Old Sins (80 page)

‘Julian, why didn’t you ask me to the meeting about the Beverly Hills Circe? It would have been so helpful to me, hearing how that was going to be started from scratch.’

‘Darling, I did suggest it to Roz, and she was all for it, but then she told me you and she had a very comprehensive meeting of your own planned and she’d be able to fill you in with the details then. It seemed more sensible, when you’ve got so much on your plate at the moment.’

Phaedria had learnt not to discuss Roz with Julian.

‘I see. Well, in future, could I be put on the circulation list for store meetings anyway? I’ll find the time.’

‘Of course. I’ll let Roz know. I’m sure she’ll be delighted.’

‘I’m sure.’

‘Phaedria, Roz and I are going over to LA next week, to look at the Circe site, meet the architect, all that sort of thing. I think it might be a good idea if you came too. What do you think?’

‘Oh, Julian, I’d love it. I’ve never been to LA. Never been to the States, as a matter of fact. Have you – discussed it with Roz?’

‘Of course. She’s delighted.’

‘Phaedria, it’s Roz. Look, I don’t want to interfere, but I really would suggest you get Paul Baud to help you with the plans for Circe. He’s done most of them, including the first, and he is brilliant. Quite the best in the business. He’ll help you keep to the house style, so to speak, and yet he’ll listen to your own ideas. Just a thought.’

‘Thank you. I’ll think about it.’

‘Paul? It’s Roz. I’m absolutely fine, thank you. I still miss Paris, though. I can’t think why you don’t live there all the time. How’s New York? Good. Listen, I need your help. Now I do want you to be very discreet about this, because it’s a bit delicate. You know my father’s getting married again? Yes, isn’t it delicious, and she is just so nice, none of us can believe our luck. You’ll love her. Well anyway, and this is the difficult bit, for me, you may have heard my father’s giving her a building for her wedding present, to turn into the London Circe. You did? Yes, well, look, she’s going to need a lot of help. No experience at all, and frankly,
entre nous
, she’s going to make a complete hash of it if we’re not very careful. Only of course I can’t say anything to Daddy. Anyway, I’ve suggested she consults you, and I think she will. Just look like you’re holding her hand, and guiding her, and just quietly take over. She has some extremely dull ideas, as far as I can make out, and she really needs to be talked out of them. And both my father and I basically want the London Circe to be a little different. Just slightly more – well, quite a bit more – avant-garde. You know. We’ve discussed it, and I know he’s a little worried by some of Phaedria’s ideas. Or rather the lack of them. Only he won’t say anything to her, of course. And nor can I. It would be terribly unkind, and we do want to encourage her. So we – well I – thought you were the person to help us all through it. What? Well, the stores are my baby now, you know, I don’t want this one going wrong. But obviously I can’t interfere. You can see my difficulty. Yes, I do have a real baby as well now, she’s adorable. You must come and meet her. So if she rings you, Paul, no, not the baby you fool, Phaedria, will you be helpful? And terribly discreet? Marvellous. Thank you so much. We’ve never needed you more.’

‘Right,’ said Roz, settling a large pile of files on the boardroom table, ‘Let’s get to work, Phaedria. Have you spoken to Paul Baud by the way?’

‘Not yet. But I do agree he’s the best person, thank you for suggesting it.’

‘Perfectly all right. I do want to help. We have to make this thing work, after all.’

‘Quite.’

Brown eyes met green in total mistrust.

‘Let’s start with basics. How do you see the store? I mean, what image?’

‘I thought very much the same as all the others. There’s nothing that would be more disastrous than to have a kind of rogue Circe in London of all places.’

‘Well, obviously that really is up to you. I am totally unvisual, as my father is always telling me. I wonder whether perhaps you should consider a slightly different look.’

‘And would you be happy with that?’

‘I was under the impression,’ said Roz, ‘that my happiness was of no relevance in this whatsoever. But possibly yes.’

‘Oh, all right,’ said Phaedria with a sigh, ‘let’s get down to budgets.’ She felt instinctively that any suggestion that came from Roz should be treated with deep suspicion.

‘Daddy, it’s Roz. Look, you’ll be pleased to hear Phaedria and I had our meeting today, and it went quite well. I think we can work together all right.’

‘Good.’

‘She has some quite nice ideas. The only thing is, I really don’t think you should get involved at all.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because she’s feeling inhibited enough by me being involved, and she plans to consult Paul, which seems a good idea, and I think if she feels your hand on things as well, she’ll lose all confidence.’

‘Well, as long as you and Paul keep a firm eye on it and make sure nothing radical happens, I’ll stand back.’

‘I think you should. It’ll work better that way.’

‘Julian, could I talk to you about Circe, please?’

‘Darling, I’d rather not. I’m terribly busy. It’s your project, you have perfect taste, and I trust you. All right?’

‘All right.’

Apart from having to endure Roz’s company (made more unendurable rather than less by the pleasant front she put on for her father’s benefit) in Los Angeles, Phaedria greatly enjoyed her trip to the States, brief as it was. She had expected to find New York exhilarating, but she had not been prepared for its beauty. She spent a whole day as a tourist, just walking it, up and down the streets, in and out of the stores; she went up the Empire State Building, she did the backstage tour of Radio City, she skated in the Rockefeller Center and that evening she insisted Julian take her in a horse and carriage on a trip round Central Park.

‘We’ll die of cold.’

‘I won’t. You can keep me warm.’

‘Come on then.’

‘I love it here,’ she said happily as they huddled under the rug Julian had brought from the Sutton Place apartment (‘The ones they give you are threadbare’). ‘Can we spend lots of time here?’

‘We could. I tend not to these days. Less involved than I was with this side of the world.’

‘Well, let’s get more involved. Can you keep a horse in New York?’

‘It’s difficult. There is one place, on the upper West Side, the Claremont stables, it’s like a multi-storey garage, you ride up a ramp. Not very satisfactory.’

‘Oh, well, maybe it’s not a very good idea then. What happens tomorrow?’

‘We have a big board meeting in the morning, of Juliana. And then the afternoon, I thought we’d spend in Circe.’

‘Is Paul Baud here?’

‘No, Roz asked him to go to Paris urgently this week, to have a look at the store there. It needs refurbishing, apparently. She’s in a panic to get it at least partly sorted for Easter.’

‘What a pity. I did want to meet him.’

‘Well, isn’t he coming to London to talk to you?’

‘I haven’t decided.’

‘Oh? I thought you had.’

‘No, not yet.’

‘Ah. I must have got it wrong.’

She was more enchanted still by Los Angeles. Everyone had told her she’d hate it, and she loved it. She loved everything about it, the sunshine, the buildings, the traffic, the freeways lacing their way across the city, the glitz of Beverly Hills, the tack of Sunset Strip, the palm trees waving so incongruously above their heads, the ocean beating its way remorselessly on to the white beaches. She longed to explore further, to go along the coast, but Julian was reluctant to leave the centre of the city.

‘We have a lot to do,’ he said rather shortly when she protested, ‘and not a lot of time.’

‘I’ll go off on my own then.’

He looked at her rather coolly. ‘I thought you had come here to work.’

‘I have.’

‘Oh, Daddy, don’t be such a slave-driver,’ said Roz, ‘she’s only come to observe. I don’t see why she shouldn’t go off if she wants to, just for half a day. She’s never been here before. We can brief her afterwards.’

Phaedria met her eyes with a grudging admiration.

‘No,’ she said, ‘thank you, Roz, for your concern, but Julian’s right. I should be here.’

The site they had acquired for Circe was right on Rodeo Drive, almost next to the Rodeo Center, precisely opposite Elizabeth Arden.

‘Brilliant,’ said Roz happily. ‘Just brilliant. Worth waiting for.’

The architect brought in to design the store had ideas never before even whispered of in connection with Circe. He saw it white, airy, stark; Phaedria watched Julian thoughtfully as he briskly demolished ninety per cent of his ideas and then slowly moved into a qualified acceptance of the remaining ten per cent. Perhaps the faint indication she had picked up from Roz that she might do something similar in London should be given more attention. Perhaps she had been wrong.

‘Roz, it’s Paul.’

‘Paul! Hallo. How are you?’

‘Very well. How was the Los Angeles site?’

‘Perfect.’

‘And the new designer?’

‘Oh, very interesting. Totally revolutionary.’

‘And how did these revolutionary ideas go down with your father?’

‘Surprisingly well. Like I said, he does seem to be very much looking for a change.’

‘Good. Well, perhaps it is time. Now, I have talked to Phaedria.’

‘And?’

‘You are right. She is most beautiful. And charming and intelligent. I liked her very much.’

‘I’m so glad.’

‘But I do not agree with you about her abilities. I found her full of ideas.’

‘Oh, good.’

‘She seemed interested in a more modern look. I told her I thought it was possibly a good idea. So we are proceeding cautiously along those lines.’

‘Excellent. I wouldn’t be too cautious if I were you.’

‘Julian, I very much want to have a formal meeting to present my plans for Circe to you and Roz.’

‘All right, darling, I’m sure that’s the way to do it. I’m very very busy, though. Couldn’t you manage just with Roz?’

‘Of course not.’

‘Why of course?’

Her eyes met his with just a touch of amusement.

‘You’re the boss.’

The meeting was fixed for early May; Phaedria asked Sarah Brownsmith to organize a boardroom lunch. Sarah, who had grown fond of her, and was eager to see her succeed in her venture, suggested that Freddy Branksome should be invited as well.

‘Please don’t think I’m interfering, Miss Blenheim. But the meeting might seem more – well, formal – with another
representative from the company. And the financial aspect is, I imagine, important?’

Phaedria smiled at her. ‘I think that’s an excellent idea, Sarah. Thank you. And please call me Phaedria.’

Sarah looked at her slightly oddly. ‘Please don’t misinterpret this, but I think that it would be better if I didn’t.’

Phaedria nodded. ‘I understand. I’ll get on to Freddy right away. I hope he’ll be free.’

‘I think you’ll find he will be.’

Sarah wasn’t sure if she was amused by Phaedria’s inability to appreciate the power of her position, or mistrustful of it.

‘Right,’ said Phaedria. ‘Let’s get down to business right away, shall we? I thought I’d start with the costings.’

Roz looked startled. ‘I didn’t realize you’d done any.’

‘Of course,’ said Phaedria coolly. ‘I don’t see how we can possibly discuss architecture and design if we don’t know what the financial implications are.’

‘Quite right,’ said Freddy briskly.

For the first time Roz felt a stab of fear.

Phaedria’s budget was presented clearly and succinctly. She had estimates from contractors, covering external and internal work, she had a budget for architecture, another for design, and a preliminary one for fittings and fixtures. Freddy sat beaming at her, clearly enchanted; he was not used to seeing financial considerations given such high priority.

‘So, at a very rough estimate, we’re talking about something like ten million pounds. Assuming we can get the work done within the year.’

‘Well, you can’t,’ said Roz. ‘It’s absolutely impossible.’

Phaedria looked at her. ‘I don’t agree. I’ve talked to several contractors. They all say twelve months is not unreasonable.’

‘They always say that.’

‘Possibly. But with heavy penalty clauses, it should be perfectly feasible.’

‘Maybe. But I doubt it.’

‘Well, let’s move on,’ said Julian, slightly impatiently. ‘What about the designs, Phaedria? The budget sounds reasonable to me.’

‘Right. Now then, as you know I have worked with Paul Baud
quite closely on this project. We spent a lot of time looking at the existing Circes, discussing them in the light of some of the work other stores have been doing, notably Harvey Nichols, and also the shops like Joseph and Rive Gauche. While Circe is clearly unique it equally clearly cannot be studied in isolation. Markets change, consumers change, fashions change.’

Julian was looking slightly uneasy; Roz’s face was expressionless.

Sarah Brownsmith knocked at the door. ‘Shall I bring the lunch in now, Miss Blenheim?’

Roz looked at her sharply. She had not realized that this was so officially Phaedria’s meeting.

‘No Sarah, not yet,’ said Julian irritably. ‘We’ve hardly begun. I’ll buzz you when we’re ready.’

‘Julian, Sarah and I were both under the impression this was my meeting,’ said Phaedria coolly, ‘but yes, thank you, Sarah, we will wait a little longer. I’ll buzz you.’

He looked at her blank faced, but his eyes were dark and heavy; there was no humour behind them at all.

‘Very well.’

‘Anyway, if I could resume. The market has changed. The consumer has changed. Money, quite a lot of money, is in new hands. People who would never have considered going into Circe will now be shopping there.’

‘What kind of people?’ asked Roz. ‘Typists?’

‘No, not typists. Obviously primarily our market will still be the ABs. Slightly older women. By which I mean, women in their thirties and above. But there is a great deal of money about in younger hands. Real money. What I think of as designer money. Stylish money. There’s a new breed of professional woman who wants, needs clothes that are very expensive, very stylish, probably with much more fashion sense than her mother or her older sisters. And a lot less time. I think we have to consider her. Clearly much of that area is down to merchandising; I would like, for instance, to institute a department where a woman can get an entire wardrobe put together for her consideration, as a result of a preliminary consultation on her taste, lifestyle, needs. But I don’t want to get too much into that now. The point I’m making is that we should consider these women when we look at the style, the design of Circe.’