‘We haven’t done anything, yet,’ she said as she led him to the bedroom and he pulled off his jeans and shorts and they stood studying each other.
‘My God, you are stunning,’ said Jeff, his voice thick with lust.
Violetta smiled at him. ‘And you are lovely,’ she said.
He fell with her on the bed.
And when she awoke in the morning he was gone.
Later in the day at Pajaro, surrounded by fabric samples, sketches and chaos, she received a bouquet of violets with a card.
I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight:
And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in.
Wait, lovely Violetta, our time will come.
J x
Violetta clutched the note to her chest after she read it. Damn it, she thought, I’ve fallen in love.
12
Grace cleared her throat nervously.
‘Thanks for your time. I’ve spent the last week assessing the current marketing plan and the past campaigns. What worked, what didn’t work. I have also received emails from some of you and had conversations where you have expressed to me what you believe to be the right direction for Pajaro and where you think the marketing is failing.’
Grace shot a grateful smile at the few staff who had embraced her presence; not many – only a few young ones felt confident enough to approach her. Most of the older staff were either intimidated by her or threatened. Grace didn’t have time to befriend or influence them. The Head of Marketing had resigned as soon as he heard Grace would be joining the marketing team. Secretly she was glad. Since Carlotta’s speech two weeks ago, Grace had committed to Pajaro, day and night.
Frank had called her a few times but she told him she was busy with a work project, which was true. She told him she would see him after her presentation, which was true also, and she was looking forward to seeing him again. Their date at MOMA was better than she’d expected. Frank knew much more about art than he had let on when she met him at Cranfields.
Occasionally, she found herself glancing at him as they walked through MOMA. He was unlike the men she knew. Candid, funny, friendly to the people around them who crowded round the artwork. He had none of the arrogance or sense of entitlement that Grace was used to in men.
Throughout the last few days they had talked on the phone, sent each other text messages. Grace hadn’t told him about her family or who she was, and Frank didn’t ask. They talked about inconsequential things, his lack of a job being one of them, but it didn’t seem to bother him, so Grace didn’t push. She found his lack of ambition and drive fascinating after growing up with Leon, with his constant pushing and berating of his daughters.
Grace found herself wanting to talk to him when she felt nervous. His calmness dissolved her anxiety and she had called him just before she had started her presentation.
‘Call me after, OK?’ he had said on the phone.
‘OK,’ she said, and she meant it. Frank was an escape in a world that had become unfamiliar and, even more so, unpleasant.
As Grace spoke to the people in front of her, including Violetta, Carlotta and Chris who stood at the back of the room, she heard Birdie’s voice in her head. ‘Speak up and believe it. If you believe it, they will believe it. Be confident, Grace,’ she remembered her mother saying once, when she’d been about to present a science project.
Violetta and Carlotta knew how nervous she was and nodded and smiled at her encouragingly. She took strength from their faces and continued.
‘We need to re-brand and launch that brand to a tired and indifferent marketplace. We cannot afford our ad agency for this campaign, so we have to do everything in-house.’ She saw a few people nodding in the audience, and continued. ‘The fastest way to do this is to bring in a celebrity. People respond to celebrity power; it gives you free press, brands ride on their coat tails and provided the talent doesn’t have any dirty secrets in their closet, things can go well. Pajaro doesn’t have time to experiment. This could work provided we have the right celebrity. This is why I have put together a short list of three that I believe would be a perfect fit for the Pajaro brand.’
