‘OK!’ Natalie says with a wave of confidence. ‘I think I need to speak to Lauren at some point too, then! Instead of leaving for a smoothie, we’ll wait for Lindsey, because we’ve chatted on the phone a lot and I’d love to put a face to a name, even if it’s just to rearrange a time. In the meantime, while I just re-evaluate my notes, we’d love to offer you a hand massage or mini-makeover,’ Natalie beams a megawatt smile that I don’t think anyone could say no to.
‘Wow! Really? I don’t have my purse with me right now …’ Paige trails off, looking embarrassed.
‘No, no, it’s on us,’ I say, sensing it is my turn to take control, as I see Natalie has opened her laptop and is stealthily googling ‘Lauren Sharp Fierce Films’ to get the low-down on our new contender to woo.
I guide Paige back over to the other little reception sofa with one hand, carrying my kit in the other and asking what kind of beauty treatments she usually enjoys.
In no time at all, I’ve given Paige a mini eyebrow tutorial, plumped her lips with a few of my finest lip liner tricks and shown her how to colour-balance dark under-eye circles with orange or red lipstick. We are having a great time, and she’s shared that she’s new to the city from New Jersey, this is her first job out of community college and she misses her ‘mom’ a lot.
Something about her vulnerability mixed with her eagerness to learn makes me connect with her. I feel like I understand exactly how she feels.
‘I’m here with my aunt and my daughter for three weeks. If you want to come for a walk with us, or get some pasta or something, that would be lovely. My Auntie Kath is like a surrogate mum to me – maybe she could be a stand-in for yours, too! I know what it’s like to feel like a small person in a big world,’ I say, smiling at her, not noticing that Natalie and Lindsey are standing over me, waiting for me to finish.
‘Oh! Sorry! Ha! Just chatting. But also doing a few little make-up techniques on lovely Paige here. Who was listening out for the phones at the same time!’ I babble, suddenly feeling very exposed and like I’ve stepped over the mark.
‘You’ve done an amazing job, as always,’ Natalie says, smiling. ‘Lindsey, this is my Creative Director and star make-up artist, Robin Wilde. She worked with me on the film shoot when we were last over, actually saved the whole thing when I was struck down with a gastro problem.’
‘I’ve heard a lot about you, Robin,’ Lindsey says with a knowing smile, which makes me wonder if she means my whistle-blowing antics on set last time or my make-up artistry.
‘Aha! Thank you! I’m very pleased to be here,’ I say enthusiastically, regaining my composure and giving Paige a little wave goodbye as she goes back to her station.
Lindsey leads us through into a small side office, where I listen to Natalie talk shop for an hour or so and discuss the situation, her ideas, what MADE IT has been doing and achieving in the meantime. Scott joins us, and she semi-rehashes as he nods keenly.
‘Well, I know I’d absolutely love to have you guys involved again, but unfortunately the ball’s not in my court, ladies,’ Scott says, resigning himself to defeat.
‘No, we thought perhaps not. When could we arrange a meeting with Lauren, please?’ Natalie asks brazenly.
‘Ah, she’s always very busy,’ Lindsey stalls.
‘I know, at home when I’m running my office it’s a nightmare trying to fit people in, but I’m sure she’ll understand we’ve both travelled halfway across the world and Robin here, especially, has done such a lot for this company, and the industry, that it would be a shame to not squeeze us in,’ Natalie says, maintaining a steady gaze at the same time as a perfectly courteous smile. What a skill, what a woman!
‘Yes, absolutely, I’m sure. Let me go check with her assistant and I’ll be right back!’ Lindsey says, clearly a bit shaken.
Twenty-five minutes later, and Natalie’s scored a morning meeting with Lauren, Lindsey and Scott the next day and is having a nice chat with them about the best places to try yoga in Midtown. Amazing!
As I close the door behind me when we arrive ‘home’ that night, I suddenly feel exhausted. Natalie has stayed out to have an informal chat with Lindsey and Scott, but I’ve come home because the adrenaline that carried me through the day has worn thin and I’m having pangs for my actual home. For the sagging leather sofa and my crisp blue John Lewis sheets (a little treat to myself when I moved into the new house all those months back), for my favourite mug I have my tea in and for the luxury of shlubbing about in whatever I want without anyone seeing or judging. Not that anyone here would judge, but Natalie is still my boss, yanno?
Like a tonic, Lyla comes hurtling over. ‘Mummmyy! You’re home! You’ve been gone ages! Me and Kath went on the subway to Central Park. There’s a lake you can buy boats for, so we did and we rowed all the way into the middle. I actually think I saw sharks in there, but really quickly before Kath did. Lacey and Willow came too, but they didn’t come on the boat, which is good in case one of the sharks ate Willow, which would mean—’
‘Whoa, whoa, slow it down. I want to hear all about it but you’re on fast-forward and it’s too much. Let me get in the door and put my things down,’ I say, trying to edge past her just to have some breathing room. I feel like I’m home again. ‘OK. You went to Central Park, amazing, you took a boat out on the lake, also amazing, Lacey and Willow were there, triple amazing!’
‘I know! We did everything! We went into this big famous hotel that they have on that Christmas film about the little boy lost in New York, and we went down a gold escalator into the downstairs bit and bought ice creams,’ she starts up again, as Kath comes through from the kitchen smiling and perches on the arm of the sofa to listen to Lyla’s account of the day.
‘Well, now I’m jealous if you had ice creams in famous hotels!’ I say, pulling her in for a cuddle.
‘Yep! We had ice creams but we had lunch first – pizza! We ordered one pizza but it was massive, as big as this.’ She gestures with her arms as wide as they’ll go. ‘Then we wandered around, but that was boring and Willow didn’t care about shops and buildings, she wanted to go back to the park, I could tell, so we did. We went back into Central Park, which is massive, by the way, so it wasn’t the same bit of park, and we found this amazing slide that was so fast. Like, supersonic fast. Willow fell asleep while Kath was feeding her, so I had about fifty hundred goes on the slide while Lacey and Kath talked on and on and on for so long, I thought maybe that’s why Willow fell asleep!’ She giggles and takes a big breath from all that talking.
‘You cheeky monkey! I’m glad you had such a great day. I wish I’d come!’ I say into her hair as I pull her in tighter and then let go to look up at Kath. ‘Didn’t Lacey want to come back? Has she headed off to Piper’s?’
‘She has. It was such a wonderful day, we saw all the sights, didn’t we? I pushed Willow in her pushchair for most of it, and she was kicking her little legs, gurgling away! Lacey was looking a bit tired so I said she should go and look round all the posh department stores while I had the girls.’ She smiles.
‘Did you? Were you OK with two children in a big city? Very brave!’ I say, surprised.
‘Ooh, it was lovely. Willow is such a special baby, she reminds me so much of—’
‘Me!’ shouts Lyla, jumping off me and throwing herself into Kath, almost pushing her backward.
‘Of Miss Lyla Blue, yes!’ She squeezes her. ‘It was just lovely. I fed Willow two of her bottles. She loves them! I popped into one of the shops and picked out this little romper with a lacy trim round the legs like we used to have in the olden days. It was so darling, I had to buy it – lace for Lacey’s girl! And Lacey thought it was unique,’ she carried on.
‘Did she? That’s nice then,’ I say, starting to feel a bit jealous of how much Kath dotes on Willow, which is utterly ridiculous considering how incredible she is with Lyla and always has been. I’m clearly overtired and being a cow.
‘I think it was nice for her to get out and have a bit of
time for herself. Motherhood has been a shock to her system. Her hormones are all over the place; she feels like she should be overjoyed at finally being a mother, and then feels guilty for not being on cloud nine. She’s all at sixes and sevens, the poor thing. I really empathise.’ She sighs, and gives Lyla a bit of an extra squeeze.
I don’t think now is the time to tell her she means ‘sympathise’, not ‘empathise’, so instead, knowing Edward has a lot on and will be staying at his place tonight, I open my food delivery app (oh yes, I downloaded all the food apps on the first day), and start scrolling to see what we can have for dinner. Once again I think to myself, this city is fabulous.
TWENTY-ONE
TUESDAY IS A BIG day. Natalie is heading to her meeting with Lauren to negotiate our spot on the ad shoot. She knows that if she can establish our right to be there, it’s the first step to making sure they honour our contract for the big-money film work. But she doesn’t just want us to be there because we’ve got a deal – we need to be there because we’re great at what we do. So while Natalie goes to the meeting, she wants me hitting the make-up counters of Manhattan, trend-spotting, sampling and generally proving that us Brits can match any of the local agencies.
It’s a dream morning for me. By the time noon rolls around, I’ve got swatches of glitter shadow right up my arm, a bag full of samples, new product launches and all-American classic products – and, most importantly, I’m fizzing with ideas about how to use them. Still, when I get Natalie’s call, the fizz turns to nerves.
But it’s good news. At the meeting with Lauren, she’s agreed to let us work on the sports commercial and we’ve said we’re happy to assist. She’d already booked a team in, of course, so we’ve said we’ll be willing to be there and help out and oversee how they use our original design work from the film. I think it’s a bit of a step down for Natalie not to be running the show, but her attitude is gracious, as ever. I love that she’s never too high and mighty to roll up her (very expensive) shirtsleeves and get the job done. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Natalie is one hell of a woman.
It means starting tomorrow, but we’re both raring to go. Get this right, and Lauren has agreed to another meeting after the shoot to ‘discuss our future’.
Natalie and I spend the afternoon looking over our designs, seeing how they can be updated to feel up to the minute, and, as we end the day with an iced tea, feeling like MADE IT has earnt a seat at the big table.
Full of energy from our triumph (OK, and maybe a little from all the sugar in my iced tea), I dash home so Lyla can quickly FaceTime Simon. It’s late at home – and I think he has to smuggle his iPhone into the house so Storie doesn’t complain about ‘negative electrical energy’ – but Lyla spends a happy half hour telling him about everything she’s seen, done and eaten. It gives me a chance to catch up on a few emails to Gloria, planning the next WWW meeting, and to get my kit ready for the morning.
TRAVELLING TO THE SHOOT first thing on Wednesday, I feel like I’ve lost a limb, not bringing my kit with me, but we’ll be using the other team’s so there was no need to drag ours with us. As I watch the city whizz by it brings back the feelings I had when I came out here the first time. I’m fizzing with excitement, mingled with nerves, knowing we need to impress the production team – and I tell myself I’ve done it before; I can do it again. Although I have to shoot a sideways glance at Natalie just to make sure I’ve not given myself my little pep talk out loud.
The advert itself is based loosely around the horror film we shot a couple of years ago, and how the villains and heroes in that film decide to ditch the fancy costumes and go for sportswear. Of course. Totally believable.
Our job is to turn the models into athleisure-wearing heroes that have been in a bit of a fight but still look hot. As you do. Since it’s not every day I get to play around with latex, and watch Natalie absolutely nail it with the special effects kits, I have an absolute ball.
While I work on some realistic neck scars for my villain, Natalie sets to work making up one of our heroines.
‘The brief says I need to look powerful but beautiful,’ the model and, excitingly, rather well-known actress Sophie Richardson says.
Natalie studies her face for a moment, looks over at the table of kit (I can tell it’s frustrating her to use someone else’s kit as it’s not our own, but she’s handling all this so well) and says, ‘You mean powerful and beautiful.’
‘Ummm, no, for sure it says powerful but beautiful,’ Sophie replies, confused.
‘Well, I don’t think a woman has to be beautiful in spite of being powerful, or vice versa, so give me that brief. I’m going to take this pen and change it and then we’ll set to work changing the world. Or in your case, saving it. One pair of sweat-resistant leggings at a time!’
Once again, Natalie aces it. If ever there was a real-life hero, I think it’s her.
At lunchtime, when the models sit down to eat with giant bibs on so they don’t ruin any of the minuscule crop tops or leggings, and the crew tuck into the offerings on the catering tables, I pull my phone out of my pocket to ‘check everyone’s all right’. That’s what I say out loud to nobody as though to justify screen time, but what I really mean is, ‘ensure I haven’t had any crisis-related messages from Kath about Lyla, scroll mindlessly through Instagram for ten minutes without blinking and then think about texting my boyfriend’. Happily, no crises from Kath, all the usual fare on Insta (mothers who’ve dressed their children in matching-but-not-quite-matching clothes, people who have ultra-trendy tiles in their new bathrooms, someone doing yoga on a beach with a caption about mindfulness, someone walking their dog on a beach with a caption about mindfulness, someone’s candlelit bubble bath with a caption about mindfulness, and the honest mum who’s taken a comedy shot of her recycling bin full of empty wine bottles. That gets a like from me), and then it’s time to message Edward.
We’ve not seen each other since the maybe-too-loud quickie, and I want him to remember being excited and thrilled rather than embarrassingly caught out by an eight-year-old.
We still need to reschedule that night out in Midtown. I’ve packed a nice dress. Or maybe a night in at yours, and I can leave the dress on your bedroom floor …? X
I click my phone shut, put it back in my pocket and head smugly over to the catering table. Before I’ve even put a meat-free, gluten-free wrap on my plate (I thought America was meant to be the land of junk food, but I’ve been severely let down once again), my phone buzzes. I pull it out of my denim skirt pocket (it’s too hot for jeans, I feel too old for denim short-shorts and so I’m bringing back the denim-mini-with-T-shirt combo) and read it.
Dress on the bedroom floor. You on the bed. No one’s going anywhere. Xxx
‘There’s either a sale at MAC or Edward has messaged,’ Natalie says as she comes up to the table to scope out the goodies.
‘Ha. It’s Edward. I think we’re doing something later,’ I say as casually as possible, knowing full well my cheeks have turned bright red.
‘Well, make the most of it. These first couple of years are the best. I actually feel like I’m having them again with Martin, now I’ve stepped back from work and hands-on motherhood a bit,’ she says, pulling some grapes off their bunch and putting them in a paper cup to take back to her station for later.
‘Yes, Natalie, you’ve really stepped back a lot, what with the trip out here, London Fashion Week, expanding the business, having your boys back from uni every reading week and travelling the world with your husband. So chill,’ I joke.
‘A rolling stone gathers no moss.’ She smiles as she turns on her Chanel ballet flats and strolls back to her make-up station to sit and check her emails before we’re called back for touch-ups.
I don’t know how she does it all, but she does and I’m impressed.
I spend the rest of the afternoon standing to the side of the set ready to offer touch-ups, but I’m a bit surplus to requirements since Natalie is on hand, too,
and the rest of the team are already booked, so I have plenty of time to slip away and text Edward. I don’t want to sound too desperate, but literally, I am desperate to see him.
This morning, Kath said she would be happy to put Lyla to bed. They’re having another day out in Central Park today, since they loved it so much the other day (‘We’ve got nearly a whole month to explore, so why not take our time,’ she pointed out when I asked if she fancied a different park). I think Lacey and Willow might join them again, too, which will be nice. I need to schedule in some time with Lacey and Piper at some point. I know we’ve got a full three weeks, but it is going so fast and I want to relive our youth and pretend I’m young and carefree and don’t spend my evenings rummaging through school bags to find the letter about the gymnastics competition or sewing badges onto leotards.
Natalie insists we take the subway home. ‘It’ll be cool,’ she says nonchalantly. I don’t want to disagree with her because she’s my boss and I don’t want to sound like a diva, but the thought of walking down the steps onto a rammed platform to get into a steel tube at rush hour on a July afternoon doesn’t sound all that ‘cool’. By the time we get off at Christopher Street station, I’m sweating so much I think even my knickers are wet. Natalie, of course, has but a gentle glow, and her navy cotton shift dress looks like it’s fresh on. She’s basically an alien.
I’d planned to dash in, give Lyla a cuddle, grab my bag and hotfoot it to Edward’s place (meaning we can be as vocal as we want with no children earwigging), but after that ‘cool’ journey, I need a full-body MOT, including maybe even a hair wash.
Just gotta clear up a few work bits with Natalie then heading straight over. Be with you by 7pm. Xxx
He doesn’t need to know I got so hot my head sweated.
‘Mummmyyy!’ Lyla says, hurtling herself at me as I follow Natalie into the house.
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