Chapter 23
After hours of bending and working, it was all due to start in just a little while. Cayce still had to get dressed, and she had less than thirty-eight minutes to do it in. Anita was panicked at her side, but Frankie stood calm and silent as always. She stepped back and finally told Jilly, her new model, and the second one she had added, Bellamy—Frankie’s partner—to go stand where they were supposed to.
Frankie sucked in his breath as he saw them. “Wow,” he said.
She stood up, rubbing her lower back, and said, “Okay, girls. Like I said.” And ever-so-slowly they slid toward each other. One step out, bringing the other foot together. Against the backdrop but not touching it, and, sure enough, with every movement they took, it looked like the waves churning on the mural behind them.
Anita laughed and then cried out, “Oh, my God,” she said. “I didn’t know how you could possibly top the last one. But this, … this is amazing.”
Cayce watched her models with a critical eye and then relaxed. “Okay, girls, you have ten minutes to yourself while we clean up and get ready, and then it’ll be showtime.”
The two women just nodded obediently, but you could tell that they were incredibly excited. “You’ll film it, right?” Jilly asked.
“We definitely will,” Frankie said. He looked down at Cayce. “I can’t thank you enough.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “You can spend a few minutes with Bellamy while I go get changed, but then, as you know, I’ll need your help.”
He nodded. “I’m here and ready.”
He always was. She smiled, nodded, and headed to the small bathroom on the side of the large room.
There was Anita, standing outside, holding the dress that Cayce would wear for the cocktail hour and for the big presentation. She stepped into the bathroom, quickly stripped down, had a quick shower, and plaited her long hair until she was fully dressed. And then, wearing only her underwear, opening the door just a smidge, she asked for the dress, slipped it on and up over her chest, putting her arms through her sleeves.
Then realized she couldn’t zip it. “Anita, I need help closing it.”
She heard a muffled sound of voices on the other side of her door. She frowned. She opened the door ever-so-slightly. “Anita?”
Instead of Anita, she saw Richard. He took one look at her in that dress, and she watched his face turn to one of complete and instant lust. He stood, frozen, as was his gaze.
“We can’t do this now,” she said, her voice thick.
He closed his eyes, swaying in the spot. “God damn it,” he said. “You so have to wear that dress at home.”
“Only when it’s over,” she said.
He swallowed hard and said, “Turn around.”
She slowly turned around and gave him a glimpse of her smooth, clean back as he reached out a shaky hand. She watched in the mirror as he zipped her up.
When she turned to face him again, he said, “I’ll be outside.” And he disappeared.
Feeling more wanted and sexier than she’d ever felt in her life, she put on her makeup, then unbraided her hair, brushed it out, clipped it back in a sedate ball at her neck, picked up her work clothing to put everything into her extra bag, and stepped out.
Anita looked at her with a happy sigh. “You’re stunning,” she said. “That dress is so you.”
Cayce didn’t need Anita’s words to build her up tonight. She’d seen the look on Richard’s face. And honestly, she was still shaken by it herself. She smiled at her friend. “Come on. Let’s make this happen.”
By the time Cayce walked back out to the main exhibit again, the doors were just opening to let in the crowd. She stood in the center of the room, a flute of champagne in her hand, as everybody swarmed toward her. She lifted her glass and said, “Welcome.”
And, with that, the chaos began. Everybody mingled and looked at the big black silk-covered wall, completely covered before the grand presentation. She’d had the curtain specially made, and the roller too, but, at her signal, the podium cleared, and she stepped up to announce the prelude of what this installation was for and who was behind it all.
Major Robert, her client, came up beside her, holding her hand, then gently bent over and kissed it. “I have never met,” he said, in a loud booming voice, “anybody who was so special, so talented, and so beautiful as this woman. The job that she has done behind us is way beyond my expectations.”
She laughed and said, “Thank you for that. And now, may you all enjoy it.” She motioned to Frankie. “Frankie, if you will.” She stepped off to the side, as the curtain was quickly pulled apart, revealing her work.
There were gasps of oohs and aahs as everybody studied the massive painting in front of them. The ice fall, icebergs, the ocean. The audience was given five minutes to stare at the huge painting, and then she signaled Frankie to start the music. The two models—separated from the wall and yet still so close to it—were almost impossible to tell them apart. From her angle, she could.
But, as Jilly and Bellamy took their tiny steps across the stage, everybody laughed and cheered because, indeed, it looked like water rippling.
Frankie stepped up behind her and said, “I can’t believe you did that.”
She gave a happy sigh. “It looks pretty good, doesn’t it?”
The major stepped over and whispered, “Dear God, lady. You have outdone yourself.”
She smiled. “It’s all for a good cause.”
“Saving the animals,” he said with a nod. “A most worthy cause,
