AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She nods. “My fitting was yesterday.”
“Good. It’s for next year’s spring catalog so everything is light, flowy, ethereal.” As the last word leaves my mouth, I realize instead of whimsical, it would be even better to go angelic. Make her look like an angel on high. If I capture the early morning light just right and behind her, I’ll be able to emphasize her innocent look and make it appear that she’s glowing.
This new idea starts getting me excited and I study her features. Those bright blue eyes and blonde hair definitely make one think of angels. She has some spice, though, too, and in some of the pictures, I could bring that out.
Fallen angel.
When the thought hits me, I know where I’m taking this campaign. Luckily Guess didn’t give me any specific guidelines because, let’s face it, I’m just that good. They’re smart enough to let me take creative control and not try to box me into one of their boring, corporate, politically-correct concepts.
I tap the edge of my glass, caught up in my vision, and she squirms under my scrutiny.
“What?” she asks, now sounding shy.
“Just thinking about some different shots for tomorrow. Inspiration hit and now I can’t seem to stop it.” The way she can go from angelic to devilish, from innocent to sassy, makes me think of even more ideas.
Angel and Devil.
“Like what?”
“A play on good and evil. You have the ability to look sweet and innocent one minute and turn saucy and hot the next. If we use that tomorrow, we’re going to get some brilliant shots.”
“Oh. That sounds fun, actually.”
“You sound surprised,” I comment.
“I just wasn’t sure what kind of ideas you had,” she says.
The waiter returns and sets the side dishes on the table. “Help yourself,” I say when she hesitates. That’s all the invitation she needs and her fork plows right into the BBQ fries. Just like I knew it would.
“How old are you, anyway?” I ask out of the blue.
Between bites of the fries, she takes a sip of water. “I just turned 21.”
Which makes me 21 years older than her. God, I suddenly feel old. Luckily, I have good genes and have been able to age gracefully so far. I work out five days a week and eat healthy for the most part. But, I do enjoy alcohol and even a good cigar occasionally. My hair is still dark and thick. Though, I have noticed a few silver strands at my temples lately. No doubt thanks to Margo.
For the most part, I feel like I did at 21. Physically, anyway. Mentally, however, I’m wiser and more jaded.
“How old are you?” she asks.
Why does she care?I wonder. “Forty-two.”
She studies me for a moment and then bites into another fry. “You don’t look 42.”
My lip twitches. “And, what does a 21-year old think a 42-year old should look like?”
She shrugs. “More gray hair? A dad-bod?”
I chuckle. “I work hard to avoid both of those.”
A smile lights her face and she drags the cauliflower over after demolishing the fries. She picks through it for a minute then pierces a floret. For someone who claimed to be vegan earlier, she barely looks like she could tolerate being a vegetarian.
“You don’t like cauliflower?” I lean forward and stab my fork into a piece.
“No, I do. I’m just not sure about this other stuff,” she says and pushes the gremolata to the edge of the bowl.
I pop the floret into my mouth and smirk. “The garnish?”
“There’s an awful lot of it to just be garnish and, after my mistake with that wasabi, I’m a little suspicious.”
