“You’re really Dorian Fisher’s stylist?” Lou asked now, eyes sparkling.
She’d placed her clutch on the table against the wall, and kept sneaking glances at it.
“I think this place is probably safe,” I said, a desperate attempt to change the subject.
She looked startled and put a protective hand on her clutch. Actors and their weird habits.
Marnie jumped in. “Andwe’resafe, between the three of us. I’msotired of all the fakeness, the liars, and the cheaters. Aren’t you?”
Lou nodded, so I nodded as well.
How foreign it felt now to be at a bar with friends, and how easy it was to forget that I didn’t know these two girls. I genuinely considered telling them everything there and then. Because I never got the chance to sharemyside of it. Carly wouldn’t listen. All she saw was that her employee had been sexually harassing one of her highest profile clients and the damage it could do to her reputation.
“Constance worked for Carly Wolf foryears,” Marnie explained, picking the conversation thread right back up, while my mind was wandering. “But then you decided to go out on your own,” she added, addressing me encouragingly.
“For Dorian Fisher?” Lou asked, standing straighter.
Not only had she worked on Dorian’s latest hit movie, she’d attended the premiere with him. I had to be careful what I said.
“I worked with Tyler Charles first. But then, when the opportunity came, it made sense to dedicate myself to Dorian.”
No lies. That was the rule.
“So Dorian Fisher left that big-deal stylist for you? Wow.”
That was a good point. Did Carly Wolf know about those sessions with the Tom Ford stylist? Wouldn’t Dorian have to tell her? People talked. Carly would find out. And what would she think of him working with me after everything that happened? It didn’t quite add up, but it wasn’t like I could ask either of them.
Lou checked her phone before turning it over to me. “You’re very good.”
Her notifications were filled with glowing comments about the outfit. Marnie beamed.
These two accomplished women were looking at me. Waiting for me to speak. It made me feel things I’d never felt before.
“I wasn’t reaching my true potential with Carly Wolf.”
I had never thought about it that way until the words came out. I’d been devastated to lose my job. I’d cried over it nonstop for weeks. But now, I wondered. While I was with Carly, the hope burned inside me that, one day, I’d have my own clients and my own designer relationships. I wanted to build something with my own vision. Less polished, more daring. And wasn’t that what I was doing right now? Or trying to anyway? What I’d said to Tyler on the first day was the truth: major designers were all good and great, but my true purpose was to redefine style, to explore with fresh new talent, to push the boundaries of what it means to be dressed well. And now, I was making it happen. Sort of.
Marnie eyed me sideways. “It looks like you did exactly the right thingat the right time.”
So this was how it was going to be. We would skim right past my tears on the fire escape outside Dorian’s suite. Marnie had seen me. She knew things weren’t as rosy as I made them out to be. But this was about Lou. Lou was the star we needed to impress. That was the logic.
We’d finished our first round of drinks, and Marnie glanced at both of us briefly before making the “another round” gesture to the server.
I must have looked worried, which Marnie immediately caught on to.
“This is going on the company card.”
“Your boss must be very cool,” I said.
“She’s the best; I’m so lucky.”
Over our next round, Marnie skillfully led the conversation to our pasts—Lou’s acting background, some of my favorite outfits of the last few years—and my mind floated away from Dorian for longer than it had in days.
Before Lou brought us right back to it. “So what’s it really like, working with Dorian Fisher?”
“You’ve worked with him too,” I said, deflecting.
“Obviously,” Lou said with a laugh. “But I want to hear your side of it. I mean,I’venever seen him naked.”
