned.
In her apartment, she let loose the tears in her heart. Daniella felt like a fool. Of course, Michal, a tremendously handsome man, would take more than one lover. She had no claim to him. He had played her and she suspected this was not recent behavior on his part. As sorrow led to anger, she stopped crying. She was no longer a child, so she needed to stop acting like one. If Michal wanted to pursue other women, he was free to do so. If she could not cope with his multiple affairs, the decision of what to do was hers and hers alone.
She lay awake in her bed thinking about his outrageous display of affection for other women, most recently, the woman he had lunch with this very afternoon. She told herself that she most certainly would not appear angry when they spoke next. Her self-confidence would not surrender itself to his actions. Two can play this game.
When she drifted off to sleep, she heard children chanting in her slumber, “Fat Fanny Danny” repeatedly. As a child, she had been squat and on the heavy side. The children in school had a great deal of fun by picking on her. She hated them. When she escaped to Paris, she left them far behind her. She hadn’t thought of them for years and now her subconscious had brought them back to life.
Daniella was in her office early the next morning. She and Grant had dress rehearsals this morning, and they required her full attention. She would deal with Michal later, much later. She chuckled when she thought to herself; I’ll deal with him when hell freezes over. She was not about to let him rain on her parade.
By the time Grant arrived, Daniella had managed to get her emotional state back in the box. She greeted him with a chipper. “Bonjour Grant.”
“Bonjour Daniella. How are you this morning?”
“I must say that I’m getting excited.”
Grant clapped his hands together. “I must confess that I am getting excited as well.”
“Grant I want to thank you for having lunch with me yesterday. The advice you gave me was invaluable.”
“Are you referring to advice about tomorrow’s show or Michal?”
“I think both.”
“It was my honor to help you.”
“Did that young man you met yesterday call?”
Grant flashed a huge smile and winked at Daniella, when he told her, “Oui mademoiselle, qu'il l'a fait.”
“That’s wonderful. I can’t wait to meet him at the reception after the show.”
Daniella’s statement had Grant’s cheeks blushing to a deep rose. How could anyone not love a man innocent enough to blush? She thought it was a damn s
hame that he was gay. If he weren’t, she’d have been tempted to make a pass at him.
Annette ducked her head into Daniella’s office, “Mademoiselle, the models are arriving.”
Daniella giggled, “I guess that means it’s show time. Annette, is Charlene here yet?”
“Oui mademoiselle, elle est.”
“Please ask her to help the models dress.”
Teaching their models how to walk down the runway, turn and walk back to the stage took up the bulk of the day. Grant had laid out a course on the lobby floor. He played the role of the presenter and announced the design category along with the outfit’s description.
Daniella was more than pleased with the models. She told Charlene, “You’ve done a great job on the outfits. Those custom sewn clothes will clinch the judges’ decisions.”
“Merci Daniella.”
“No, it is I who needs to thank you. Have you seen any outfit that needs an adjustment?”
“No I have not, have you?”
“I have not. Grant can you bring the models together for a moment?”
When the models gathered in the lobby, Daniella gave them a choice, “We can take a break for lunch and return to walk again, or if you are comfortable, we can call it a day.”
One of the models raised her hand. “Mademoiselle McPherson, how well did we do this morning?”
“In my opinion, all of you looked as though you had been modeling for years. I just want to make sure you feel confident before you walk the runway.”