Chapter 6

As I drove south, I was very mindful of the speed limits, something that I now took very seriously, not wanting to have my licence being checked while I was in a skirt. Being a nice day, I had opted for something casual but well made and we had bought a couple of good skirts, suited to a businesswoman.

I had a good collection of blouses that we had bought to go with the skirt suits that were in the garment bags hanging in the back of the car, alongside the new dress that had cost almost as much as a month’s salary.

For some reason, I had considered it to be a good purchase, as I was sure that I would get reasonable chances to wear it over the coming years, after all I still had the suit that I was married in. I wasn’t sure what I would be walking into at this lunch, but Tracy had assured me that I would enjoy the meeting and wouldn’t be carrying on to my London hotel until later in the afternoon.

I arrived at the restaurant and parked. Making sure I was presentable, I put my mirror back into my bag and went inside. Tracy saw me come in and came forward to meet me, then introduced me to the others. It wasn’t a big crowd, just the two of us and six other women. It was during that lunch that I found out that my family was a feather in Tracy’s cap with me as a total new model, having scored an exclusive contract, not being usual. It seemed that those who had done something similar had gone on to be supermodels.

After lunch we went into a different room, which I could see would be used for functions. We had a table and chairs, a tea and coffee machine, and there were notebooks and pencils with the restaurant logo on them. The meeting was very informative for me. They had a loose meeting of minds to keep the business well respected and viable. It was many years later when they were heavily fined for colluding in price fixing. I was well out of it, by then.

They wanted me to talk to as many of the models as I could, to gauge their wants and desires, and to find out what the agency owners could do to make things better. I offered Carol’s idea that I could be an advocate, rather than an organiser. They thought it would be good to work from that angle, as it wouldn’t worry the models too much. It wasn’t as if they were actually unionists, more associates in a sort of club. I told them that I would give it further thought before I agreed. Before I left, Tracy gave me a file which had the final photos of the lipstick campaign, which would go to the start of Autumn.

I carried on with my trip to London and got settled into the hotel. I wasn’t feeling hungry after my lunch, so watched a bit of television before ordering a light snack from room service. I looked through the photos in bed, and they made me so relaxed, I dozed off with the light on. I did turn it off, in the middle of the night, on my way back from the toilet.

Thursday, I had meetings in the morning and the afternoon, followed by dinner with Janet’s husband, Gerald. The meetings with the other unions went as I expected. Some resistance, which was lessened by the strength of my argument and the offer for a visit on Monday, to inspect the site. All too soon, I was walking out of a union headquarters with just my dinner appointment to go. In my mind, I almost thought of it as a dinner date, but tried to banish such an odd idea. I spent some time window shopping before going back to the hotel to change. Actually, it turned into real shopping as I realised that I could go and look at lingerie without being frowned on. I was actually recognised as the ‘Lipstick Lady’ and got excellent service.

At the hotel, I stripped and showered before getting dressed to dine. I passed over the underwear I had brought with me for the classy and sexy things I had bought today. I had finished dressing and had been careful with my make-up and found myself checking in the big mirror to make sure nothing was amiss. That’s when it hit me that I was doing all the things my Carol does before going out to a big dinner. I was making sure that my stockings were not twisted, my slip wasn’t showing, my lipstick hadn’t attached a bit to my teeth, my eyeliner was actually lining my eye. In fact, I was being all woman as a natural thing, as befitting a model with her picture in the magazines.

I mentally shrugged and picked up my bag, checking that I had all the usual things in it. With a wallet, you carried cards and money, but a bag needs filling. The bigger the bag, the more things you carry. I had no need for tampons and condoms, but there they were. I couldn’t see me needing spare stockings or panties, but there they were. Most of my make-up items were replicated, right there in my bag. My money and cards were in a purse, next to the perfume. Perfume!! I pulled it out, sprayed into the air and walked through it as I had seen Carol do. I made sure there were tissues, snapped the bag shut and left the hotel room.

I could smell the perfume for a while, and then it became just part of the background, along with the clicking of my heels and the feel of the dress against the slip and stockings. In the lift, I checked, once again in the mirror, to make sure my necklace and earrings looked all right, then lifted my hands so I could see the rings I now always wore, and the nails that I now never had a problem with. The doorman called me a cab and that took me across town to the restaurant. He said “Thank you, love, have a nice evening” when I paid him.

I had been living as a woman now for several weeks, but tonight I had given up on the pretence. Tonight, I was meeting another woman’s husband in a posh restaurant. A very wealthy and connected man who I had yet to meet. All of a sudden, I wondered what he would think of me. Would I pass muster? What would I do if he makes a pass? Worse than that, what would I do if he outed me in public?

I walked through the main doors with head held high, the doorman greeting me as ‘Madam’. I was taken to the table and this well-dressed and very handsome man stood, took my hand, and kissed it. The waiter helped me sit and I put my bag on the floor by my seat. Gerald smiled.

“Thank you for coming, Jennifer. My wife has been singing your praises for some weeks, and I appreciate being able to meet you. I’m trying to keep away from her little project, but I rather think it’s no longer that little, thanks to your insight and suggestions.”

“I think that Janet just needed a nudge, Gerald. She is a force to be reckoned with, and both Alex and Tina have very bright futures ahead of them. I’m sorry if I said things that upset members of your family, though.”

“Horace gave me chapter and verse.” He laughed. “I wish I could have been there to see the looks on their faces when you described the things that they were thinking about that scuttled the previous company. It’s hard when you’re born into wealth but was not given a backbone in the assembly process. There are a few down my line like that. I’m financing the site to see if my children can become productive members of society, rather than spongers. Now, enough of my lot, Janet tells me that you’re a model. She showed me your picture in a magazine. I wondered what trickery they had used but now I see that you’re more beautiful in real life.”

“Thank you, kind sir. That was a real surprise to me. My office is one floor below the agency, and I was invited up to have a look around. A couple of hours later, I had been photographed from every angle, was told what emotion I was to portray, and thought it was all a bit of friendly fun. Now I’ve been given the file of pictures they will be using throughout the summer. Those have been edited, slightly, as all the pictures had me with just the one colour lipstick, and they have changed the colours in later adverts.”

The waiter came around for our orders, and I suggested that as Gerald had eaten here before, he should order for me. He also ordered a wine, by name and year. I have to say that it was an enjoyable meal, with talk about his family, his various businesses, and his classic car collection. I mentioned that I had a Jensen and that it had been in a photoshoot with other classics and we spoke about our favourite cars. He asked me what I would get if money was no object and I said that I already had it. We both agreed that supercars weren’t our thing, and that spending several hundred thousand on a vehicle that you couldn’t carry a suitcase in wasn’t very intelligent.

He asked me about my thoughts regarding the site and my future with the Union. I told him why I was here, in London, and that I thought that my future, with the union, now had a use-by date.

“What do you plan to do, then?”

“I’m not sure. There’s the modelling for a few years and I’ve been asked by a group of agencies to be an advocate for their models, to help things run smoothly. It is, after all, what I’ve been doing for the union members for some years.”

“You know, Jenny, you would make a wonderful human resources manager. Say the word and I’ll give you an office and staff in my main company.”

“Let’s not get carried away, Gerald, I doubt that I would know anything about what that company does. I do have working experience with what my union members do for a living, and I’ve read enough about models to be able to know what I’m hearing when they talk.”

When we had eaten our fill and run out of safe things to talk about, he paid the account and flagged down a taxi, which took me back to the hotel. He got out and took my hand as I alighted.

“Thank you for a wonderful evening, Gerald. I really did enjoy our conversation.”

“I have to thank you, beautiful lady, for brightening up my evening. Have a safe trip home, tomorrow. I think that the next time I see you will be at the official opening on the coast.”

He grinned.

“Of course, you could always come and see my cars one day, followed by an inspection of my etchings.”

“Ooh, you’re so wicked, but I like you.”

So, saying that, I gave him a kiss on the cheek and then said goodnight, He squeezed my hand, laughed, bade me a good night, and got back into the taxi. He gave me a smile and a wave as it pulled away. I walked into the hotel and up to my room on autopilot. I had a lovely meal, with a lovely man, and had kissed him on the cheek, without stopping to think about it. I sat on the bed and thought about the evening. It had been more like a date than just a meal. If I had been a single woman, I would be sitting here wondering what his etchings would be like.

I stood and took off the dress and shoes, then padded to the bathroom to remove my make-up. I took a good look at myself, in the mirror, seeing only Jennifer looking back. When I did get into bed, I went straight off to sleep and slept like a baby until dawn.

I was showered and dressed early and had a leisurely breakfast in the hotel dining room. I went back to the room and packed, making sure I had what I needed for the day in my handbag, and took my case down to lock it in the car. I then checked out, telling the reception that I would be back later for the car. I wondered at the friendliness of the staff until I saw an opened magazine on their workspace, opened to a picture of me.

I had an early meeting with the last of the unions on my list, and that went so well that I found myself back on the pavement before ten thirty. I didn’t want to rush home, and as I was in the big city, I caught a taxi to Knightsbridge to have a wander in a store that I never thought I would see the inside of. There was a doorman who smiled and welcomed me when I arrived, and I spent some time just wandering and wondering who could afford the prices.

Eventually, I found myself in the cosmetic area, and there I saw the brand of lipsticks I was promoting. As I got closer, I saw some big photos of a very well-known model looking fabulous. Interspersed with them were smaller pictures of me. I was gazing at the scene when one of the attendants came over to me.

“Excuse me, madam, but you look a lot like one of our models.”

“Yes, I’m the one in the small photos, Annette.” I had read her name on her tunic. “I’m Jenny Goodfellow.”

“Would you like to have a make-over, Jenny? It would be nice for our customers seeing an actual ‘face’ in store. Do you have the time?”

“Certainly, Annette, let’s see what improvements you can make.”

She sat me in a chair with a light on my face and removed everything I had carefully applied, just a few hours before. She whispered quietly.

“Jenny, why aren’t you wearing our product? That’s being downright naughty.”

“It’s because I’ve never worn the product, Annette. When all those pictures were taken, I wasn’t wearing the product. The adverts have had the colours edited in. I doubt that I could even afford the basic kit.”

As she cleansed my face, she took a careful note of my actual skin tones and then went off to collect up what she would be using. When she got back, she also had a microphone clipped to her tunic. There was a few ladies at the counter.

“Ladies, this morning we are happy to welcome Jenny Goodfellow to our counter. She is the one in those smaller photos and the face of our summer lipstick campaign. I will now give her a make-over, while telling you what I’m doing and the products I’m using.”

She then got to work on me, and I found out what using a high-end cosmetic range could feel like as it’s applied. Annette kept up a running commentary as she worked, and when I was declared finished, she stepped back and brandished a mirror for me to see the result. I had to gasp. If the night look that Tracy had given me was something, this look was something else. It wasn’t even over the top for daytime, but I looked, and felt, fabulous.

By this time there were about twenty women, all wanting to talk to me and sign their magazines, which one of the other salesgirls was giving away. As I talked to the customers, signed, and talked some more, I noticed Annette going over to a very well-dressed woman, who gave her a little hug. She was wearing a skirt suit, like me, but hers wouldn’t look out of place in a fashion shoot. She waited until the throng had dissipated, and the came up to where I was standing. She put out her hand and we shook.

“Geraldine Harrison. Annette had the sense to give the office a call to say that one of our models was in store, having a public make-over. I have to say that our product suits you.”

“Pleased to meet you, Geraldine. I’m Jenny Goodfellow and I was just wandering around a store I’ve never been in before.”

“I’m sure that you’ll be back here, in the future. How about I buy you lunch.?”

I looked at my watch and was surprised at how the time had flown by.

“I’d like that, thank you. I have to say that I find it odd to be dined, last night, by Gerald Harrison and given lunch by Geraldine Harrison, such a coincidence.”

“So, you’ve met Cousin Gerald, have you. Did he offer to let you see his etchings?”

I laughed.

“After looking at his car collection.”

She broke into a genuine smile.

“This I have to hear, young Jenny.” She called to Annette. “We’ll be at my table if we’re needed.”

I picked up my bag, smiled at Annette, who was serving a customer, and followed Geraldine as she led me to the dining area, where there was a reserved table in a quiet alcove. We were seated by two very attentive waiters and a bottle of wine, with two glasses, was brought to us without any order taken.

“If you dined with Gerald, you would have had this. It’s a favourite in the family.”

We clinked glasses and both took sips. She looked hard at me, and I wondered if she was seeing the real me under the paint.

“Annette did a good job on you. She’s an excellent salesgirl but I believe that there could be a future for her in our advertising arm. I’m sorry, I didn’t properly tell you who I am. You already know that I’m a cousin to Gerald. I married the man whose name is the brand of the cosmetics that you a wearing so elegantly. I tend to run the business as he is somewhat older than me and now spends a lot of time in his sunny Italian villa.”

“Well, I’m just a Union Manager who is working with Janet and her children in a steel working project in Hull. It’s a new site and I’m helping to get it done so that those who start there will be proud to work there. I represent specialist boilermakers, and I’m a qualified pressure vessel welder, myself. We plan to use women in the specialised welding areas.”

“Wow! Not just a beautiful and very interesting face, but a working girl for real. No wonder you were able to talk to all those customers so easily. You wouldn’t see our other face being able to be so pleasant to the riffraff.”

“If they’re the riffraff, the upper classes must be incandescent. They all seemed to be well heeled and ready to spend their money. Look, I’ve worked in Scotland on the rigs, I’ve welded pipes together on a ship in a westerly gale, and I’m now on the pages of a magazine. My life has been turned upside down in the last couple of months, but I’m determined to remain the person I’ve always been.”

“Well said, Jennifer. I’m too used to speaking to top models who have only one thought on their minds. Well, two, if you add sex. Tell me how you’re gracing our advertising.”

I told her about going up to the agency and ended up with the set of pictures they were now using. She listened quietly and we started to eat a very nice salad, which had also been brought to our table, unbidden.

“So, let me get this straight. You are signed on with the agency as a casual model, yet we are already using you based on a portfolio presented to our advertising arm. I must say that when I looked at the pictures, I was certain they had been altered. Now, looking at you, and talking, you’ve shown me that those emotions that the pictures portrayed are the real you. Now, you say that the contract hasn’t been signed. That means that we are paying by the issue.”

“Yes, Tracy gives me a cheque whenever the advert comes out. It’s the same for my girls.”

“Your girls? Have they been in an advert? What’s the magazine?”

I told her and she wrote the name on the back of one of her cards. Then she simply lifted a finger, and a waiter was by her side.

“Carlo, can you send someone down to the newsagency and bring me back a couple of copies of this magazine, please.”

As he left, another waiter brought a tray to clear our table, while another laid out coffee and cake. Either they had paranormal powers, or this was something she always ate. She waited until the magazines were brought up before saying anything else. With the correct page open, she looked at me with a quizzical eye.

“These two little ones are your daughters?”

I nodded and took the bull by the horns.

“And that older woman, is my wife.”

“Is this a lesbian relationship, then?”

“No, Geraldine. I need to be open with you, right now, before this goes any further. Underneath this skirt I have all my male equipment, and I have to tell you that it’s worked much better since we’ve both gone to bed in nighties.”

She looked at the picture, and then back at me, a few times while I waited for the storm. Then she gave out a genuine laugh that made a few of the other diners look at us.

“Jennifer, if I hadn’t seen both of you in those children, I would have thought you were pulling my leg. There has to be an interesting back story to this, but it doesn’t matter. I’m sure you’ve been told that in this game it’s all about the look. You, my girl, not only have the look but also the strength of character not often seen in top models. I don’t care that you’re not what you seem, and that fact stays here, at this table. It wouldn’t worry Gerald and Janet, if they were told, but I’m sure they are in the dark, or else Janet would have been on the phone to me when the first advert hit the newsagents. Thank you for being honest.”

“I just thought you should know, seeing that I’m a face for the brand. I had nothing to do with that procedure. Tracy has seen me, several times over the last couple of years, in a suit or jacket and slacks. She has told me that she often thought that I was a tomboy. I now realise that the whole thing is a bundle of dynamite, being tossed around, and the first person with a lighter will end it all. It’s been good to see my face in the adverts, but it could be bad for the company if it comes out. Although, you never know whether it could be good, if handled correctly.”

“Exactly, and now I know, I have the upper hand by not being surprised. I am going to tell you a secret of my own. That top model that graces our adverts in the upper-class magazines is leaving us. She has been made an offer she can’t refuse by a multi-national based in the States. We were only told last week, and she’s off at the end of her current contract at the beginning of September. What are you doing for the rest of the day?”

I told her that I had completed my business in London, had paid the hotel, and just needed to go back to the hotel to get my car so I could go home. She asked if I could stay another night, and I said I could, if I could let Carol know.

“Right. Write the hotel name on the back of this card, along with the car rego and colour, and I’ll arrange for it to be collected.”

I did so as she started making calls. I rang Carol and told her that something had come up. She wondered if it was Gerald and I had to laugh.

“No, sweetheart, not Gerald but Geraldine, his cousin, and the owner of the lipstick brand. It’s a long story and I’ll tell you when I get home. We’ve just had lunch, and I think that she’s setting up a shoot this afternoon.”

Marianne Gregory © 2024