Chapter 2

Sitting on the plane to Heathrow on Easter Sunday, without the distraction of Maggie and Tony and the business, and Andrew was back to his usual overthinking mood. There had been no sign of Suzanne and no contact with her since the Wednesday. Leslie and Julian had returned on Saturday from their mini-honeymoon, but it had been late on the Saturday evening and he had an early start the following day so there was nothing other than a quick conversation with them. The loneliness and isolation of his school days struck him that morning. Andrew had not maintained many friendships from school, not that he had many to start with. Other than Pete who he had seen briefly that trip there was no one. His life while at school had seemed like this carousel of women constantly in his life but by the end there was only June Wyatt and Mary Jones that he saw, and even then, it was not regularly. And then there was Suzanne. From the day Andrew finished at school he had put it, and most of the people that were fellow pupils, behind him. His life other than Cambridge had been Suzanne, Julian and Leslie, Tony and Maggie, and Pete. Now one was no longer available, both couples were married or were about to get married and the last, although a good friend was not a confidante. Andrew, even although he seemed to be running around the whole time was lonely in Edinburgh. On top of that was the horribly belated realisation that Mary Campbell didn’t want to see him all the time and the lack of any kind of familial bond with his parents. When he had been troubled by Arthur Sherard Andrew had gone to see Freya. When he had been upset over Suzanne he had gone to see Nikki and Fran, and he didn’t think he would have discussed her with Leslie, even if she had been around.

As they came into land his resolve increased to be a better friend with his friends at Cambridge. It was clear he did not have a group of friends from school that were going to be the bedrock of his adult friendships.

Once Andrew had changed terminals and on the short flight to Paris he thought about the upcoming couple of days. He had history with Manon and Heloise, not much but at least some, and knew that they could get everything resolved. But the meeting later that morning with Chiara was a mystery. Andrew understood her gratitude over the shoot but didn’t really see the need to meet. Theirs was a fleeting acquaintance. Thinking about her made him smile as he reminisced about the recreation he had done with Fran in her living room in Glasgow. Chiara was the oldest woman Andrew had seen naked, she was three years older than Maggie. Every other woman he had seen naked was 21 or younger. Andrew stopped himself, he was forgetting his part-time career as a glamour photographer. All of the fantasy shoot women had been at least 30. Jayne Morrison just the previous week was 39. He thought it was surprising that he didn’t think about them when he thought about naked women, even when most of them had been topless in the shoot. Another compartmentalised silo. Anyway, all his sexual partners had been under 21. Sure there had been a large number of older women, including Heloise herself and going all the way back to Kenzie. So Chiara was an outlier. As Andrew had said to her at the time 99% plus of the women on the planet regardless of their ages would hate her for looking so good and yet worrying about it. She might have been 29 but she was fit, trim, healthy and beautifully proportioned. She was physically very attractive, what he had struggled with had been her attitude on the Thursday evening. His reaction to that had carried over to the Sunday shoot and it took most of the day to disappear. So he was nervous about the day, more from the unknown than anything else. He just had no idea what she would want, or even how she would react to him.

Such thoughts continued as the cab took him into the centre of Paris. For the third time he was staying at the same little hotel on the border of the 1^st and 2^nd arrondissemonts, the Monsart. After checking in Andrew walked through the Tuileries Gardens and was standing outside the Louvre at 11.50. Although it was the Easter weekend, maybe because it was the Easter weekend, the courtyard was busy with lots of people. There was some kind of demonstration going on, but it was not clear exactly about what. Suddenly an arm snaked through his and standing beside him was Chiara Zellicotti. It was a strange admission but Andrew was surprised how pretty she was. Pretty understates it, but it was different than beautiful. He turned around and was surprised at how she looked. And this was a woman that he had held naked in his arms. She pulled his head down and kissed his on both cheeks, French style.

“You look surprised. Am I late?”

Andrew blushed and shook his head.

“I was taken by how striking you look. It surprised me, but in a very pleasant way.”

It was interesting to see Chiara acknowledge this, take it as her due somehow.

“Do you wish to go into the museum?”

“No, my hotel is close by, it was just a convenient place to meet. I don’t mind where we go. We can visit the museum if you wish just as a place where we can walk out of this weather but I don’t care.”

“We are both bundled up so how about we walk through the gardens and along the Seine until we spot a quiet café?”

They extricated ourselves from the crowd, the protest was getting louder, and crossed back into the Gardens. Chiara commented on the angry people around them.

“The protestors are getting angrier. It will not end well.”

This was the protest about the building of the glass pyramid in the middle of the courtyard of the Louvre. It is an accepted icon now but at the time it was hugely controversial, ‘Mitterrand’s Folly’ or some such thing. But they were quickly away from all the commotion and Andrew could concentrate on the woman on his arm. With her heels Chiara was 5’10 or 5’11 and so they could walk arm in arm and talk without him having to lean down or stoop as he often had to.

“Thank you for coming here a day early and meeting me. Most of what I wanted to discuss with you could have been done over the phone but I felt it was important for us to talk face to face. I want to talk to you about many things.”

Chiara smiled up at him and he hardly recognised the woman on his arm.

“First of all I want to apologise and at the same time thank you for the weekend that we shot together. I was unhappy with my life, what I saw as a fading career and generally was mad at the world. You happened to catch it that night but I had been a bitch with a lot of people for many weeks. But I was amazed at your suggestion to Beatrice Raymonde about our shoot. That she and Veronique decided to shoot it is also amazing but that it was your idea was just so, so.”

She ran out of words. She ended up squeezing his arm and smiling at him so Andrew understood her sentiment.

“The day of the shoot went well, especially after I cried my fake tears at you. No man can resist a crying woman.”

He smiled at her mischievous expression, and she carried on.

“I knew what you had suggested was unusual. I had worried about my appearance for a long time. And it was not all in my head Andrew. I was being passed over for roles and for shoots. That Beatrice took a chance with what you suggested does not change my situation, or so I thought at the time. But they did take a chance with the commercial shoot and it has been successful in ways I am shocked and surprised at. Fashion is about youth, innovation, it is tailored to the young. But Hermès is a luxury brand that has appeal to older people, overwhelmingly women. They were trying to broaden their appeal to a younger audience but I am at the starting edge of that demographic, having just turned 29. Not Heloise at 22 but me at 29. The final scene of our commercial was far more than Hermès were initially prepared for. But Beatrice liked what she saw, what we had done and so she took it to senior management. There are two 30 second commercials, standard slots for television advertising but they have cut a two minute mini movie for the cinema. It challenges and fights the notion that you are too old at 29. They let me do the voiceover myself with my Italian accented French. It was approved last week and will be shown in the cinemas next month. Heloise gets April exclusively, then the cinema commercial will be shown in May while Joelle’s commercial is on television then finally my television commercial will be shown in June. But that is just timing.”

She caught her breath before continuing.

“When I asked you to come over and speak to me, this was all being mooted but nothing was definite. Now they want to expand the range of models and focus on women of my age and even older. Now this is a move that is long overdue and someone would have come up with the idea. But Andrew, it was you. You made a suggestion and it has taken on a life of its own. We both know that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as that Oscar Wilde said, and if Hermès make this move then other fashion houses will as well. There is going to be a generation of older fashion models that will want to thank you.”

The way she said the last had all the blood flowing south. Mercy, or maybe merci. Yes Andrew knew it, he needed to stick to his day job.

“I could have told you all this over the phone but I don’t think I could have done it justice, made you realise how important this is, unless we met. I think that Beatrice Raymonde will get the main credit for the inspiration but she knows where the idea comes from. Veronique, your friend Manon, all the models, she herself knows that it was your idea.”

Chiara finally stopped talking and drew breath. She got Andrew to stop and looked at him.

“I just wanted to say thank you to you in person. The change in the last three months for me has been wonderful. I don’t know what is going to happen but the future is better now than it was at Christmas. I am happier than I was at Christmas, and a large part of the change is due to you.”

They started walking again and Chiara continued to gush forth about the new possibilities for her. He smiled and nodded and made the odd comment but she clearly needed to let all this pent up excitement out. Finally the torrent of enthusiasm waned and she was silent.

“I have talked too much, for too long, but I was excited to tell you about everything that is happening. Enough of me, tell me about life in Britain, life as a student.”

Andrew gave her the brief and very edited version of his life.

“So you are not going to model full time?”

“No.”

“But why not. You have the physique and the willingness to do these daring shoots. I think that when the commercials start to be shown you will be in demand.”

“Chiara, I have less than three weeks of free time until the second week of December. One in late June and two in late September. Other than that I am at university or working on my summer job. Regardless of the demand I do not have the time.”

Chiara looked astonished and then pensive.

“I had assumed that we would get the chance to work again Andrew. I know from speaking to Heloise that she hopes for the same thing. Are you saying that you will not shoot anymore?”

“That is the main reason that I have come over to speak to you and Heloise. I am pleased that you all think the campaign that is about to start will be a success. This is your life and if it means that you can extend your career and change people’s attitudes about age in the industry then I am delighted for you. But I am an engineering student, who did this as a whim this time last year, and then as a favour for Heloise at Christmas. I know, because Manon flat out told me, that they would have preferred someone else. So ignoring Heloise and what she wants, let’s talk about what you want, and why you think I should be the person for the shoot. I don’t even know if I can be in some shoots, as Hermès have a hold on this last shoot for a year. And on top of everything else I have to deal with, I do not have an agent.”

Chiara’s attitude changed from gushing enthusiasm to considered calm.

“Okay, I am not going to try and change the plans that you have in place. I would like to work with you for two reasons. As a thank you for what you have done for me, and because I think of you as a lucky charm. Working with you was the turning point for me. I know that I can work with other models and achieve the right result, I just think it would be easier with you. Are you able to work at the weekends?”

Andrew sighed, could this get any more complicated?

“My summer job is for the government, and as the junior person there to cover other people’s holidays I get all the shitty tasks. That meant I had to travel out of town at short notice a couple of times. I should be able to travel and work most weekends but it is not 100% guaranteed.”

“Okay, and in September?”

“I can work then but I do have to get ready for university.”

“So if I lined up four or five shoots mostly one day but no more than two you would be able to fit them in by October?”

“Yes I should be able to. But remember I am meeting Heloise and Manon for the same discussion with them. I doubt that I can do 10 shoots in 15 weeks.”

“And you cannot work before the end of June?”

There was a low railing along the side of the embankment and he sat on it and thought for a moment.

“I am going back to university next Sunday and I will do no modelling work until after my exams. The second half of June at the earliest. I must be crazy but I can stay this week, or come back at the end of the week if there is a shoot, or two, that can be done this week.”

Rather than look excited or grateful Chiara looked thoughtful.

“And you will tell Heloise the same thing?”

Andrew sat there for several seconds before responding.

“With Heloise it is friendship. She helped me last year and wanted me to be in the commercial at Christmas. She is still saying the same thing as she did then, she doesn’t think she is a good enough actress to fake the emotion. She thinks she needs me. Part of my talk with her is to talk through all that with her. When I stop and think about what you are asking and how it slots into my life, I feel I am sacrificing my time to make this work. I have 15 weeks between the end of 2^nd year and the start of 3^rd year. Two weeks of Army camp, 10 weeks of work with a one week break right at the beginning and two weeks at the end. And then straight back to university. It is not much of a break in the summer.

“I don’t want to seem ungrateful or dismissive of this chance, this opportunity, or anything like that but it is not my life. I am an engineering student and that is the most important thing for me. For you, for Heloise, for all the other models I meet and work with, this is their life, their career, the way they pay the bills.”

“Do you not enjoy the attention? All of us love being in the spotlight.”

“Not in the slightest. I am shy and private, despite my relaxed attitude to my body on film and in print. There is nobody to represent me, to promote me, and I don’t care.”

They slowly walked along the north bank of the Seine, not talking. It was not a tense silence Andrew could tell Chiara was thinking about what he had said.

“I don’t think I have ever met someone in the industry or round the fringes of it, that wouldn’t kill for this opportunity. You are unique. I have to ask; your summer job is set?”

“Yes. They asked for me to return and I have committed to them again. I don’t think I could back out now.”

That last was bullshit but working for the MoD Police was more important than modelling, and right at that moment Andrew could not have explained why. But it was true. Chiara continued to ponder as they walked along.

“I fired my agent last year, I did not think he was doing a good job for me. Now it was not all his fault but he was not helping. I have represented myself for the last 10 months. I have worked in the industry for 12 years in five countries in Europe. Would you consider me as your agent Andrew?”

Andrew had seen this coming from half way through the speech.

“On the face of it, sure. You list all the reasons why you would succeed. But what about all the other things. Lawyers, language barriers, conflict of interest, what about all them?”

Rather than be offended Chiara smiled.

“These are good responses, especially the last one. Promise me seven weekends between now and when you graduate. Two this year, three next year, and two the final year. Part of the contract at the start. Then you don’t work for me, with me, and I represent you with everyone else. Beatrice mentioned she sent everything to a lawyer in Edinburgh, so we will use her, with local help if we need it.”

Andrew didn’t respond for a long time as he thought it through.

“I will consider it Chiara, seriously. But I don’t know. I don’t know that I have the passion for modelling and two years is a long time to commit to something in advance. Look, you have been very kind with your praise and comments and I am not dismissing them. But I don’t know you Chiara. I don’t know anyone in the industry. Hell Manon is not in the industry, she was someone I met in Edinburgh. She is in product development for Hermès. Heloise told me a lot of stories of her life as a model and I was horrified. Sickened, disgusted, angry, pick any of them. Part of my reluctance is that the modelling industry appears to have more than its share of scum. People who take advantage of people, especially women. So it is not an industry I am drawn towards. If Heloise had told me that the shoots were not a success or that she was now willing to work with other male models then I would not be here. I would have had my moment in the sun and then faded away. So this is not going to be something I am going to jump into, embrace. It will be the exact opposite. For anyone other than Hermès and the three or four models that I have worked with already I will be suspicious and looking for reasons not to do the shoot. Can I be any clearer?”