Nancy’s Theory of Style (33 page)

“That is so sexist. I don’t have those
relationships with my girlfriends.”

He let out a loud har-har-har. “How many
times have you said that Lizette is tackier than hot asphalt or Junie dresses
like she’s sold her soul to a chain-store Lucifer?”

The phrases sounded vaguely familiar. “I
was trying to help them. They needed my guidance.”

“Yeah, you only do it out of kindness,
telling everyone how inferior they are. They paid you back, didn’t they,
dropping you when our development tanked? But I didn’t come here to argue,
Nance.”

A lady didn’t beat her husband to death
with an Edwardian fireplace poker even when he was distorting reality to make
her look bad. “So why did you come here?”

He moved close and she could see the
uneven edge of his haircut and the roughness of his skin. “I told you; I miss
you. For better, or for worse. We can make it through this rough patch.” His
free hand went to her waist.

All she could think of was hands like
hams. “Todd…”

“When was the last time we had sex,
Nancy
? You haven’t let me
near you since Christmas.”

“You were always at work or the gym or
your buddies,” she said, remembering how relieved she had been when he’d arrive
home late enough for her to pretend to be asleep.

“I was working for you, for us. I love
you. I always have.” His ham-hand pulled her closer, as his bleached denim eyes
stared morosely at her. “Don’t you feel anything for me?”

He was her husband and she thought that
she’d loved him. “I still have to figure out what I feel. I thought I had three
months to think about it.”

“Three months to stay here, not to give
up sex.” He twisted so he could keep hold of her while gulping down the rest of
the wine. “Let’s get busy.”

She didn’t turn fast enough and his
mouth landed on hers. She felt the familiar lump of tongue jammed between her
lips and Todd made a small grunt of excitement.

She tried to pull away, but he said,
“Come on, baby.”

“I’m not a baby. I’m a big girl.” The
indignant voice came from the doorway.

Todd let
Nancy
go and said, “Who is that?”

Eugenia, in her yellow butterfly
jammies, glared at him and went to
Nancy
,
half hiding behind her and grabbing onto her leg.

“This is Eugenia, Birdie’s daughter,”
Nancy
said. “You met her
when she was a baby. But she’s not a baby now. She’s a big girl.”

“Why is she here? Where’s her mother?”

“Eugenia’s visiting me.”

“I live in the liddle room,” Eugenia
said. “Who are you?”

Nancy
looked down and said, “This is Todd. He’s
my husband. We’re married.”

“Huh! What about Derek?”

“I already explained that I’m married to
Todd. Derek works for me.”

“I love Derek.”

“Of course, you do, honey. We all love
Derek. He’s fabulous,”
Nancy
said and picked up the girl. Looking at Todd, she said, “I’ve got to get her
back to bed. Do you mind locking the door when you leave?”

Nancy
knew that Todd was angry, because his
face went red and his turned-up nose scrunched.

“If that’s how it’s going to be,” he
said. “Good night, Nance.”

As he left the room, Eugenia looked over
Nancy
’s
shoulder and shouted, “Bilge-sucking blaggard!”

“That’s not a nice way to talk to your
uncle,”
Nancy
said as she tried not to laugh.

Chapter 18: Get the Runway Look

Eugenia wanted to take her pirate girl
story to show and tell, and
Nancy
put it in an attractive binder and Eugenia talked all the way to Three Bridges
about the next chapter that she was going to write.

“It sounds amazing,”
Nancy
said. “Take care of the drawings and
bring them back so you and Derek can keep working on them.”

After kissing the girl goodbye,
Nancy
stopped at the
florist and the patisserie.

“I’m home, honey!” she called as she
went through the door. She went to Derek at his writing table and gave him a
kiss. “Americans say that as sort of a joke. It’s in all the television shows. What
do you say?”

“We say, What’s for tea?”

“I brought croissants for us.”

“I brought something, too.” He picked up
a leather shoulder bag from behind his chair, opened it, and took out a video
camera.

“Oh, no! I’m telling you the same thing
I told Todd. A lady does not let herself be photographed in her birthday suit
unless Annie Leibovitz is behind the camera, and, you, sir, are no Annie Leibovitz.”

He laughed and said, “Mrs.
Carrington-Chambers, I should never think of putting you in that position,
unless you specifically requested it. Actually, I have another idea. We’ll wait
until we pick up Eugenia.”

“We aren’t going to be like those
appalling people who tape every moment of their offspring’s existence – not
that she is our child.”

“I should hope not, Mrs.
Carrington-Chambers. We are cut from a different cloth, although Eugenia is
wonderful.”

“We’re making a movie?” she asked as she
put down the bundle of flowers and the bag of pastries.

“You have to wait,” he said. “Perhaps I
can distract you.” He smirked as he slipped his hand under her fuzzy lilac
sweater.

“Before coffee?” she said, laughing.

“I’ll do my best to ensure that you stay
awake.”

Afterward, when she was about to dress,
he said, “I want to select what you wear.”

“Are you up to the task?”

“Women’s clothes are not my speciality,
but I will try my best.” He chose a pair of black boots, skinny jeans, a
skin-tight black charcoal sweater, a black trench, and a long sea green silk
chiffon scarf.

“That is rather dramatic,” she said. “If
we’re going to rob a bank, I’ll need a beret like Faye Dunaway in ‘Bonnie and
Clyde
,’ one of the great fashion movies.”

“What are the others?”

“’Annie Hall,’ but in a bad way. All
Audrey Hepburn movies. Movies with costumes by Edith Head. Movies with costumes
by Kym Barrett, who did The Matrix and Romeo + Juliet.”

“That’s all?”

“Danilo Donati’s costumes and Travis
Banton, who designed Marlene Dietrich’s most famous looks. Georgio Armani’s
costumes for American Gigolo and The Italian Job, which featured gorgeous
clothes, Mini-Coopers, and a robbery. That brings us full-circle.”

“Well, that’s it then – we must commit a
robbery.”

“Put it on the calendar after the gala.”
She pulled on the boots and stood up.

Derek adjusted the scarf around her neck.
“One last detail.” He reached into his pocket, and took out a small box tied
with a red ribbon. Handing it to her, he said, “For you. I thought of you when
I saw it.”

She unwrapped the box, lifted the lid
and saw a petite and exquisite yellow and blue guilloché butterfly pin nestled
in tissue. She took it out and looked at the way the translucent enamel
captured the light. “It’s beautiful!”

“It’s vintage from
Norway
.” Taking
the brooch from her, Derek pinned it to her scarf. “You’re very lovely, the
prettiest girl I know.”

“That was not your initial impression. You
said I was pleasant looking.”

“Did I?
 
I meant pleasantly super, because I think you
are super.”

“You know the crazy thing? Last night,
Todd came by and I kept comparing him to you.”

“Did you…”

“A lady doesn’t discuss these things,
Derek, and, no, I couldn’t even tolerate him touching me.”

“I’d be gutted if you had,” Derek said,
“although it not my place. He’s your husband.”

“What does it mean when a lady’s husband
can’t compare to her fabulous assistant?”
Nancy
looked at Derek and felt things she’d never felt with anyone else. She wondered
if he might feel them, too, behind those blue eyes.

Derek had put on a long slate colored
duster over his suit and carried the leather bag with the video camera, and
Nancy
’s scarf blew in the
breeze as they went to pick up Eugenia at Three Bridges.

The girl was ecstatic to see them both
and said, “Mrs. Candybar liked my pic-tures and is sharing them.” Her cape
fluttered the wind as she brandished a stick that had a shorter stick bound
crosswise to it with red yarn. “I made a sword,” she said as she whacked a
fence as they passed.

“Do not hit things with that weapon,
Eugenia,”
Nancy
said. “Derek, where are we going?”

“To that stretch of flat sidewalk,” he
said, indicating a tree-lined block.

“Can we have a sword fight?” Eugenia
asked. “Find a big stick.”

They had arrived at their destination so
Nancy
looked up
and down the block. “Color me bewildered.”

“Go to the corner and then come back
doing your best runway walk.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“I’ll feel silly doing it.” She grinned
and said, “But silliness is greatly underappreciated. Remember to put that in
my notebook. We’ll say, ‘Silliness is to life as bubbles are to champagne. Essential
and uplifting.’”

“I’d like to see the sexy, devastating
side of you now,” he said, reading out and quickly touching her hand.

“Then I’ll channel my inner Inès de la
Fressange.”
Nancy
walked to the end of the block and returned with a strut, flipping her hair,
narrowing her eyes, and exuded as much sultriness as she could summon while
Derek taped her.

After
Nancy
had had three tries, Eugenia shouted,
“My turn, my turn!”

The girl marched down the sidewalk with
jabs toward invisible enemies and cries of, “Ahoy!”
Nancy
thought her cape flowed beautifully. When
the child finished her runway walks,
Nancy
reached for the camera and said, “Now it’s your turn, Derek.”

“It’s not necessary, Mrs.
Carrington-Chambers.”

“Then why did you bring the coat? I’m
afraid I must insist.”

He went to the end of the block and came
back as she shouted encouraging things like, “Smolder for me!” and “Be fierce!”
and “You’re a beast!” Which made him laugh and then they had to start over.

Eugenia recruited a man walking down the
street to tape the three of them walking together. The man handed back the
camera saying, “It’s always good to get the family videos when the kids are
young. They grow up so fast.”

As the trio returned to the apartment,
Derek said, “I’ll edit and add music.”

“We can watch them on movie night. That
is, if you’re free some night.”

“Can we have a sleepover!” Eugenia said.
“Derek, stay for a sleepover.”

“Perhaps this weekend.”

He and Nancy exchanged a look and she
thought how nice this was, how much fun it was to be with him. And Eugenia, of
course, she thought, as Eugenia thwacked a fire hydrant with a shout of “Avast,
matey!”

“If
Prescott
wouldn’t miss you…”

Derek looked a little downhearted. “
Prescott
is spending the
weekend visiting his ex in Mendocino.”

Nancy
put her hand on his arm. “Are you okay
with that?”

“It is to be expected considering our
situation.”

“We could go somewhere, too,”
Nancy
said. “We’ve got a
place at
Stinson
Beach
. It will be nice to get away now
because things will be crazy until the gala is over.”

“The little pirate would enjoy the
ocean,” he said.

When they returned to the apartment,
Nancy
excused herself and
went into the bedroom to call her mother. “I thought I’d go to the beach house
this weekend, if it’s available.”

“You may as well use it. I haven’t been
there all year.”

Nancy
thought about her mother’s life and
said, “Would you like to come with us? I mean, it’s just Eugenia and my
assistant and myself.”

“Your assistant is going?”

“He’s very good with Eugenia and she
adores him. I think you’d like him, Mom. His taste is impeccable and he shares
my passion for fashion.”