Nancy’s Theory of Style, page 22
“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.”
“It’s sweet of you to ask, but on Saturday I’ve got a showroom sale for a designer who specializes in period wallpapers and your father and I have a brunch on Sunday. You have a good time.”
So on Friday evening, Nancy, Derek, and Eugenia packed up the Mini and drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, north through the woods, and on the spectacular road along the coast. “I don’t feel good,” Eugenia said from the backseat on the curvy road.
“You’ll feel better if you pick a spot far ahead and stare at it,” Nancy said. “It’s just a little ways more.”
“Carly barfed at circle time today.”
“We don’t say that, Eugenia. We say, Carly was ill.”
“Her ill was orange and smelled bad and she cried. She eats Play-doh.”
“Thank you for sharing, Eugenia. Only a little further.”
“We can sing a song,” Derek suggested and started with “Row, Row Your Boat.” By the time they were finishing “Old McDonald,” the sun was about to set and they arrived in the quaint town.
“We have to hurry,” Nancy said and turned down a private drive that led to a car park next to a gray wall. “Everyone grab something.” They picked up overnight bags, bags of food and DVDs, and Nancy led them around the wall.
The pale beach stretched in front of them, the Pacific Ocean rolling in with a low roar, and the wind whipped at their hair and clothes. To their left was an elegant house with floor to ceiling glass windows facing the beach. Nancy said, “Now this is how modern should be done.”
She keyed in the security code on the alarm panel and they walked into the house, tracking sand with them. The first floor was one vast open space decorated in whites, soft grays, and shades of blue-gray. There was a fireplace at the far end, a kitchen at the other, and a wide industrial steel staircase. The space was furnished with streamlined low sofas, square occasional tables, and a long bleached wood dining table.
“Take off your shoes!” Nancy said. “Hurry.”
They left their shoes at the door and went outside onto the cool sand. Nancy rolled up the cuffs of Eugenia’s pants and Derek rolled up the cuffs of his jeans.
Nancy said, “Eugenia, you can only get your feet wet and you have to watch out for the jellyfish on the beach. They’re clear and they sting. I’ll race you!”
As the three ran to the edge of the waves, Nancy and Derek exchanged looks and slowed down so that Eugenia reached the water first.
“I win, I win!” she cried. “It’s cold! Where are the pirates?”
“We’re the pirates!” Derek shouted and dashed to pick up a driftwood branch that he gave to Eugenia. He found another branch and he and the child had a swordfight while Nancy danced at the edge of the waves with a long seaweed streamer.
The sun dipped on the horizon, tinting the sky and clouds orange and gold. “Make a wish,” Nancy said. “Let’s all make a wish.”
“I want a real sword,” Eugenia said.
Nancy wished that she could find a way to stay as happy as she was at this moment, but she didn’t say her wish aloud. She turned to Derek and asked, “What did you wish?”
“That things weren’t as complicated as they are.”
So he was thinking about Prescott. She reached for his hand, cool in the chill of the evening and said, “We’ll figure them out.”
They washed their feet off in the warm water of the outdoor shower by the spa on the private deck and went into the house.
Nancy assembled a dinner of food she’d bought at the deli and opened a bottle of champagne while Derek and Eugenia built a fire. After dinner they roasted marshmallows and made s’mores. Eugenia laughed when Derek grabbed Nancy’s hand to lick melted chocolate off her fingers.
They watched “Muppet Treasure Island,” and Nancy noted, “Miss Piggy always looks amazing. Like Audrey, she’s iconic with her long blond fall and pearls.”
“Can we hunt for treasure?” Eugenia asked.
“Yes, tomorrow, but now you’ve got to go to bed.”
They put Eugenia in the smallest bedroom so she would be cozy. “You can listen to the ocean sing to you all night,” Nancy said. “If you need anything just call and I’ll come.” She and Derek kissed the girl goodnight and left the door open so she would have light from the hallway.
Nancy felt odd about sharing her parents’ suite with Derek, so she took him to the room she usually stayed in. She was standing by the window watching the reflection of the moon on the water when he came up behind her and put his arms around her.
She leaned back to him and said, “I like our mornings together, but it’s nice to be able to spend the night with you.”
“I think so, too.”
They just stood like that, each thinking their own thoughts, and Nancy’s included a desire to brush her teeth because she wanted to wrap herself around Derek and kiss him until he was breathless. “I’m going to get ready for bed.”
When she went through her cosmetics case, she realized she’d forgotten her toothpaste and walked to her parents’ room.
She put on the lamp and saw the king-size bed facing the windows. She wished her mother would come and enjoy this place more often. Nancy went into the bathroom and opened a drawer on her mother’s side of the vanity. She took out the toothpaste and was shutting the drawer when she saw something interesting. She picked up a bottle of Bobbi Brown face lotion. There were other unfamiliar skin care products and a pretty metallic lip color.
But Nancy’s mother only used lotions that were made for her by her dermatologist, and Hester thought that metallic lipstick was unattractive on women over forty.
Nancy went into the bedroom and opened dresser drawers. She found a black bikini and Stephen King paperbacks. Her mother only bought hardback books and her father didn’t read fiction.
“What are you doing?” Derek was standing at the door.
“Nothing,” she said and realized that she was holding the bikini top.
Derek smiled. “Is that yours?”
“I don’t know whose it is. My parents sometimes let other people stay here. Someone must have left her things.”
“I often leave things behind when I stay somewhere.”
“It could even have been Birdie, because she’s got access to this place and she’s so careless. Oh, the thought of her in my parents’ bedroom…ewh.”
“Mrs. Carrington-Chambers, please stop thinking about other people and come here.”
She went to him and he took her hand and walked her back to the bedroom. He stroked her cheek, and said, “I’m mad about you, Mrs. Carrington-Chambers.” Then he kissed Nancy until she couldn’t think about anyone else, or anything else but being with him at that moment.
The next day, they bundled up and went for an early morning walk on the beach. Nancy showed Eugenia jellyfish and they collected small shells and found tiny crabs.
As the day warmed and the fog burned off, Eugenia met a family with children. She built sand castles with them while Derek and Nancy watched drowsily on a blanket.
At noon, they called Eugenia. The mother of the other children said, “You’ve got a wonderful little girl.”
Derek said, “We think so. Your kids are nice, too.”
They washed sand from their feet, put on their shoes. Nancy dashed upstairs to put on her butterfly brooch, and then they walked together to the cluster of shops and cafes.
“It was very generous of you to compliment those children,” Nancy said.
“One tries to be polite,” Derek said. “Eugenia, there are too many cars here. Hold my hand.”
As they crossed the highway, now crowded with tourist traffic, Nancy caught their reflection in the window of a surf shop. In shorts and t-shirts, holding hands, they looked like they belonged together. Dressed so casually, Derek looked less fabulous, yet more incredible.
They went to the market in the handsome old white building and picked up groceries for lunch. Derek said, “Let me get this,” and shooed Nancy away from the register.
She and Eugenia waited for him on the porch out front.
“Hey, Nancy,” said a gravelly voice.
She turned to see Bailey and his slightly older companions. Bailey was wearing a yellow Lacoste polo, madras shorts and leather thongs. His calves looked a little thin, but she was used to seeing Todd’s thick, muscular legs and Derek’s naturally athletic limbs. Nancy wondered if Derek was wearing madras ironically, or not.
“Hi, Bailey. What are you doing here?”
“We’re doing some body surfing,” he said to her. His friends waved to someone farther down the street and he told them, “Go ahead. I’ll catch up in a minute.” When they’d left he looked down at Eugenia and said, “Who’s this?”
“This is my niece, Eugenia. Eugenia, say hello to Mr. Whiteside.”
Eugenia ignored them and whacked at a post.
“I’m trying to civilize her,” Nancy said.
“Are you here for the day? Is your niece staying with you? Because, if not, I’ve got a room in the house we rented.” He put his hand on Nancy’s arm.
“I’m staying at my parents’ place.”
“Derek lives with us,” Eugenia said with a belligerent glare at Bailey.
He looked puzzled and said to Nancy, “Your assistant?”
“Derek doesn’t live with us,” Nancy said, nervous that Eugenia would say something even worse. “He helps me with Eugenia and I thought it would be a treat for both of them to come here.”
“So this is what you meant when you told me you were unavailable tonight. Someone, me for example, might get the wrong idea about you and your assistant.”
Nancy was afraid that her sexual satiation was obvious. “That’s absurd. It’s a working weekend. It’s preposterous to think that I’d be involved with him.”
“Because he’s gay?”
“Yes, gay and he’s staff. We Carringtons know enough not to get involved with the help, Bailey, but we appreciate their assistance with chores and drudgery, and a child is nothing if not drudgery.”
Eugenia ran toward the store’s doorway and Nancy glanced over to see Derek standing a few feet away holding the bag of groceries. The expression on his face was unreadable.
Nancy felt a painful mix of fear and guilt. How much had he heard? “Derek!” she said. “You remember Bailey Whiteside. You met at Gigi’s party.”
“Hey, how’s it going?” Bailey said, with an upward tip of his chin.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Whiteside. Mrs. Carrington-Chambers, I’ll take these back to the house and prepare lunch. Would you like me to take Eugenia for you?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Eugenia grabbed Derek’s hand and they walked away, the small brown-haired girl and the lanky dark-haired man.
“Well, that was awkward,” Bailey said. “But the English are much more honest about class divisions. If he’s baby-sitting, do you want to come for a barbecue tonight?”
“Thanks, but I promised Eugenia that I’d watch movies with her. I’ll see you on Tuesday.”
He leaned over and kissed Nancy on the lips while she stood stock still. “Can’t wait,” he said. “Maybe you can get that guy to watch her all night.”
