Page 40 of Bad Influence
At six a.m. on the dot, my phone pinged with a text.
It was Mum.Lucy’s got news!
Swiftly followed by:Don’t tell her I’ve told you.
And thirty seconds later, clearly as an afterthought:Hope all is going well with the job? Call your sister. Love you, Mum x
It was typical Mother – to the point and always first in line with the news. She would do well working at theDaily Mailif her legal career ever took a turn.
Now there was no way I was getting back to sleep for an extra hour. My finger hovered over calling Lucy, but it was going to have to wait, because my call time for the shoot was eight a.m. and I needed to do a final check to make sure everything was in place before Mandy was up.
It had been four days now since Rob and I had spoken. The longest we had ever gone without communication. In my mind, we were now in an unspoken stand-off. He could be stubborn at times, and so could I. I imagined he was annoyed with me for jumping to conclusions that he had been doing something behind my back, without any solid evidence. I was smarting because he had not done anything to convince me otherwise.Or maybe he’s just been busy? I’ll call him the minute we’re finished today.
The exchange with Jimi last night had proved a welcome distraction, but although he was fit, I couldn’t get the image of him wearing all-white Moncler out of my mind. He looked like a lost member of NSYNC.Some people just cannot buy style.
After I had showered and hurriedly dressed into my shoot day uniform of black cigarette pants, a skinny Gucci belt, and an untucked crisp white shirt, which I hurriedly steamed, I was greeted in the main house by Julie-Ann, who had arrived early to begin fluffing the living room. She had already made a start, plumping up cushions, moving things about on tabletops and checking that nothing unsightly was left on display. We were shooting in a number of rooms today, including the main lounge and Mandy’s bedroom.
‘Amber, sweetie, how are you finding Surrey life?’ Julie-Ann asked absently, her head at an angle, as she peered sternly at a table and then nudged a vase slightly to the left, before moving it back to where it was. Her sharp blonde bob swished onto her cheek as she moved.
‘Well, the house is amazing, obviously,’ I began, ‘and everything seems to be going well so far.’ I bit my lip and winced, this was a lie, and my lip still hadn’t quite healed.
‘The photographer will be here in half an hour to set up the lights. He’s on the clock, and he’s more expensive than all the clothes you’ve called in, so we need to maximise the time. We can’t get the bedroom ready until Mandy’s out of there, but you could unpack all the items from the bed linen and beauty range and stack them outside the door ready,’ she instructed. ‘And then set up one of the spare roomsdown the end of the corridor, we’ll do a few pics on the bed in there too.’
Blair appeared as I was unpacking the bed linen.
‘How’s Julie-Ann this morning?’ they asked, peering over their shoulder to check she wasn’t listening. ‘She can be a real witch on photoshoots. She’s the only person Mandy is scared of though, so keep her onside and Mandy will be putty.’
‘Thanks for the tip-off. Any sign of her yet?’
‘Not yet,’ they said, and then tapped my arm, indicating I should follow them. We wandered down to the end of the corridor and round the corner, out of sight. ‘Between us,’ they continued, whispering, ‘Mandy’s not in a great way at the moment. Jose’s staying in New York longer than planned because something’s happened. I’m not sure what exactly, but I heard them arguing on the phone yesterday. I think that’s the real reason Jimi is over from Miami – he usually runs Mandy’s social media from the States, but with Jose out of town, they think she might need more support.’
‘And Jimi is reliable support?’ I mumbled, thinking about how Jimi was out at the pub last night, rather than babysitting Mandy. I must have looked a little moony eyed at the mention of Jimi, because Blair shot me a look.
‘Watch out for him,’ they said. ‘Playboy extraordinaire.’
I winced. ‘Tell me more—’
‘Breakfast is ready in the kitchen!’ interrupted a voice from behind us. Coco materialised out of nowhere and grabbed my arm. ‘No one’s down yet – where are Mandy and Jimi?’ She pushed me aside. ‘There are freshly madebanana, cacao, and chia seed parfaits in the kitchen. And plenty of coffee. As strong as you like. Come and get it!’ Coco skipped off. If there was an advert for good nutrition, she was it.
Blair looked anxious. ‘It’s weird neither of them is up yet.’
‘Is everything okay?’ I swallowed.
‘You clearly don’t readStarz,’ Blair replied.
I made a mental note to google Mandy to find out the latest gossip.
We began descending the staircase, Blair in the lead, when Julie-Ann appeared with a sharpness to her voice. ‘Blair. Hi. Can you do us all a favour and wake Mandy up? The day has barely begun and we’re already behind.’ I took this as my cue to slip off for breakfast.
After a few mouthfuls of parfait and two hurriedly swallowed coffees, I was back in the annexe with BBC Radio 6 Music playing, dutifully checking the rail of clothes and line of shoes in the space we were using as Mandy’s dressing area for the shoot. Lola had arrived with boxes of make-up and an array of brushes, tongs, straighteners, and sprays, which she laid out in perfect symmetry, making the tabletop resemble a display counter in Sephora. I played around with styling the looks, pressed silk shirts, skirts, and three dresses, and nearly an hour later, there was still no sign of Mandy.
‘It’s not like her to be so late for her own shoot,’ Lola said worriedly. ‘Let’s go and find out.’
Lola and I went back to the main house to find a smallcongregation gathered outside Mandy’s bedroom door. Blair was attempting to look through the keyhole for a sign of life, but their heavy sigh filled us with little hope she was even awake.
‘Maybe she’s sick?’ I offered.
Julie-Ann didn’t seem to think so. She was now visiblyandverbally stressed.
