“What a bitch!” Stephanie shouted as she hung up the phone. “She claims she can’t meet with me because she has a shoot with Miguel, but I know she’s just trying to avoid talking about the book.”
“Forget about her,” Howie Joseph suggested. “Why don’t you blow off work for the rest of the day and stay home? I’m going to develop this latest roll.”
“I hope you got some good stuff.”
“We’ll see. Yesterday was mostly your regular date stuff. The guy she was with looks familiar. I know I’ve seen him before, but I can’t place him.”
“Probably some equally stupid male model,” Stephanie commented sarcastically.
“I get the distinct impression that you don’t like this girl,” Howie said.
“I don’t like ingrates, especially those who reach the top and then forget the people who got them there. People like that deserve to fall from grace with a nice loud thud.”
“And maybe a handprint on their back?”
“You only get what you have coming.”
“Remind me to stay on your good side.”
“You’d be smart to do so,” Stephanie replied tersely. “Now, let’s see what poor sap she’s suckered into her life this time.”
“I don’t fucking believe this!” Stephanie screamed at the top of her lungs. She picked up her beer and flung it across the room. The glass bottle hit the wall and shattered into pieces. Having momentarily vented her anger, Stephanie cleared the coffee table and laid the pictures side by side. One by one, she picked up the black-and-white photos of Jack and Gabrielle and began to inspect them. From Jack grinning like a fool as Gabrielle swung a golf club to the two of them mugging for the camera in front of The Niche, Howie’s camera had chronicled what appeared to be the perfect date.
Stephanie didn’t know what irked her more, the fact that they looked like such the happy twosome—smiling, teasing, obviously enjoying each other—or the sad realization that in all the time she’d dated Jack, they’d never done “couple” things together like this, and never had Jack looked at her the way he was looking at Gabrielle—with eyes full of admiration and pride.
Since their breakup Stephanie had tried, with little success, to accept the fact that she and Jack would never be a couple again. Each time his name was linked with a beautiful model or starlet, the news would tug at her heart until the story of their breakup was circulated. She then would go on about her life, holding her breath until the next time. But Jack’s apparent relationship with Gabrielle was simply too much to take.
“You two won’t get away with this,” Stephanie hissed at their images. “Step aside, you two backstabbing fucks, and watch me work.”
Jack slipped quietly into the studio. Miguel was working, and he didn’t want to break the photographer’s concentration. Miguel was standing on the top of a three-rung stepladder, shooting down into a large white bathtub. Jack edged his way in closer to the action. Inside the tub, Gabrielle lay on her back, immersed in water. Her arms were tucked under her head, lifting it up and out of the water. Gabrielle’s bronze mane, streaked with gold, was fanned out above her body. The studio lights reflected off the water, making her hair look as if it were strewn with tiny diamonds. Except for a gold G-string, Gabrielle’s body was naked and completely painted gold. She was the personification of the world’s most precious metal.
“Okay, I think we’ve got it,” Miguel said, putting down his camera.
“Thank goodness. Any longer and they’ll be calling this the golden prune shot,” Gabrielle joked as she stepped out of the tub into a waiting bathrobe. “You’re going to have to airbrush out at least a thousand wrinkles.”
“It was worth it. You look fabulous. This calendar is going to be a knockout.” Miguel felt just as excited as he sounded. Gabrielle fueled Miguel’s imagination. The work they did together was magic and could be considered nothing less than art.
“You can put me down for one.”
“Jack! How long have you been here?” Gabrielle asked.
“Long enough to see you at work. I’m impressed.”
“I’m going to get cleaned up and into some dry clothes before I catch pneumonia,” she said, leaving the two men to chat while she dressed.
“We have to dash,” she announced fifteen minutes later. “I have to pop by First Face to autograph some swimsuits for the Pediatric AIDS Foundation’s charity auction.”
“See you later, baby,” Mig said, giving Gabrielle a hug and kiss. “Once the slides are developed, I’ll give you a call so we can start choosing the best shots.”
Jack and Gabrielle walked arm in arm out of the studio and into the dusk. They’d walked only a few steps when Jack stopped, grabbed Gabrielle up in his arms, and kissed her hungrily.
“Wow! What was that for?”
“I can’t tell you how turned on I got seeing you painted up like that. You looked so incredibly sexy.”
“I guess that shot goes in the calendar.”
“Well, even if it doesn’t, it’s planted in my memory forever. You are extraordinary. How can someone so beautiful be real?”
“But I am real. All this other stuff is just hype. I’m not like the pictures you see,” Gabrielle told him as he attempted to flag down a cab.
“Oh, I definitely like the real thing much better,” he said, kissing her again.
Once Jack and Gabrielle were inside the taxi and on their way, Stephanie stepped out of a doorway across the street and headed for the subway. Several passersby stared at the tears streaming down her cheeks but opted to say nothing. Stephanie continued walking, too miserable to care.