Secret Nanny Club (28 page)

I was berating myself for showing my annoyance so
obviously. I didn’t want her to get the better of me. But really I was astounded by her cheek. Showing up here unannounced and expecting me to welcome her with open arms? Honest to God.

Adrienne arrived about ten minutes later with her
little wheelie case, looking a million dollars. Her Bambi-like eyes were enormous underneath those long lashes of hers and her skin was radiant as though she had enjoyed a thoroughly good night’s sleep. She wore a genuine smile as she came over to kiss me on both cheeks. I introduced her to Louise and then ordered us all coffees.

The make-up artist, Steve, and hairdresser, Diana, arrived
together shortly afterwards. They always worked as a team and were a joy to have around. Dave arrived about two minutes after them. And even though it was a stupid hour of the morning, I admit that my heart did a little flutter as I saw him coming in through the door with his equipment, wearing jeans and a simple white T-shirt that showed off his impressive physique. I couldn’t wait for this shoot to begin.

As Diana and Steve worked their magic on Adrienne’s
fine features, making her into a supermodel type, I busied myself sorting through the various outfits. I had picked out a few select beautiful, well-cut dresses and to-die-for high-end shoes to match. I had an array of Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choos and Guiseppe Zanotti heels in different colours from which to choose. Some were shimmery, sparkly, sky-high and utterly bling, while others were kitten-heeled, satin and soft with bows. I coveted each and every pair and found myself thinking that if I’d won the lottery I’d take them all home with me.

T
here is a myth in the fashion world that models and stylists get a load of free clothes from the designers in return for wearing and promoting their clothes. This is, in fact, not entirely true. Some designers don’t even give you a discount, and make out that they’re doing you a huge favour by lending out their precious designs to you. My greatest fear doing a shoot like this with high-end luxury clothes is that the clothes might get damaged. I have to make sure the clothes are returned in immaculate condition, meaning no makeup on the collars, no hint of perfume and no snags whatsoever.

I laid the dresses out on the sofa of the main drawing
room where we were going to do the shoot this morning beside the huge log fire. It was a spectacular room with ornate ceilings and magnificent paintings. It really was a room fit for gentry. The dresses were like works of art. I had pieces by Versace, Stella McCartney, Alice Temperley and even a stunning black dress from Victoria Beckham’s latest collection. Even touching the fabric of these beautifully designed dresses sent a frisson of excitement down my spine. I was in love with the sheer quality of them all. If only I were rich!

I spent a good twenty minutes meticulously taping up
the soles of the shoes. As long as the shoes were properly taped up in shoots, there wouldn’t be any unforeseen casualties. Taping the soles made sure that no matter where Adrienne walked in them they wouldn’t get scuffed. The last time one of my models scuffed a pair of designer shoes it cost me a week’s wages. And they weren’t even my bloody size. I ended up selling them on eBay for a fraction of the cost. An expensive lesson learned. By nine thirty everybody was ready and Dave started shooting Adrienne. Diana and Steve had done an amazing job on her appearance and she looked very like (a very tall) Kiera Knightly with her subtle make-up, razor-sharp cheekbones, translucent skin and willowy frame. As she posed and worked with the camera I genuinely could not keep my eyes off her. This was a genuine superstar in the making.

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?”

“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