Page 1 of Shape Of My Heart
Chapter1
Amy restedher hands on her lap then brought them together over the silk fabric of herskirt.
She’d been sitting in the manager’s office at Orbit Consultancy for the last half an hour looking around and taking in the strange combination of décor. While it had quite an attractive floor-to-ceiling window, which faced the main road, she wasn’t sure what to make of the rest of the room and supposed that the designer must have been goingfora…
Well that was just the thing. She wanted to say modern, but didn’t think that was quite correct so maybeoriginalwas a better choice of word to describe andinterpretit.
It was the only explanation for the black-and-red-striped polka dot walls. And why anyone would put a lovely oil painting of the Trevi Fountain next to what looked like an African mask made of string cheese that dangled from theedges?
And the French windows. While the glossy white polish made them gleam, the wrought-iron flower baskets attached to either side were made to look like skeleton bones with roses peeking out of the gaps. On the baskets’ rims were a series of bright red miniature skulls running along in a row. She could see where the idea attempted to be imaginative and in line with that style that had emerged with skulls and bones mingling with flowers, but this here designer had done some mad weirdness that just ended up looking tacky. Tacky, and actually a little scary. It made her conjure up images of those movies where the characters ended up shipwrecked on an island and ran into a cannibal tribal community who displayed human skulls fortrophies.
She thought the flower baskets were awful, but what caught her attention even more was the large oil painting to her left of one of those alien-like hairless cats. It had bright, bright yellow eyes that stared back at her and sat on a silky cream cushion in anarmchair.
Amy grimaced at the sight and looked away as goosebumps prickledherskin.
The entire office needed redoing, but that was just her opinion. Perhaps the whole ensemble would look original and creative in another person’s view. She wouldn’t know who, but she guessed there would be some people who saw itthatway.
Each to their own, shesupposed.
Amy was a designer herself. Not an interior designer, but a fashion designer. Well…soon to be. Very soon. She had all the academic qualifications, having studied at The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, and she had a wealth of experience from her placements at Chanel, Gucci, and Vogue. All she needed now was the job. Literally,thejob.
She’d always dreamed of working for Christian Dior. She could have chosen to work with a smaller fashion house or brand, and would more than likely be well into designing by now, but Dior was where she wanted to be. She’d had her heart setonit.
Her first dose of inspiration came to her six-year-old self as she watched the Oscars ceremony on TV with her mother. She’d always remember how spectacular Michelle Pfeiffer looked as she walked across the red carpet, lighting it up with her bright yellow, strapless, Dior Couture dress with sequins splashed across the bodice. That was the moment, her moment, when Amy not only knew that she wanted to become a fashion designer but one that worked for Dior. She wanted to make dresses just like that one, and have celebrities parade them on the red carpet. That moment was a wakeup call for her. It was like her calling in life had been issued to her and she’d answered fiercely, fighting against any obstacles that came her way with unparalleled perseverance. She took it upon herself to gain all the knowledge she needed. There wasn’t anything about the fashion world or Dior that shedidn’tknow.
She’d had quite the journey since that memorable childhood day, and life hadn’t joked to issue her the rough stuff, but she kept the dream alive. She kept the dream alive even though each year it seemed to get further awayfromher.
Amy had been very fortunate with her education, which almost didn’t happen, and work so far. Despite her difficult upbringing she’d managed to stay on the path that should have led her to where she wanted to be, but life kept throwing obstacles at her. Like this recent thing with hermother.
It was a serious blow that had thrown her off track. Now she’d have to fight even harder to keep the dream alive in her mind as she took on this PA role. She’d been a PA in New York, but that was for Style Magazine. She’d worked with them for five years, three of which were spent working as a PA for Teddy Donovan, the editor in chief. When she took that job she’d been in two minds because it was different to what she was used to and didn’t exactly fit the designer route. However, a source from Dior had informed her that they valued people who had experience in supporting those with a decision-making capacity. So, having something like a PA role to the editor in chief of a top magazine on her résumé would be extremely appealing. The cherry on top was that Style Magazine was one of the favorites among designers. Right in league with the likes of Vogue and Runwaymagazine.
Amy had immersed herself in the role and it provided her with valuable skills she could add to herself. It was a job with a goal in sight, and Teddy had made sure that she was given all the opportunities to increase her knowledge of the industry andexperience.
The PA role she was about to take on now would not be like that. Not evenclose.
This would be a regular, completely averagePArole.
She straightened up in her chair as a slender, petite woman came in wearing a baby blue blouse Amy immediately recognized from Chanel’s latest spring collection. The black three-quarter-length trousers from the same collection complemented it fantastically like it would on one of the models on the runway displaying it. The woman was about mid-to-late fifties and had that elegance most people carried themselves with in L.A. Her sophisticated attire and neat updo of fiery red hair only served toenhancethis.
“Amy, so sorry to keep you waiting. I’m Zelda.” Zelda put out her hand to shake Amy’s. Amy stood up and shook it with a cheerful smile that she hoped hid her nerves. She wasn’t nervous about doing the job itself. It was everything else. Mainly the significance she placed on it for what it meanttoher.
“That’s okay. I’ve just been admiring your office.” That was a lie, but her nerves were making it a little difficult for her to focus on conversationstarters.
“Admiring? Geez, you’re too nice.” Zelda narrowed her bright green eyes and laughed. “This is my husband’s atrocious attempt at ambiance. I’m not usually so accepting but it would hurt him to no end if I told him thetruth.”
Thatexplainedit.
“Oh.” Amy offered a smile and sat back down when Zelda lowered into her chair neatly positioned behind the immaculate, well-organized deskbeforethem.
“So, thank you for stopping by. We don’t usually do this sort of meeting but I had to warn you that Mr. Mancini is a very special case.” Zelda sat back in her chair and sighed with a slight edge. “A special case that has to be handled with…tact and care, ifyouwill.”
Orbit Consultancy was a Sports PR company who represented the L.A. Gladiators, L.A.’s superstarfootballteam.
Teddy had made this opportunity possible for her. Even though it wasn’t fashion related, it was a route, if she could hack it, to take care of her current family situation and still have a hand in accomplishing her dreams. L.A. was where she needed to be to continue her designer application for Dior and—fingers crossed—work for them. She’d planned to move here the minute she got the okay that her application had been successful. But more importantly, taking this job would provide the funds she desperately needed to take care of hermother.
When Teddy had told her about the job she started researching straightaway and did all her ground work on Mr. Mancini. From what she read she knew that the poor guy had been throughalot.
“I understand and I will definitely be sensitive to his needs,” Amy said with confidence. Minus the fashion side of things, being the PA to a star athlete couldn’t have been that different to being Teddy’s PA. Sure she imagined there would be some notable differences, but the basic processes to carry out the role had to bethesame.
