Secret Nanny Club

by Mackle, Marisa

  I still really had no idea why Louise was there. She looked completely bored throughout the shoot, filing her nails, yawning heavily and basically showing no sign of being at all interested in what was going on. She spent a good deal of the time going outside to chat on her mobile phone and took far more cigarette breaks than was necessary. When I asked her at noon to get some lunch menus for the rest of us, she seemed to look at me resentfully before reluctantly agreeing to do so. She was much more of a hindrance than a help. It

  seemed to be hard for her to grasp the concept that fashion shoots were hard work, with everybody needing to pull together to get the shots done. Time was of the essence.

  We slogged continuously throughout the morning, taking shot after shot in the drawing room and then later in the day moving out to the gardens to take some outside shots. We stopped only briefly for soup and sandwiches. By six thirty we had finally wrapped up. We were all exhausted and in need of dinner and a good night’s sleep.

  Everyone went to their respective rooms. Louise, who was the only one of us who wasn’t tired, said she was going to use the leisure centre which was attached to the country house and that she had booked herself a massage. It was well for her, I thought. Where did she get the money to act like such a lady of leisure? All I was fit to do now was go up to my room, run a hot bath, and then kip for a couple of hours before it was time for dinner. I said goodbye to the others, went up to my room, kicked off my shoes and flopped down on the

  bed. The first thing I needed to do was phone Tanya to see how she was getting on without me. The apartment phone rang and rang and rang. No answer there. They must have gone out, I thought. Maybe Tanya took John to the shops, or for a little walk on the beach. I tried her mobile. It rang out. How bizarre! Tanya always answered her mobile promptly, especially when she knew it was me calling. I found myself panicking ever so slightly and dialled

  her number again.

  “Hello?”

  “Hello, Tanya?” I found myself shouting. “Tanya, can you hear me?”

  “Yes, I can hear you. Sorry, it’s a bit noisy in here.”

  “Where are you? Are you in a pub?”

  “No, of course not.” Tanya sounded mildly offended.

  “I’m in café in Greystones with John. I’m meeting a friend of mine here.”

  It definitely sounded like she was in a pub and I found myself getting a little annoyed. I hoped she wasn’t taking advantage of the fact that I was away for the night. Suddenly I began to wish that I hadn’t left her in charge. Maybe I should have asked my mum to look after John just this once.

  “Tanya, I’d really like you to take John home now.

  He’s due his nap soon, and I’d also like you to give him a bath and wash his hair this evening after he has his tea.”

  “Of course, Kaylah. I understand. I’ll take him home right away. Is there anything else you need me to do for you? Any shopping to do before you get back tomorrow?”

  I felt myself soften a little. “No, no, it’s okay,” I said. “I was just ringing to make sure my son was safe and happy. Thanks, Tanya. I’ll see you tomorrow. If there’s an emergency you have my mother’s number.”

  Maybe I was being way too over-protective, I thought. Tanya was always such an angel around John. Perhaps I was worrying unnecessarily because it was my first night leaving him with somebody that wasn’t family. I’d had a pretty intensive day work-wise and

  tomorrow was going to be an early start again. I should really take myself to bed and have an early night.

  I phoned Dave’s room to tell him I wouldn’t be joining him for dinner and that I was just going to order room service instead. He sounded a little disappointed but said he completely understood. Then I phoned Adrienne and the others to tell them the same thing. I didn’t have the number of Louise’s room so I just texted her to say I wouldn’t be going for dinner and that she should book for dinner at seven for herself and the others. She didn’t send me a text back but I didn’t worry my head about her non-response. I must have been very tired because, after I had ordered room service and eaten, I fell into a deep undisturbed sleep and woke up just before my alarm clock sounded the next day. I looked out the window, and it looked like it was going to be a fine day. Oh great, I thought cheerfully, the weather was so perfect for our shoot. Hopefully we might even be able to get a few good outdoor shots too. The sweeping entrance to the country house hotel was rather impressive, like something from a vintage film set. I imagined getting a good shot of Adrienne in the doorway. As though she were the Lady of the Manor.

  I waited for the others in the breakfast room. After a while I checked my watch anxiously. Where was everybody?

  I had arranged to meet the crew at seven so I was surprised when not a single other person had showed up by seven fifteen. Had I got the time wrong? It was most unlike me, especially on the morning of such an important shoot.

  I texted Tanya, wondering if she and John would still be asleep, but she responded saying John was awake and she had just given him a feed. She assured me that he was in great form, which put my mind at ease somewhat. He was the most important thing in my life and he was all right and happy and that was the main thing. However, my work was the second most important thing in my life and if I didn’t come up with some mighty impressive fashion shots for Creea’s all-important Christmas issue, my head was going to be on the proverbial chopping block. Just as I was about to seriously question myself and my timing, Adrienne arrived at the table dressed in faded jeans and a white T-shirt. “I am so sorry,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “I slept it out.”

  She looked exhausted, as though she had been out on the tear the night before. There were dark shadows under her eyes. I was naturally alarmed. “Did you sleep okay, Adrienne?”

  “Yes, thanks, I got to bed a little late though,” she yawned.

  My eyes widened in shock. “What do you mean you got to bed late? Where were you?”

  “We were at dinner,” she answered groggily, rubbing her eyes. “Louise booked dinner for us all for nine but by the time we finished up it was almost midnight.”

  “You’re kidding me! Nine was far too late for dinner. I texted her and told her to book dinner for you all at seven. No wonder you’re exhausted and the others aren’t here yet. This just isn’t good enough.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Adrienne, looking genuinely contrite. I was fuming and I could feel myself getting hot under the collar. I really was so annoyed about this. I knew what Louise was doing. She was trying to sabotage my entire shoot! The shoot that I had worked so hard on to make sure everything was perfect.

  Dave was down next, yawning loudly. “Sorry I’m late,” he said. “We didn’t get to bed until quite late last night.”

  “So I heard,” I sighed my displeasure. “Needless to say I’m not impressed. Come on, we’d better get moving. There’s no time for a long breakfast unfortunately. Just get some black coffee into you, grab some croissants and let’s start. Where are Diana and Steve?”

  “I dunno. Diana went to bed the same time as I did, around midnight, but the last I saw of Steve he was doing shots in the residents’ bar with Louise.”

  I felt the colour drain from my face, I was that annoyed. “Right. That’s the final straw now. I’m going to kill that girl when I see her. What a troublesome little cow! She must think this whole thing is a joke but our asses are on the line here.”

  “I know,” said Dave sheepishly. “They asked me to join them in the bar but I had enough sense to say no. I wish I’d ordered them to go to bed.”

  “So do I!”

  My blood pressure was about to hit the roof. Our make-up artist was obviously hungover in bed and it was the one morning that we really needed him to make our model look alive. This was a complete and utter disaster.

  “Come on,” said Dave, draining his cup of coffee. “Stay positive. It will all turn out great. I’ll go up to Steve’s room and rouse him. Do you want me to wake Louise too?”
r />   “No, don’t bother,” I muttered. “She is actually a lot more useful to us when she’s in bed asleep.”

  Steve came down the stairs a few minutes later looking as though he hadn’t slept for a week never mind a night.

  “My head,” he said mournfully. “Ouch!”

  “If you think you’re going to get an ounce of sympathy from me you’re mistaken,” I said in the most disapproving tone I could muster.

  “Don’t blame me! That Louise one is a terrible influence. She could drink anyone under the table.”

  I hoped that he saw from the look on my face that I wasn’t one bit impressed with his late-night antics. “Come on, Steve, forget the excuses. We’re under pressure for time now.”

  There was no sign whatsoever of party-girl Louise as we set up for the second day of the shoot. Diana, little star that she was, did wonders with Adrienne’s hair, putting it in a chic up-style, and today she had an extra pair of hands. Jenny, her assistant, had arrived to help. Jenny was from Galway and had recently moved to Dublin. She was so lively with lots of ideas. She was like a breath of fresh air on the shoot and I could see she would go very far in life with that abundance of enthusiasm. Steve managed to make Adrienne’s angelic face look even prettier with dark aubergine eye shadow, flawless foundation, false eyelashes that looked remarkably real and plum lipstick. We worked hard to get the photos done, and Adrienne worked hard, putting her all into the shoot and changing into the different outfits at breakneck speed. Six hours later when we paused for some well-earned lunch, Louise wandered into the restaurant looking as a fresh as a daisy and announced that she had just had a swim in the hotel leisure centre. I am still amazed my jaw didn’t hit off the floor in shock. I had never witnessed such bad behaviour by anybody since I had started working as

  a stylist. She was an absolute disgrace.

  Dave had obviously noticed my distress, because after we eventually wrapped up he gave me a reassuring hug and told me not to let Louise get to me. He told me she wasn’t worth wasting my energy on. Then he surprised me by asking me whether he could take me out some day the following week to discuss some ideas for shoots. I could see it was his way of making up to me for being unwittingly involved in Louise’s attempt at sabotage. I agreed to lunch. In fact, I would look forward to it. Creea sat staring at the computer screen. I was trying to gauge her reaction to the photos of the fashion shoot but it was hard to read her. “The model looks totally different in the second set of shots. I don’t know why. It’s

  odd,” she said, squinting at the photos with a frown on her face.

  My heart was beating like crazy and I could feel the palms of my hands getting sweaty. This was nerve-wracking stuff. Did she even like any of them? It was so hard to tell. I badly wanted her to love them. This was my big chance to get back in the game of fashion shoots after a fairly long absence. If I blew it I would probably never get this kind of opportunity again. I felt myself secretly cursing Louise for turning up and ruining things for me. She was like a thorn in my side. It was true that Adrienne didn’t look as good in the second batch of shots. Even I couldn’t deny that. And the reason? Well, that was because she had stayed up late, thanks to Louise. I was still racking my brains to try and find out why she had even bothered turning up, unless it really was to sabotage my efforts. Did she think working in fashion was all about the honour and the glory? It was one per-cent inspiration and ninety-nine-per-cent perspiration.

  Anybody who thought conducting fashion shoots was a walk in the park was in for a big shock. “This one is great,” said Creea, and I nearly fell off my chair with joy. At last! A glimmer of hope. “Where did you get the dog from? It’s genius.”

  My head nearly swelled with pride. “To be honest I’m not sure where he appeared from. It was just one of those random things. When the photographer was setting up the shoot he just walked around from the back of the hotel and sat at the model’s feet. He stayed there until he had got his photo taken and then just wandered off again. He must have belonged to one of the hotel staff or maybe even one of the guests.”

  “Well, I hope his owner won’t be contacting us looking for an appearance fee!” Creea chuckled.

  I could feel myself relax. Phew! At least my boss wasn’t going to admonish me for the terrible second set of pictures.

  “And I like this one very much,” Creea went on, pointing to an image of Adrienne pretending to play a grand piano. “It really encapsulates old-fashioned elegance. Brownie points to you for that one too.”

  I felt myself blush. I had been yearning for praise and now that I was getting it I didn’t know what to do with it. “But some of the shots are unusable.” Creea’s face clouded. “I’m afraid they’re not up to standard. I mean, look at that one for example. The model looks like she’s about to keel over with exhaustion. There’s nothing special about that shot.”

  “Oh, that particular one was taken towards the end of the second day,” I ventured apologetically. “The model was tired. She had been up late the night before.”

  I could feel Creea bristle. She turned to look at me and I could feel her eyes boring into me, making me feel so uncomfortable. “Why? How?”

  I sat up straight in my seat. I’d need to choose my words carefully. I wasn’t sure what Louise had already told her.

  “Well, the model and the crew had dinner late and they stayed up late as a consequence. I’m sure they had drinks.”

  Creea’s face darkened. I could tell she was furious. No surprise there. “They were drinking? Including the model? That’s pretty unforgiveable. I thought every model knew that you just don’t drink the night before a fashion shoot. Let her drink by all means, but not on our money. The nerve of her! We’ll never book her for anything again! Where were you when all this was happening?”

  I began to feel very small indeed. It was quite obvious that I was getting the blame for this even though I had been in bed during the late-night hooley. “I didn’t have dinner with them. I went to my room early. In hindsight I shouldn’t have relied on the others to go to bed early too. And I should have warned the model not to drink but I didn’t imagine in a million years that she would. Or that she would stay up so late.”

  Creea’s eyes narrowed. “But you were the one in charge.”

  “I know but I had left Louise in charge of the dinner arrangements.”

  Even as I spoke I knew I sounded petty and I was ashamed of myself but I really felt I was being scapegoated here and that it wasn’t fair.

  “Really? Louise never mentioned any of this at all. In fact, she said the shoot went very well and that everything went without a hitch. Now I find out you were all getting locked in the bar?”

  I must have looked horrified by her accusation. “No, it wasn’t like that at all,” I insisted. “The others stayed up late but they weren’t manky drunk.”

  Creea looked at me huffily. “I bet that photographer, Dave, coerced them all into staying up late. That man has a reputation for being a bit of a party animal. He can’t be trusted. It’s not fair to blame poor Louise as she’s only new and learning. Look, why don’t you leave these shots with me to mull over? I need time to choose the six best ones. At least we have a cover here and that’s the main thing.”

  I slunk out of her office, feeling elated one minute and numb the next. Of course I was thrilled that one of the shots was going to be made into a cover. After all, it is every stylist’s wish to get as many covers in her career as possible and it has great prestige but I was raging that Louise had got off scot-free with her bad behaviour and that Creea had turned against Dave as result. What an awful mess that was. I peered through the window of the door of the communal office. Louise was sitting at the communal desk with her back to the door. I just couldn’t face making small talk with her. I decided I’d go out for some fresh air. I had bags of clothes, shoes and accessories to drop back to the shops so at least I could use that as an excuse to get out of the office. I was in the lift with two bags of shoes
that needed to be dropped back to Grafton Street when my phone rang. Sugar! It was at the bottom of my handbag and my two hands were full. Whoever it was would just have to leave a message. The phone rang out and then it started ringing again. Gosh, the impatience of some people! What could possibly be so urgent? Then a sudden thought struck me. What if it were Tanya? Suppose she had dropped John on his head or something terrible like that. I let the two carrier bags fall on the ground, and rummaged around my big handbag. Finally I retrieved the blasted phone. It wasn’t Tanya’s number flashing, it was Dave’s.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Dave, how are you?”

  “I’m great thanks, and how about you?”

  “Great,” I answered, my voice full of false gaiety. I waited for him to ask the question I knew he would inevitably ask. I was dreading lying to him.

  “Listen, Kaylah, I was just wondering if you knew if Creea was happy with the shoot we did? I’ve tried phoning a couple of times today but the receptionist said she was out at meetings.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yes, so I was wondering if you knew anything.”

  “Hi, Dave, sorry, you’re breaking up on me . . . I can’t hear you too well. I’m on the street and the noise of the traffic is deafening.”

  “Sure, okay, I understand. Can I grab you for that lunch tomorrow? Can we meet, say, at one outside the main entrance of Arnott’s in Henry Street and take it from there? I’ve a great idea for a shoot and I want to run it by you.”

  I felt my heart sink a bit. I had been kind of hoping that he had asked me for lunch because he fancied me and not just because he wanted to work with me. But I guess I had got that completely wrong!

  “That’s fine, Dave,” I said. “I’ll see you then.”

  And with a heavy heart, to match the two carrier bags that were threatening to pull my arms from their sockets, I continued my way towards Brown Thomas.