limits.” Charity knew when she was beaten, and finally retreated and slumped in her chair like an angry schoolgirl who had been reprimanded by the teacher. And Rose had already been pushed to her limits, and would go no further.
Charity was still stewing about it when she went back to her office and asked her assistant for an Advil and a cup of tea.
“Rough meeting?” her new assistant asked and Charity rolled her eyes.
“The boss wants us to stay off any hot topics with Pascale Solon when we shoot her. And I’m not doing the interview, I’m just styling her. Rose wants her lily pure. She’s got the wrong girl for that, and the readers don’t expect her to be a virgin or act like one. She’s having a baby with a married man, for chrissake, and she does full-on frontal nudity in all her films. Rose has her confused with the Virgin Mary.” Charity’s assistant, Betty, hesitated for a minute before she went to get the Advil and tea. She seemed as though she wanted to say something but wasn’t sure if she should.
“Something up?” Charity asked her, sensing that Betty had more to say.
“I…not really…this is probably really out of line, and I shouldn’t say anything.” She looked flustered and nervous, not sure if she’d get in trouble. She hadn’t worked for Charity for long and didn’t know how she’d react or what she’d do with the information. “My mother is a decorator. She does a lot of jobs in Europe for American clients. She knows Rose’s daughter, who lives there. She’s an interior designer too. Nadia McCarthy.”
“Yeah, I think she’s married to some French guy,” Charity said, her head pounding.
“She’s married to Nicolas Bateau,” Betty said softly. Betty was twenty-five years old and scared to death. Charity had a temper and was unpredictable and indiscriminate as to who she would unleash it on. She stared across her desk at her assistant in disbelief.
“Holy shit…are you serious? No wonder Rose wants us to go easy on the story, and not make him look like a hero and them like Romeo and Juliet. God…what a mess.” Even in her initial shock, and with a fearsome headache, she couldn’t fault Rose for her ultimate decisions. She had agreed to let them have Pascale on the cover, and to the interview as the main feature, but she didn’t want Nicolas in it, or to have Mode glamorize them either. But Charity realized now how dicey it was for Rose to be making the decisions she had, and how uncomfortable it must have been for her, with her daughter as the injured wife in the story. She remembered then that Rose had just gone to Paris for the weekend. She had assumed it had something to do with work, since that was all Rose ever did. Her whole life centered around the magazine. Charity had never known another editor to work as hard. “Wow, I have to hand it to her for not saying anything. It’s going to be tough on her daughter when the story comes out. I wonder if he’s divorcing her to marry Pascale.”
“It doesn’t sound like it from what I’ve read in the tabloids,” Betty said, blushing. She was fascinated by them, and touched by how in love they were, and now a baby. It was her mother who had mentioned Nadia to her, and who felt sorry for her. She said she was a smart, beautiful, talented woman with two little girls. This put a new spin on it for Betty, and even for Charity, as she thought about it.
“Maybe Rose’s daughter is divorcing him. Rose never talks about her personal life. She’s famous for it. She wins the prize for this one. Let’s keep it between us for now,” she said, showing more respect for their boss than Betty had expected. Charity was tough, fought for what she believed in, and had a big mouth, but she admired the editor-in-chief and her decisions, now more than ever. “It must have nearly killed her to agree to put Pascale on the cover, as the feature.” She had new respect for her. “Make that two Advil,” she said to Betty. “And a martini…just kidding about the martini,” she added so her assistant didn’t think she was a lush. The girl was very literal in her interpretations. “I’m happy I’m not writing the interview.” The staff writer who had been chosen to do it was known for