Chapter 4

When Andrew told people later on about going to parties or formal events he always sounded like a miserable old bastard; he turned up, everyone got drunk, he left. The reality was very different. Andrew enjoyed most of the parties, a lot of them had rites or traditions, and for the first two thirds of the evening he was no different than any other attendee. The chat was good, often puerile but good, and he enjoyed the experience. But Andrew never got the point of drinking to oblivion. And way too many OTC and university events had that as a goal. So he would make a discreet exit. He would get shit about it now and again but it never bothered him overly much.

And after dealing with the double breakfast he felt fine, and ready to meet the Wilsons. He was beyond caring which makes it sound like he was fed up but it was the exact opposite. As he had said to Suzanne’s mother earlier in the year, he would answer any question she had, she just needed to be ready for the answer. So it was with the Wilsons. When Andrew got to Abi’s room her parents were already there.

“Hi Andrew, how are you feeling?”

“Fine, I had a swim and a lot of breakfast.”

Abi was nervous and she was babbling.

“Shall we talk in the car?”

“Sure.”

He helped haul all her stuff down the stairs, it was moving day and the College was a zoo. Abi had pared down her stuff each term but still had four people’s worth of bags to take home. Andrew went and grabbed his small backpack which drew a pointed look from her father and resulted in him getting hit by both wife and daughter.

“Don’t say anything, they’ll just hit you again.”

Dan snorted and they hauled everything to his car, inconveniently parked several blocks away. Eventually the car was loaded and they were off.

“Okay Mum, what do you want to ask Andrew?”

“Last weekend was a shock to us Andrew, and I suppose I wanted you to confirm to us that it was, real or something. Oh, that’s not right, I know it is real. Is your friend in Paris really okay with all this?”

“You know that at Easter when Manon told Pedro and I where she worked that we didn’t have a clue. As she said to me on the phone last Sunday she will be delighted to invite two people who will appreciate where she works and what she does. You two will have a great time and Dan and I will stand at the bar and look handsome.”

Dan snorted at this and his wife whacked him on the shoulder, just to keep in practice Andrew guessed.

“In fact, Abi if you open the top of my backpack I have something for your mother.”

Andrew saw Abi’s face break into a smile when she opened the top of the pack. He still had several scarves left and so figured since they were going to the head office of Hermès that Mrs. Wilson should be appropriately attired. Like mother like daughter, she just ran her hands over the fabric and then surprised him.

“Thank you, Andrew, it is a beautiful gift. I am going to save us both the ritual of trying to say no and then giving in gracefully. Just in case you take it back!”

It was cheery smiles for a couple of miles before the questions continued.

“Do you know what is happening over the weekend? Can you talk about anything?”

“Sure, it is not a big secret. On Thursday evening there is a private fashion show. When Pedro and I were there we were dressed like student tourists, but then we knew nothing about it in advance. Above the store there is a long open gallery which looks down on the store below. At the far end there is the entrance to the corporate offices which are on the floors above. But there are two rooms off the gallery. There is the long show room with the runway. It is long and narrow with high ceilings, lights everywhere and the standard rows of chairs on either side of the runway. There is a bar in one back corner and the sound and light board in the other. I presume there are dressing rooms and staging areas at the other end but we never saw them. But the first room off this gallery is what was described as the Salon. Two thirds of the size of the runway room with doors that open onto the gallery but also through next door to the show room. When I went past the door and again when they all walked into the show room I was struck by how shiny and sparkly they were, lots of people happy to be seen. This is what we will be doing this time, drinks in the Salon before we are seated for the show. Pedro and I were beside the sound and light deck last time, tucked away out the road. Manon suggests that you give her a call tomorrow, anytime between 1.00 and 4.00 and she will talk to you about what to wear. She didn’t trust me to get it right, probably a good call.”

Both women nodded seriously. Hmmm.

“Dan and I will be fine in suits, the fancier the better. I suspect there will be dinner afterwards but I don’t know who with, maybe just the four of us, Manon and her fiancé as well, or whether Heloise or any of the other models will join us.”

“Do you have any idea about the commercial?”

“The basic outline but nothing beyond that. Heloise is supposed to be on Friday, she is the person I am most comfortable with. Joelle is scheduled for Saturday and Camille on Sunday, although she may be changed as she is very small and it may look odd, or tough to get us both in the frame, I don’t know but Manon said it might not be her, but the other two were confirmed, or at least they were last Sunday.”

“How do you feel about it?”

“I am okay, at least right now. I am sure that I will be nervous on Friday morning but I know that Heloise asked for me, and she wouldn’t be doing the shoot without me. So it is in everyone’s interests to make the day go as smoothly as possible. Ask me on Sunday night.”

“I can’t believe I am asking one of my daughter’s friends this but are you okay with the nudity?”

“Mum!”

“Pam!”

Andrew laughed at the stereo outrage.

“Don’t worry about it. You all know and I don’t mind talking about it.

“From what Heloise has told me about fashion shows, and often fashion shoots, there is a lot of nudity. The models, both male and female, only have a really short time to get out of one outfit and into the next one. Heloise said there is simply no time for modesty. So sure this is a commercial shoot but the contract stipulates what can and cannot be shown, and it is above the waist from the front and full length from back. Because I am a rank amateur at all this I suspect that I will be focusing on not fucking up. Sorry, didn’t mean to swear. Mucking up that I won’t stress about the lack of clothes. It didn’t bother me in March, in fact I was more stressed about not getting the shot that the photographer wanted than I was about showing my arse.”

He shrugged.

“Really?”

Abi’s mother was definitely curious about all this.

“You never know with these things until you are there but there’s no dialogue and the range of emotions they want go from ‘I want you’ to ‘I really want you’ to finally ‘I want you now’.”

Everyone laughed.

“So as a 19-year-old young man I feel like I am representing men everywhere by trying to show that I find three beautiful women attractive and I want to drag them off to bed.”

Again laughter.

“Is it as simple as that, sadly no. But I trust Heloise and will take my lead from her. Like I said I am the lucky guy she wants to do this with, she is the star.”

Andrew seemed to have answered all the questions about the coming weekend. When they reached outer London he tried to get them to drop him off at the end of the Tube network, it would probably be quicker for him, and it definitely would be easier for them, if they didn’t drive into central London. But they were having none of it, so they fought their way through all the traffic heading into the city. Dan asked about travel to France.

“Where do you want to meet?”

“Dover seems easiest, I think. Can you be there for noon?”

The next 30 minutes were spent working out how to meet up, again coordination at that time was a real pain. Andrew was going to get the train from London to Dover and they agreed that it was easiest if he stayed at the train station and they came and got him. But they got it sorted out. Finally they were at the flat, they wouldn’t even let Andrew get out on Marylebone Road, they wanted door to door service. As he was saying his goodbyes Jim and Freya turn into the street, walking hand in hand. So much for his escaping. It is always amazing what children don’t tell their parents. In fact Abi seemed to be enjoying how flustered her parents were. To say that Abi’s parents were taken aback to meet a Law Lord would be a gross understatement. Then Jim invited them in for a coffee which became some sandwiches for lunch. Andrew couldn’t begin to imagine the conversation that Abi was going to have with her parents on the drive home.

“Are you sure this is no trouble?”

Pam was in full bore middle class politeness. Freya just laughed.

“No trouble at all, it is nice to meet Andrew’s friends.”

The conversation picked up when they were all crammed round the kitchen table. Pam was fizzing with curiosity and couldn’t contain herself.

“When Andrew said he was staying with friends in London this was not what I imagined.”

A masterful statement as a question.

“Yes, it is unusual, but he calls himself an honorary nephew and that is how we think of him now.”

A masterful answer without saying anything. But Freya stopped being mean.

“Andrew is someone that we have become close to over the last four years or so, first Jim and then both of us. He went to school with Jim’s daughter.”

This was another one of those occasions where it was tough to be completely honest. None of them wanted to get into the Allison story again, the wedding or the Trusts. Andrew’s life was an endless series of silos.

“When he stayed with us over the summer he was no trouble. He is quiet and tidy and is always up before us. We got rather spoiled by having him start the coffee in the morning.”

Everything was very polite but much was left unsaid. Andrew could see an interesting trip to Paris. With a hug and a kiss to Abi the Wilsons left and he finally sat with Freya and Jim.

“Meeting the in-laws Andrew?”

Jim was in fine form.

“I thought Moira was engaged to Lars?”

“Ouch. Touché.”

For the umpteenth time Andrew told them all about the coming weekend. Jim looked gobsmacked but Freya just laughed.

“So you are taking one girl who isn’t a girlfriend to meet another girl who isn’t a girlfriend with the first girl’s parents along as well. You are a brave young man.”

Jim was still catching up.

“You are going to be naked in an advert for cologne?”

“You make it sound so tawdry!”

“Are you not a little bit concerned?”

“The lady I am working with on the first day is the most famous model in France, nobody is going to care about me. The first day is all that matters. If I stink the place up then the other two will just be cancelled.”

“But naked.”

He shrugged.

“I swim six days a week, run six days a week and exercise every day. Heloise wants me to be there with her. I don’t have to tell you about the double standard. I can run round the Park and get hot and sweaty, take my shirt off to cool down and walk back here. Nobody cares. If it was a woman she would get arrested. So it will be with this shoot. My chest, no big deal, the woman’s chest, oh my god you can see her tits. So no I don’t really care, the final product will be a lot less sexed up than the shoot.”

“You don’t worry about it coming back to haunt you in later life?”

“It comes back to the double standard again, Jim. I am an engineer, or I am going to be. Who is going to care? Look at it more personally and immediately. Will Jean Wylie not talk to me because of it? Knowing Jean she will think it is hilarious and try and make me blush. I can just see her talking about going to Paris just to watch television or some such thing.”

Jim and Freya both laughed because they all knew it was true.

“I don’t know why I am so carefree about it, but I just don’t care. Not to bring the conversation down but it is part of living two lives, the promise I made to Faith. Why not do it? I’m on my break from Cambridge, a famous model wants me there and it will give all my friends years of opportunities to tease me.”

Again laughter.

“No you are right. It is refreshing in some ways, and is the difference between engineering and the law. There is an establishment hierarchy within the law which doesn’t exist within engineering. I can’t imagine any lawyer doing such a thing and that in itself is sad. Enough, I am sure the tales you will tell will be hilarious, and you can rely on Freya and I not to embellish them in any way.”

Andrew had to laugh. The rest of the afternoon and evening was just catching up. What he didn’t realise at the time was they were both concerned about the terrorist threat. Government departments were very concerned about security and they both had daily reminders of the threat with armed policemen at both Parliament and the Ministry of Defence. The uniformed officers of the MoD Police were guarding the main building.

“Have you given any thought to next summer Andrew? I know it is only just December but I do know that the MoD Police would welcome you returning next summer.”

“I don’t want to sound skeptical but is that really true? I am just a summer student.”

“You did very well and impressed the operational command. Like all organisations, they have to deal with summer vacations and you were a useful addition to their ranks. I was told by the Chief Constable himself that they were pleased with you and want you back. I think Personnel are going to make a run at recruiting you if you go back there next summer.”

Andrew stood and walked to the window.

“Are they mixing up doing well with not mucking up?”

“All I can say is that your application would be accepted and you would not even need to interview if you applied again this year.”

“I will talk to Leslie and Suzanne at Christmas and see what they say.”

They were bouncing around topics.

“The drinks cabinet has been a constant conversation piece with all our friends. I think that one or two of them were going to visit the Knight Gallery to look for other pieces. You only briefly explained how you know her.”

“It was an investment proposal that was turned down but after I started modelling for the Art College students I decided to support it myself. The four women talked about the difficulty of getting started as an artist. So I told Doug Somers what I was doing, he just laughed at me, and then I bought a small shop space in Edinburgh on Victoria Street. The space is rent free until the gallery is established but Hailey has had a remarkable first six months. She pays rent when she is doing well, but it is waived if the gallery is not doing well. Everybody questions the decision but it is one of my own little investments. The worst that will happen is that the gallery folds and I sell the place. Given that I have not one lick of artistic ability I am constantly amused that I am a model, own art and am the landlord to an art gallery.”

“And she displays some of Robert MacNish’s pieces in the gallery?”

“Yes, she does, he seems to be doing well, there is a steady level of sales. But it is him and four assistants or apprentices and Hailey and two part-time assistants. I still struggle with the very low level of employment.”

Jim butted in here.

“Ever little helps Andrew. That is eight more jobs than if you didn’t try.”

“I know all that, but you see a report of a factory closing with the loss of 300 hundred jobs and it seems so little in comparison.”

They went out to dinner and walked up to the Deerstalker rather than the usual Italian trattoria. Jim had developed a taste for some local bitter and so they ate at the pub.

“You mentioned someone called Doug Somers. I heard the name at your party but didn’t get a chance to chat to him.”

Andrew explained the background, first the fund that helped individuals that led to the Endowment Fund and how Doug was an advisor.

“So you started supporting people even before the Endowment Fund.”

“Yes. I invested £50,000 from the money we made with ComputerCom, from selling the reporting software. Brian Campbell, Doug, and two of their friends also invested £50,000 so we had quarter of a million pounds. The idea was that someone could survive on £200 a month, not thrive but survive. With some rounding up that translated into £10,000 for four years. We were going to support 25 people and help them get established. Doug worked out the different ways we would get our money back and make a return but I steer clear of all that. Julian and I made our money from coding in our bedrooms. It was trying to let others have the same opportunity.”

Andrew’s trademark shrug punctuated the end of his chat.

“How old were you?”

“16, or maybe 17, late 1981 and early 1982. I am afraid the dates are all jumbled up now. The initial idea came to me when the worst of the recession was happening.”

Neither Jim nor Freya said anything but they didn’t need to. The look of pride on their faces made Andrew so happy and sad at the same time. The looks that he never got from his parents. Either his face betrayed him or they guessed because Jim moved the conversation on.

“How have you found this term? You haven’t really talked about your course.”

“It is going fine, I am starting to think about what I am going to specialise in, and how that will impact career choices. That I am still struggling with.”