I followed Pam to our room and found her crying.
“Baby, it’s just a gossip rag. Did you even read the story?” I asked.
“I just want to go home.”
“But I had a really nice day planned for us,” I tried.
“This isn’t me. I don’t want to be in the newspaper. I don’t want to live in a fishbowl. Even if what they said isn’t true, some people will believe it.”
“I can’t convince you to stay?” I asked to try once more.
“No. I just want to go home.”
I sent a text to Kendal, and she soon knocked on the bedroom door. After letting her in, I explained what Pam wanted. I suggested that Kendal take Pam home. Tyler would be with me at work tomorrow. I also wanted to ensure someone was with Pam for the trip because I didn’t think she was in the mood to deal with airports. Nor did she seem up to the hassle of having someone either pick her up or getting a car so she could get home once she landed.
“What about you?” Kendal asked.
“Call a car service to pick me up in Chicago.”
I was confident that I would make enough this weekend to afford it. I went to the kitchen and found the lox and bagels. The bagels were a day old, so I toasted mine. Everyone left me alone as I took my food to the living room and sat in a chair that had a view of the city.
Kendal came back from the other condo with her bags. Pam walked out of the bedroom and came over and sat in my lap.
“I’m sorry …” she began.
“Shhh. I understand.”
“You hate me.”
“No, I still like you.”
“Promise?” she asked.
“Pam, I only want to make you happy. If you need to go home, that’s what I want,” I said.
“David, I’m sorry.”
I kissed her forehead, and she got up and left. I guess Valentine’s Day was overrated.
◊◊◊
“So, feel like working?” Tyler asked.
I just chuckled and shook my head. What the heck. Why not?
“Sure.”
She gave me a smile.
“Good. Go take a shower. We need to get on the road.”
◊◊◊
Tyler had made some calls this morning and found that both Range Sports and Jade were willing to have me work on short notice. I was happy to learn she’d lined up Jackie Chan to be the photographer. It wasn’t hard to understand when Jackie exited the bedroom with Adrienne. That explained why my host wasn’t up when I got back from my run.
The car service took us to Jackie’s building where a couple of her assistants were busy getting a studio set up. The makeup girl showed up right after Jackie had done a couple of test shots. They huddled, and Jackie told her what needed to be done. While the makeup girl started working on me, Jade’s wardrobe arrived along with Michael Reese, Jade’s VP of Marketing.
“There he is. I had to break into one of our stores to get clothes for you on such short notice,” he explained.
“It’s good to see you,” I said as I got out of my chair and shook his hand.
“I hear you’re having a baby,” he said.
He must have read Page Six.
“Yes, it’s a boy. I can hardly wait.”
“Are you planning to get married?” he asked.
“No. Pam and I are too young to get married, and she’s too young to be raising a child. My parents have agreed to be my son’s guardians until I graduate college, and I owe them a lot for doing that. Of course, Pam and I will be involved, but it’s nice to know we have the support we’ll need.”
“She’s a pretty girl. I wish we had a maternity line because I would love to have her model,” Michael said.
“Pam’s not willing to be in the spotlight. In fact, she was upset she made the paper,” I admitted.
“So, I see you hooked up with Tyler. Does her girlfriend know?”
That brought a smile to my face. I would bet that by tomorrow, there would be a story about how Adrienne had caused Tyler to cheat with me. There was no use getting upset about the gossip pages. Frank would just be happy they spelled my name right.
◊◊◊
Michael wanted me to model summer clothes for the website. During the first hour, someone came in with the new clothes that would be featured. Jade’s price point was higher than either Hollister or A&F. They were more creative in their prints than those two. They’d hired an artist to come up with graphics for t-shirts and shorts.
Jackie loved that I was willing to change on the set. It fit her frenetic style. Michael had several outfits laid out, and Jackie’s assistants would hurry out as I stripped down to my boxers and hand me my new clothes to put on. The assembly-line approach meant we could power through many more outfits than usual.
Michael was also there to check photos. Tyler had worked enough with Adrienne that she had developed an eye for detail. It turned out Tyler rejected more photos than Michael did. Thankfully, Jackie was great at what she did, and there were very few that they vetoed.
◊◊◊
When we were done with Jade, it was time for Range Sports. I said goodbye to Michael, and Jackie came back to talk to me.
“I just talked to Abercrombie & Fitch. They loved your work and want to do some additional photos. Do you have plans for tonight?”
“I have reservations for a carriage ride in Central Park, then dinner reservations at The Loeb Boathouse Central Park. Adrienne has made a call to get me into One Step Beyond for after dinner.”
I’d planned to do all this with Pam, but she decided to go home. Kara had her own plans to go out with friends since she didn’t want to be a third wheel. I decided to go by myself and make the best of it. One Step Beyond was a nightclub I was too young to get into, but Adrienne was going and added me to her guest list. She used her magical powers to make it happen, or so she said.
“Do you have a date?” Jackie asked.
“Why, you want to be my date?”
“No, I thought if you’re going alone, we could take candid shots.”
“I’m okay with that. Talk to Tyler about the details,” I said and resumed getting ready for the Range Sports portion of the day.
◊◊◊
We only had one issue with Range Sports: they’d sent over baseball and football jerseys. I called Caryn, and she talked to Mr. Morris, who advised not to do anything for now that would raise any red flags. He said he felt I could wear it, but until they gave me the all-clear on my amateurism, I’d better not.
I loved Tyler. She ordered pizza for lunch. It was the New York-style pizza, which has a thin crust and comes in big slices you folded in half to eat. The only problem was I had grease dripping off my hands. Mmmm, good stuff. I was sure it was good for you, too. Doesn’t it have all the food groups?
When we were done with the Range Sports shoot, Jackie had me shower and change into A&F clothes. Tyler said she trusted me to behave and would see me at the dance club. She had a date with Adrienne tonight. It was late afternoon, so we had to get a move on if I was to catch my horse-drawn carriage ride. Tyler had left us the car and the driver who was my security tonight. He drove Jackie, one of her assistants, and me to Central Park.
When I got out of the car, I had a surprise: Melinda Kesh was waiting for me.
“Wait in the car,” Jackie said as she and her assistant piled out.
They hurried over and talked to Melinda, and she came and got into the car with me.
“I hear you didn’t have a date tonight, so you thought you’d lure me into your car with the offer of a job,” Melinda said.
“Normally, I just offer candy to little girls like you,” I replied, and then wondered why she was in the car with me. “Why aren’t we outside?”
“Jackie needs to set up and wants it to appear like we’re on a date. She said you planned this for someone.”
“Yeah, but she had to go home,” I deflected.
“Sorry about that. Is she your girlfriend?”
Someone was fishing for information.
“No, I don’t actually have a girlfriend. Do you have a boyfriend?” I asked, as two could play this game.