Chapter 9
The weekend on My Dream was everything Eugenia had imagined it would be and
more. They sailed north, after he picked her up in New York. He had a berth on the
Hudson River, next to a cruise ship. He only used it a few times a year when he had the
boat in the States. Most of the time she was in Europe, but this year he had brought her
to the Hamptons, while he used his house there. He had told Eugenia that he usually
spent the month of August in the south of France, but this year, with Covid still lurking,
he had wanted to stay closer to home, and he hadn’t been sure until July if Americans
would be allowed in Europe. As it turned out, they were, but he hadn’t known that
would be the case when he made his summer plans. They sailed around Cape Cod, and
then to Maine that night. Patrick had asked Eugenia if she could stay until Monday
morning and she said she could, if they got back early enough. The first shipment of
Cotton Candy was due from the factory at midday, and she wanted to be there to look it
over when they received it.
They stayed offshore most of the time, going into port in the evening for an
exceptional lobster dinner on Friday night, and stayed at anchor outside the port and
watched a movie in the theater. They took Patrick’s little sailboat out in the morning,
swam in the sea, and lay on the sundeck after lunch, and went for a sail after dinner on
board that night. The boat provided endless opportunity for entertainment, sports, and
just time to be together and talk. She stayed in the biggest guest cabin on Friday night
and the stewardess brought her breakfast in bed in the morning, while Patrick answered
emails in his office before they went sailing.
They sat talking on deck until late on Saturday night, and he walked her to her
stateroom and kissed her.
“Thank you for another incredible day,” she said as he held her.
“I had a wonderful time too,” he said in a husky voice. “I don’t want to press you,
but you know I’d love it if you join me in my cabin. It’s up to you,” he said, with a
hopeful almost boyish look, and she smiled. She felt so comfortable with him after all
the time they were spending together that she felt as though she had known him for
longer. She put her arms around his neck and he held her close and kissed her.
“I think that sounds like a nice idea,” she said in a whisper, and when she did, he
swept her up gently in his arms and walked her down the hall to his suite. The door was
open, and he closed it with his foot, laid her gently on his bed, lay down next to her, and
carefully undressed her, as she unbuttoned his shirt and he took off the rest. There was a
soft light in the room, almost like candlelight, and the moon was shining into the room,
as he made love to her. She didn’t feel as though she was making love to a stranger, but
with a beloved friend. He was a gentle, thoughtful lover, and he looked at her with such
tenderness afterward as he held her.
“Thank you for staying with me tonight. I wanted you so badly, but I didn’t want to
rush you and scare you off,” he said, and she kissed him.
“I wanted you too, but I was afraid it was too soon, and I didn’t want to spoil
anything, or rush it.”
“You couldn’t have spoiled anything,” he said, running a gentle finger around her
beautifully proportioned body. “I love being with you, and making love to you. We have
such a good time together.” He stretched out next to her then and put an arm around her,
whispering in the dim light. He turned it off and the moonlight shone in on them.
“This is so perfect, it makes me feel like I’m dreaming,” she said sleepily, and
dozed off next to him. He tucked her in, and leaned on one elbow, looking at her,
wondering how he got so lucky. She was an amazing woman. He loved her courage and
her spirit, her bright creative mind, and her kindness.
—
They spent Sunday lazily on deck, after waking up late, as the yacht sailed slowly south
again, toward New York. They were going to dock at the pier in the Hudson after
staying offshore for the night, and entering the port in the morning.
They went to bed early and made love again. They only slept for a few hours, and he
woke her up to see the Statue of Liberty as they motored into port early on Monday
morning. It felt like a movie being with him. She had never felt so spoiled and
pampered. He thought of everything to please her, and his lovemaking was slow and
sensuous and passionate.
They had breakfast on deck, next to a cruise ship as people stared down at them, and
he had the crew draw curtains around the outdoor dining area so they had privacy.
“I feel like royalty traveling with you,” she said with a giggle, and he grinned at her.
“I hate to go to work. Shades of Cinderella again, every time I leave you.” He had a car
and driver waiting on the dock for her. The port was busy at that hour, and the
passengers on the cruise ship were disembarking at the same time. He walked her to the
car, put his arms around her, and held her tight.
“I’ll call you tonight,” he promised. “Have a good day.”
“Thank you for a fantastic weekend.” He was becoming addictive, and she didn’t
want to sleep without him. “Do you want to stay at my place tonight?” she asked him,
and he smiled broadly.
“I’d love that. I’ll call you later and we’ll figure out dinner.” She nodded, gave him
a quick kiss, and got into the car. The driver took her suitcase and put it in the trunk, and
a minute later they drove away as Patrick rushed up the gangway for a Zoom call in five
minutes.
She felt like a princess being driven to work, dropping off her bag with the doorman
at her building on the way to the store, where Pam was already waiting for her. Eugenia
was wearing sneakers and jeans, a navy-and-white-striped T-shirt, and a blazer, with
her hair in a neat ponytail. They had work to do, clearing another of the couture fitting
rooms for all the Cotton Candy merchandise coming in. They were going to put it on
racks. The clothes for her runway show were already hanging in the third fitting room,
with the accessories Eugenia had chosen, and the exquisite wedding gown that was the
finale of her show.
Pam had gotten a cappuccino for Eugenia, and they got to work setting up the racks
as soon as she arrived.
“Nice weekend?” Pam asked her pleasantly. She had no idea where Eugenia had
been, or with whom. She assumed she had stayed home that weekend, or visited Daphne
in the Hamptons.
“Very. How’s my marketing consultant?”
“She’s staying at a friend’s house in Connecticut, so I can work late if we have to.”
The clothes arrived from the factory promptly at noon, and Eugenia, Pam, and the
salesclerk from the store opened all the cartons, put everything on hangers, and steamed
them, after Eugenia examined each one and was satisfied with the quality of the work.
She was grinning with delight as she looked at the result of Eloise’s brilliant idea. They
had a full line of clothes in three sizes and several colorways. More than enough to get
started.
“Where are we putting it?” Marina, from the store, had no idea what Eugenia was
doing, and was stunned by the merchandise they’d been unpacking. It was about as far
one could get from Eugenia’s other lines.
“I don’t have the SoHo pop-up yet,” Pam informed Eugenia. “I called three realtors.
Two of them never called me back, and the third one said she had nothing decent
available at the moment. A lot of lesser brands have grabbed them for Fashion Week.”
“We don’t need it. I have a better idea, for free,” Eugenia said, eyeing the
merchandise closely. They’d done good work at the factory.
“You’re going to put them out on the street?” Pam looked dubious. “They’ll get
stolen.” Eugenia turned to Marina then.
“There are four bolts of pink tulle in the first fitting room. Grab my staple gun and
my glue gun out of my desk, and leave the tulle in the store. We’ll be down in a few
minutes.” Marina hurried off to the fitting room next door, and took the bolts to the store
one by one. They were heavy to carry even though it was only tulle. There was one bolt
of pale lavender tulle with sequins glued to it, and she took that too in case Eugenia
wanted it.
Pam and Eugenia maneuvered the racks on wheels into the freight elevator behind
the fitting rooms, got the racks out onto the sidewalk and into the store, and locked the
door behind them. Eugenia took her jacket off and tossed it on a chair. The chair was
sleek and modern, covered in nubby white wool to match the rest of the furniture in the
store. There were two small antique chests, and Eugenia directed Pam and Marina to
move them to a stockroom in the back of the store. They wouldn’t work with the clothes.
They set up two more racks, put the stock on them that had been hanging, and moved
those to the stockroom too. The selection was sparse, since they were doing so little
business, and had had no new evening gowns to show for months.
Eugenia positioned the racks where she wanted them with the Cotton Candy line
hanging on them, set up an empty rack, and began moving things around. As she did, she
took out six dresses and two pink denim jackets and laid them on the white bouclé
couch to deal with later. She started moving the Cotton Candy around on the racks at full
speed, and shortly after there were jackets, shorts, skirts, and dresses all set out in
progressive sizes with the colors of the clothes looking like a sparkling pastel rainbow,
as her two employees watched her in admiration. She had an eye for display and
merchandising, even with playful teenage merchandise.
“We need five more mannequins, and you need to undress the one in the window.”
The mannequin was wearing a sleek bun of dark hair. Eugenia told Pam, squinting at the
clothes, “And we need to get two long blond wigs, two red ones, and two with dark
brown hair. Put away the blond one in the window. The spare mannequins are in the
upstairs storeroom.”
They brought them down and assembled them, and Eugenia dressed them herself
with the outfits she had laid on the couch. She put them in more playful poses than the
staid one in the window. When she was through, they were still bald, but there was a
perfect lineup that gave the tone and flavor of the style of the clothes. She grabbed the
bolts of tulle then, unrolled them, created big balls of crushed tulle the size of beach
balls, and put one in two of the mannequins’ hands. By the time she finished bunching
the fabric into balls and crushing them a little, and put them on the floor at the feet of the
mannequins in the window, it really did look like cotton candy, and she didn’t even have
to use the staple gun or the glue gun. The window looked terrific. Eugenia was pleased,
and asked Pam to take a picture of it and text it to Izzie and ask her what she thought of
it.
“We need the wigs right away,” Eugenia said to Marina, and sent her to a shop she
knew on Lexington to get them. She was back twenty minutes later, with what Eugenia
had ordered.
“They didn’t have enough long ones. I got two with short dark hair, one with bangs
and one with pigtails. I thought it might look right with our new look.”
“Perfect, thank you.” They all unwrapped the wigs and Eugenia put them where she
wanted them, just as Izzie answered her mother’s text.
“Sorry, I was in the pool. It looks fantastic, Mom. Tell Eugenia I love it.” Pam
relayed the message to her boss, as Eugenia stood back to look at what they’d done, then
walked outside to view the window from the street and liked it even better. Now all
they had to do was discover who their customer was. But the display work had been
done in less than three hours from the time they opened the crates. Pam was standing
shaking her head, and admiring the way it all looked.
“Eugenia, you’re a genius.”
“No, Eloise is.” Eugenia took no credit for the concept. She just hoped she wasn’t
crazy with what she’d done. She had embraced it completely. No one would have
recognized it as Eugenia Ward’s store except for the name on the door and the address.
They were standing around admiring how everything looked, when Eugenia’s cell phone
rang and she went to answer it, pulling it out of her purse. It was Eloise, calling from
Paris, and ten o’clock in the morning there.
“You wouldn’t believe what I’m looking at,” she said with a wide smile. “The store
is completely transformed. Welcome to Cotton Candy, and all thanks to you.” As she
said it, she heard a sob at the other end, and her smile faded instantly. “Eloise? What’s
wrong? Darling, are you okay?” The sobbing continued for a full minute while Eugenia
tried not to panic. “Tell me. Are you hurt? Did something happen?”
“Yes, I was right. I got fired.”
“Oh shit. Just like that? Why?” Eloise’s design work was excellent, she couldn’t
believe it was about her designs, and she’d worked there for seven years.
“I told you, Mom. They’re making huge cutbacks, everyone is, even the big brands.”
“And they walked in and fired you just like that?” Eloise had been worried for so
long that her mother hadn’t taken her concerns seriously.
“No, but the only markets that are doing well for anyone right now are in Asia. They
told me that they have to make drastic cuts in Paris. A third of the staff was fired today.
They offered me Bangkok or Hong Kong, but I don’t want to live in Asia. I want to stay
in Europe. And they said they had to let me go if I didn’t want to move. I would do Italy
or London, or even Germany, but not Bangkok or Hong Kong, and they’re making the
same cuts all over Europe. They’re not offering anyone jobs here.” She was still crying
and sounded devastated. “They said they’ll start rehiring when business picks up, but
not for a while. Maybe in a year. But they can’t promise anyone anything now. So I’m
done. They just told me.”
“You’re sure about Hong Kong? You might like it.”
“No! And I don’t speak Chinese. Another girl on my marketing team is going to Hong
Kong, but she’s half French and half Chinese and speaks the language. I don’t. What am
I going to do? I don’t want to live in New York, and I hate to give up my apartment here.
I love it, and it took me three years to find it.”
“First of all you’re going to take a breath and calm down. You’ll find another job in
Paris eventually. You need to think about this calmly, and talk to a headhunter there,” but
they both knew that the fashion industry was suffering everywhere, and had been for a
year and a half.
“No one’s hiring here.”
“Now. That will all change in a few months. And your Cotton Candy line looks
incredible. We turned the store around, and we’re ready to roll.” She had sheets of
prices, but they hadn’t had time to put price tags on the clothes yet. Eugenia knew that
people would be shocked at how reasonable they were, especially at Eugenia Ward’s.
The numbers were laughable compared to their usual prices. Eloise didn’t want to hear
about it now. And Eugenia was trying to think about how to help her.
“When do you finish there?” Eugenia asked, assuming Eloise had to give them a few
weeks.
“In three hours, at close of business. They gave us all severance. They were very
nice about it, but I’m out of a job, and I was fired, Mom.” It was a first for her. She had
gone outside to call her mother, and had walked around the corner so no one would see
her crying, but she had seen the others crying too. It was a hard blow for all of them.
“Wow,” Eugenia said. “Well, don’t worry about the apartment now. We can figure
that out later. Why don’t you just take a break and come home? You can help me with
Fashion Week in a couple of weeks. We’ve got the show all organized except for fittings
after we hire the models. We’ll be taking orders in the showroom. And I’m going to
open the doors to Cotton Candy tomorrow.”
“That was fast.” Eloise sounded surprised.
“The factory was hungry for business. I’ll have Pam send you pictures. I’ve got six
mannequins in the window, wearing our best looks. And I owe it all to you,” she said
gratefully. “Eloise, get a ticket, hop on a plane. We can figure it all out from here. I
really could use your help, in a week or two I’ll be swamped,” she said sincerely. “And
I still have a wedding to put on.”
“Oh my God, Mom, if you ask me to help Gloria with her wedding, I’ll shoot her or
myself. She gives me anxiety. More than I already have,” Eloise corrected. “And I’d
like to help you, Mom, but I don’t know anything about that kind of clothes.”
“Neither do I, but you inspired them, and I think it’s the best thing you’ve ever done
for me.”
“Don’t make me sorry I did,” Eloise said, smiling through her tears.
“You can’t afford the luxury of feeling sorry for yourself,” Eugenia said more
harshly. “The race for jobs is going to be acute everywhere for a while. You just have to
be patient and hang in. Come home. I’m going to Paris at the end of September, to
present the ready-to-wear line in the showroom and take orders. I’m going to be
juggling a lot, and I could really use a spare set of hands, and your genius for design.”
“Those tutus I sketched for you don’t need a design genius. If they were produced
according to my sketches, all they need is a busload of screaming fourteen-year-old
girls. I can’t believe how fast you got them made.”
“Neither can I, but they’re all set up here and ready to rock ’n’ roll.”
“Maybe I’ll come home in a couple of days.” Eloise hesitated. “Thank you for the
offer, Mom. I’ll let you know. I need to think about it.”
“Don’t think about it, just come. You’re coming for the wedding anyway. This just
gets you home a week or two early.”
“I know, Mom,” Eloise sounded exasperated. “But it brings me back fired and in
disgrace.”
“You didn’t hold them up at gunpoint. There is a global crisis, and people
everywhere are getting laid off. You’ll find another job, El. Now buy a ticket, pack a
bag, and come home. It’s admirable that you want to deal with it yourself, but there’s not
a lot you can do about it.”
“I have a right to be upset. It just happened.”
“Yes, you do,” her mother confirmed. “But you’re going to have to be a little
patient.”
“Okay. I have to go. I’ll call you later and tell you what I’m doing.” Thirty suddenly
seemed so young to Eugenia, and so unprepared to weather life’s crises. She really was
sorry for her.
They hung up. Eugenia had gone outside to talk to Eloise about getting fired. She
walked back into the store and Pam and Marina stared at her.
“What happened?” Pam spoke first.
“Eloise got fired.” Pam was shocked. “They are making huge cutbacks.”
—
Eloise reported to Daphne by text. And five minutes later Daphne called her sister.
“What the hell happened?” she asked Eloise.
“Too many employees and bad sales figures. It’s everywhere.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“Mom wants me to come home, but I look like a total loser if I come home now.”
“So what? Just come home,” Daphne concluded. “See you soon,” she said when they
hung up.
—
Worrying about Eloise took some of the pleasure out of transforming the store. Eugenia
walked home a little while later, still thinking about her.
She told Patrick about it, when he came to her apartment for dinner and to stay with
her that night. He was surprised to hear it and sad for Eloise. It was exactly what she’d
been afraid of and she was right. She had felt it coming, like a tidal wave, and it had
finally caught up with her.
—
Patrick staying at Eugenia’s apartment was very different and less glamorous than her
staying on his boat. He was at a loss to help her with her children. He hardly knew
them. All he could do was be reassuring to their mother. Patrick was impressed by how
supportive they all were of each other.
Her household was much simpler and quieter than his, but it gave them time to walk
around as they chose, and to make love anywhere they wanted in the apartment. Her
housekeeper went home at six-thirty, and they took full advantage of it. They played the
stereo and listened to music, and sat on the terrace in the warm night air.
—
Eloise took her mother’s advice and came home. She was nervous and on edge, and
heartbroken over losing a job she loved. She was stunned by how fast Eugenia had
waved a magic wand and the entire Cotton Candy collection had appeared. By the time
Eloise came home three days after her call to her mother, they had sold more than half
the collection, and it had taken off like a forest fire. Eugenia was stunned by the appetite
people had for it. About half their customers were teenagers, shopping on their mothers’
credit cards, with their full knowledge and permission, and the other half of their
growing fan base were trendy young women with the bodies of even younger ones. They
looked sexy and cute in the sequined denim jackets, the skirts, the dresses, the tulle
confections, and the abundance of sequins on everything. Eloise couldn’t believe how
her mother had transformed the store. They had already caught the attention of the
fashion press and Page Six in the Post to report the craze. Eugenia had tapped into her
customers’ desire to look like fairies and mermaids and little girls. They were
devouring Cotton Candy, in the best sense of the word. And the vendor with the cotton
candy truck in front of the store was handing out great cloudlike balls. Much to
Eugenia’s astonishment, they sold every single item within a week, and she had already
ordered more.
She told Patrick about it and he came to see it before the last of it sold. And in the
midst of the shopping frenzy, Natasha Wylie showed up and introduced herself to
Eugenia. She was wearing a stretch leopard-print bodysuit and looked at her new
partner’s pink candy land in amazement. Eugenia hadn’t expected to see her so soon.
The deal had been cleared by her attorneys, signed within two days, the funds
transferred within three, and Eugenia Ward was suddenly cash-rich again, with twenty
million more in the bank. Natasha looked even more spectacular than she had at
Daphne’s dinner party.
She watched two teenage girls and their mothers carrying five shopping bags out of
the store. Pam had ordered pink ones for them in record time. Everything had happened
at breakneck speed.
The day Natasha showed up, Eloise was helping her mother set out new
merchandise, and they had brought two of their salesclerks back to wrap everything in
pink tissue with half a yard of pink tulle exploding out of the bags containing their
customers’ purchases.
“We are partners now,” Natasha said proudly. She was wearing platform slides with
seven-inch heels to go with the bodysuit, and her raven dark hair hung straight down her
back. She looked more like sixteen than twenty-two. “I read about this on Page Six. It is
very smart.” She totally got what Eloise was trying to do and approved. “First we sell
them Cotton Candy so they look like little girls, then we sell them evening gowns like
real women. Where are the gowns?” She glanced around, but there were none in view.
“They’re not on display at the moment. I wanted to test the strength of the new line,”
Eugenia explained. Natasha was interested in everything around her.
“Very smart. You and your employees work very hard.” Everyone was moving at full
speed. Eloise came to join them when she spotted Natasha. She remembered her
immediately from Daphne’s dinner party, with the man in the Stetson with the diamond
necklace. They weren’t easy to forget. And Eloise put her fashion purist aesthetic aside
for now. It had been dormant since she got home and went to work helping her mother. It
was actually in a deep coma. She was dazzled by the craze they had started, which
Eugenia had turned into marketing genius. The money was rolling in faster than they
could count it. It was a major coup, and they had no idea how long the craze would last,
but for the moment it was increasing day by day.
“You need help at the store?” Natasha asked Eugenia, and was clearly ready to pitch
in. It looked like fun to her. She tried on some of the clothes and they looked great on
her. She had a flawless body, which she worked on daily with a trainer Austin had
brought with him from Dallas. They were staying in the presidential suite at the Four
Seasons, while Austin did business in New York.
“We’re managing pretty well,” Eugenia said, amused by her. She was so earnest, and
friendly to everyone. She told all the girls trying on the clothes that they looked beautiful
and hot. Eloise could hardly repress a laugh, and until then, she hadn’t smiled since she
got home. But the success of Cotton Candy was something to smile about, even crow.
Natasha stayed for another hour, bought two pairs of pink sequined very short shorts,
and a denim jacket to match, with a giant pink sequin heart on the back. She promised to
come back soon, and Eugenia was surprised to find she liked her.
Daphne came by after her weekly checkup and couldn’t believe the scene either. She
gave her sister an enormous hug in sympathy for her heartbreak at Balenciaga.
“Mom has started an avalanche. Everyone’s talking about it,” Daphne said, licking
wisps of the candy floss the vendor with the bright pink cart had handed her outside the
store.
“What did the doctor say?” Eugenia asked her when she joined them.
“That I’ll go into labor any minute. She’s surprised I haven’t yet. And if I get any
bigger it’s a C-section for sure.” She wasn’t happy about it, but at this point getting them
out without a C-section was terrifying too. Her face looked beautiful, but her body
looked like she’d swallowed a balloon. “I can’t even stand up without help, or get out
of bed,” she complained. “Anyone who tells you having twins is fun is lying.” She
lumbered over to a chair and sat down. She couldn’t stand for long either. “How is it
being back in New York?” she asked her sister.
“Sad,” Eloise said with a mournful expression. “I miss Paris, but it’s nice being with
Mom, and you.” She smiled at her younger sister.
Eugenia took her two daughters to lunch at The Grill while Pam and three
salesclerks minded the store. Daphne didn’t eat a thing. She said she didn’t have room,
she just drank iced tea. “Has Liz been to see it?” she asked, while her mother and sister
ate their salads.
“Not yet,” Eugenia answered. “She’s working on a merger at the startup where she
works. She’s going to try to come this weekend. She sent us a magnum of pink
champagne when we launched the line, to wish us luck.”
“She’s going to love this,” Daphne said, and Eloise shook her head.
“She’s not our customer. It’s not jazzy enough for her. Our customers are more naïve,
younger, and want to look more innocent. Liz favors femme fatale. She’s more given to
rhinestones than sequins.”
They knew exactly who their client was now, and they had a lot of them.
After lunch, Eloise and Eugenia headed back to the store and Daphne went home to
rest.
“I hope the next time I see you both is at the hospital,” she said with a smile as she
left them.
“The poor thing looks so uncomfortable,” Eloise said sympathetically. “I couldn’t do
it.”
“Yes, you could, if you had to,” Eugenia said, as they walked back to the store to get
some air.
“Thank God I don’t have to.”
“The reward is worth it,” Eugenia responded.
“Aren’t the bride and groom due back any minute?” Eloise asked her, and Eugenia
shook her head.
“Not till next week. His parents are arriving tomorrow, however,” she said to Eloise
with a sigh. “I hate to say it, but I didn’t like them when we met two years ago.
Arrogant, pompous, impressed with themselves. No money but lots of pretensions. We
just have to put up with them for Gloria’s sake, and it’s only for a week. They’re
organizing the rehearsal dinner, and I still don’t have the details yet. I don’t even know
where they’re giving it. I have enough on my hands with the wedding. I haven’t received
an invitation yet. I guess they’ll just tell me when they get here. It’s a little vague for my
taste,” she admitted.
“Gloria is making a terrible mistake,” Eloise said, as they reached the store, with the
Cotton Candy samples in the window, and a crowd of customers inside, which there
hadn’t been for a year and a half.
“I tried to tell her that when she was here. She doesn’t want to hear it, and she
defends him to the death. That’s why they left,” Eugenia said, unhappy about it.
“It’s her choice, Mom,” Eloise said.
“I just hope he doesn’t break her heart.”
They pushed open the door to the store then, and joined the crowd.
