Chapter 12
For the next nine days, Eugenia worked nonstop on her show.
She worked all week and straight through Labor Day weekend, and Eloise helped her.
This was familiar territory for Eugenia.
By Labor Day every detail of the show was the way she wanted it, the music was perfect, the models had the look she wanted, the clothes fit them perfectly.
She had decided on the hair and makeup for each model.
Every detail for the runway show had been worked out, and they had a presentation of Cotton Candy set up in their Seventh Avenue showroom, and the orders were pouring in.
Eugenia had only seen Patrick twice in the last week, and only briefly. She was so tired, she nodded off and almost fell asleep at dinner. He teased her about it afterward.
“I’ve always known how boring I am, but most of my dates pretend they’re fascinated and try to stay awake.”
“I’m so sorry, Patrick.” She hadn’t had more than three hours of sleep a night all week. It was the nature of the business during Fashion Week.
Patrick was coming to the show, and had asked to bring his son.
He said Quinn had been to Fashion Week before, probably to see the models he dated.
But it amused Patrick to attend Eugenia’s show with Quinn.
He was eager to see more of Eugenia again once the show was behind her, but she was going to Paris in two weeks for Paris Fashion Week, to do a presentation of her new high-end daywear line and Cotton Candy, which was set up in their Paris office.
Since Patrick was less busy than usual, he had told Eugenia he wanted to come to see her in Paris and take her out, and she said she thought it would be fun.
He still had his plane so he could fly private to Paris, maybe with Quinn.
He wanted to enjoy the luxuries he still had.
Things were starting to look up for him too.
He’d made another deal and had sold three of his buildings now, at a loss but not too dramatic.
He still had fourteen unoccupied buildings, but some of the larger corporations were moving back in and he had increased their rent.
He still wanted to try to reconfigure some of his buildings on the successful Chicago model of a block of floors as a hotel, another block as office space, and the top twenty floors as luxury apartments with spectacular views of the city.
It worked in Chicago, and he didn’t see why it wouldn’t work in New York.
There were even department stores, shopping malls, supermarkets, and movie theaters as part of the buildings.
He was excited by the concept and was determined to try, and from the three buildings he had sold he had the money he needed to experiment with it.
He was working with an architect on the concept for the first one, and had already sparked some interest.
—
The day after Labor Day, on the morning of her show, Eugenia was backstage, checking the models before they walked out on the runway.
Eloise was with her and had helped style the show.
Gloria had flown to London the day after the canceled wedding, and Brad and Sofia were back at their medical center in Memphis.
Daphne was home recovering from childbirth and enjoying visits from Eloise when she had time.
Eloise was enjoying New York more than she had expected to, after seven years in Paris.
Eugenia had invited Liz to the show, and given her a front-row seat, and Liz was excited to be in the front row, particularly for her mother-in-law’s new concept of chic daywear.
Natasha Wylie was in the front row too, with two friends, explaining to everyone near them that she and Eugenia were partners.
Every fashion editor and store buyer from around the world was present, as usual.
And all of the fashion press. It was exciting just being in the audience, and Patrick was excited for Eugenia.
Quinn was amused to see his father at the show, since it wasn’t his usual style, but Quinn had noticed that in spite of the big business headaches Patrick had, he was happy these days, and Quinn wanted to meet the woman who was responsible for it.
He noticed that his father was shy about talking about Eugenia, and was very protective of her.
Quinn had a feeling that it might just be serious.
He knew his father hadn’t had a regular girlfriend in years, and had no interest in marrying again.
The show was as exciting as Eugenia had hoped it would be, and the critics loved it.
She had hit just the right tone between chic and casual, with clothes that looked great and were easy to wear but were still high quality and looked it.
Her denims were beautiful and had a slightly dressy feel to the way they were cut in trim suits and dresses.
The other fabrics she had chosen were appealing, and the palette of colors she had chosen was flattering to women of all ages.
Patrick was hugely impressed when he saw the show, and it brought everything she had explained to him to life.
Quinn enjoyed admiring the models. There were some exquisite girls in the show.
The new trend was to use less attractive models, unlike the big stars of earlier decades, but Eugenia was more old-school about that, and there were at least three girls he would have liked to date, and two that he already had, out of thirty-five in the show.
The final look was a less formal wedding dress that made the audience applaud.
The music Eugenia had chosen was so contemporary and exciting that it added life to the girls striding down the runway.
Eugenia came out and took a quick bow at the end of the show.
She was always shy about it. Quinn noticed that a very beautiful young woman held the curtain back for her.
She and Eugenia looked somewhat similar.
She had a great figure and long blond hair and was wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt.
She looked like one of the models, but she wasn’t dressed for the show and hadn’t been on the runway with the others.
She caught Quinn’s attention immediately, and he nudged his father.
“Who’s that?” He pointed seconds before they dropped the curtain and Eugenia disappeared backstage, and so did the beautiful younger woman.
He doubted that his father knew, but he might.
All he knew was that his father was dating Eugenia Ward, he didn’t know anything else about her.
And many of the models Quinn dated had been in her shows.
She was a big deal in fashion, and his father had told him that she was in the process of reinventing herself, which seemed to be a common theme these days.
Patrick wasn’t quite sure who he meant, and Quinn described the girl he’d seen behind Eugenia.
“I’m not sure, I didn’t see her for long enough,” Patrick answered.
“It might be one of her daughters. One of them was a designer for Balenciaga in Paris, and just moved back to New York. She’s been helping her mother with the show. ”
Quinn laughed at his father again. “Listen to you, being up on all the big designers.” It was a whole new view of Patrick, which Quinn thought was great.
He used to be all about business, and lately he was having fun too.
In the past, the only fun he had was on his boat.
Eugenia seemed to be expanding his horizons, and Patrick was diversifying his interests because of her.
“Is the daughter nice?” Quinn asked him and Patrick thought about it.
“I think so, she’s very bright, and is good to her mother. I think she wants to go back to Paris, she’s looking for a job. I’ve only met her twice.”
When the show ended, Patrick wanted to congratulate Eugenia and tell her how great the show was. He stood up and told Quinn he was going backstage.
“I’ll go with you,” Quinn said, and his father smiled.
“What a good son you are,” he teased him.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m all heart.” As father and son they got along well, and Quinn had long since forgiven his father for the times he wasn’t around when he was young. They had had some great times together in recent years on the boat and had taken several trips together.
Father and son pressed through the crowd to get to Eugenia.
She was wearing white jeans, a plain white T-shirt, and sneakers, and Quinn could see she had a great body and a youthful face, and then he saw the girl in black standing right behind her.
While Patrick was telling Eugenia how fabulous the show had been, Quinn said hello to the girl in the black T-shirt.
“Hi,” he said to her amidst the din and the chaos, with people pressing to get on the stage to reach Eugenia. Quinn had been backstage at fashion shows before, but he somehow felt tongue-tied, talking to the tall beautiful blonde in the black shirt and jeans. “Do you work here?” he asked her.
“I’m just helping out,” she said with a breathtaking smile.
“The show was great.”
“It’s a whole new direction for the designer,” she said, which made him think she wasn’t Eugenia’s daughter after all.
But whoever she was, she was gorgeous, and she seemed interesting and pleasant.
He couldn’t think of what to say to her, which was unusual for him.
Normally, he had no trouble thinking up clever lines to pick up women, but his mind was suddenly a blank.
There was no way he could ask her for her number with nothing else to say to her, it would seem so crass.
And he turned and saw his father standing next to him.
Quinn was taller and broader, but Patrick was a handsome man too.
The beautiful woman’s face broke into a warm smile when she saw Quinn’s father.
“Hi, Patrick,” she said to him, “how did you like the show?”