see you.” When I looked over at Monsieur Renaud I thought I detected a slight eye-roll
and even though I’d always found him oppressively proper over the phone, I
reconsidered. Although he was much too professional to show it, never mind actually say
anything, I considered that he might loathe Miranda as much as I did. Not because of any
real proof I had, but simply because it was impossible to imagine anyonenot hating her.
The elevator opened and Monsieur Renaud smiled and ushered me inside. He said
something in French to the bellman who was escorting me upstairs. Renaud bid me adieu
and the bellman led me to Miranda’s suite. He knocked on the door and then fled, leaving
me to face Miranda alone.
I briefly wondered if Miranda herself would answer the door, but it was impossible to
imagine. In the eleven months I’d been letting myself in and out of her apartment, I’d yet
to catch her doing anything that even resembled work, including such pedestrian tasks as
answering the phone, removing a jacket from a closet, or pouring a glass of water. It was
as if her every day wasShabbat and she was once again the observant Jew, and I was, of
course, herShabbes goy .
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A pretty, uniformed maid opened the door and ushered me inside, her sad eyes moist and
staring directly at the floor.
“Ahn-dre-ah!” I heard from somewhere in the deep recesses of the most magnificent
living room I’d ever seen. “Ahn-dre-ah, I’ll need my Chanel suit pressed for tonight,
since it was practically ruined with wrinkles on the flight over. You’d think the Concorde
would know how to handle luggage, but my things look dreadful. Also, call Horace Mann
and confirm that the girls made it to school. You’ll be doing that every day—I just don’t
trust that Annabelle. Make sure you speak to both Caroline and Cassidy each night and
write out a list of their homework assignments and upcoming exams. I’ll expect a written
report in the morning, right before breakfast. Oh, and get Senator Schumer on the phone
immediately. It’s urgent. Lastly, I need you to contact that idiot Renuad and tell him I
expect him to supply me with competent staff during my stay, and if that’s too difficult
I’m sure the general manager would be able to assist me. That dumb girl he sent me is
mentally challenged.”
My eyes swiveled to the sorrowful girl who was currently cowering in the foyer, looking
as fearful as a cornered hamster as she trembled and tried not to cry. I had to assume she
understood English, so I shot her my best sympathetic look, but she just continued to
shake. I looked around the room and tried desperately to remember everything Miranda
had just rattled off.
“Will do,” I called in the general direction of her voice, past the baby grand piano and
the seventeen separate flower arrangements that had been lovingly placed around the
house-size suite. “I’ll be back in just a moment with everything you’ve asked for.” I
quietly berated myself for ending a sentence with a preposition and took one last look
around the magnificent room. It was, undoubtedly, the plushest, most luxurious place I’d
ever seen, with its brocade curtains, thick, cream-colored carpeting, richly woven damask
bedspread on the king-size bed, and gold painted figurines tucked discreetly on
mahogany shelves and tables. Only a flat-screen TV and a sleek, silver stereo system
gave any indication that the entire place hadn’t been created and designed in the previous
century by highly skilled craftsmen plying their trade.
I ducked past the quaking maid and into the hallway. The terrified bellman had
reappeared.
“Could you show me to my room, please?” I asked as kindly as I could, but he clearly
thought that I would be abusing him as well, and so once again he scurried ahead of me.
“Here, mademoiselle, I hope this is acceptable.”
About twenty yards down the hall was a door without a separate number on it. It opened
to a minisuite, nearly an exact replica of Miranda’s but with a smaller living room and a
queen-size bed instead of a king. A large mahogany desk outfitted with a multiline
corporate-style phone, sleek desktop computer, laser printer, scanner, and fax machine
had taken the place of the baby grand piano, but otherwise the rooms were remarkably
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similar in their rich, soothing décor.
“Miss, this door leads to the private hallway connecting your room and Ms. Priestly’s,”
he explained as he moved to open the door.
“No! It’s fine, I don’t need to see it. Just knowing it’s there is good enough.” I glanced at
the engraved nametag placed discreetly on the pocket of his well-pressed uniform shirt.
“Thank you, uh, Stephan.” I rooted around in my bag for cash to tip him but realized that
I’d never thought to change my American dollars to euros and hadn’t yet stopped at an
ATM. “Oh, I’m sorry, I, uh, only have American dollars. Is that OK?”
His face flushed crimson and he began apologizing profusely. “Oh, no, miss, please do
not worry about such things. Ms. Priestly takes care of these details when she departs.
However, since you will be needing local currency when you leave the hotel, allow me to
show you this.” He walked over to the behemoth of a desk, slid open the top drawer, and
handed me an envelope with FrenchRunway ’s logo on it. Inside was a pile of euro bills,
about 4,000 American dollars’ worth in all. The note, scribbled by Briget Jardin, the
editor in chief who’d borne the brunt of planning and scheduling for both this trip and
Miranda’s upcoming party, read:
Andrea, darling, delighted to have you join us! Please find enclosed euros for your use
while in Paris. I’ve spoken with Monsieur Renaud and he will be on call for Miranda
twenty-four hours a day. See below for a listing of his work and personal numbers, as
well as the numbers for the hotel’s chef, physical fitness trainer, director of
transportation, and, of course, the general manager. They are all familiar with Miranda’s
stays during the shows and so there should be no problems. Of course, I may always be
reached at work or, if necessary, by cell, home phone, fax, or pager if either of you
requires anything at all. If I don’t see you before Saturday’s big soiree, I’ll look forward
to meeting you there. Lots of Love, Briget
Folded on a sheet ofRunway stationery and tucked underneath the cash was a list of
nearly a hundred phone numbers, encompassing everything one could need in Paris, from
a chic florist to an emergency surgeon. These same numbers were repeated on the last
page of the detailed itinerary I’d created for Miranda using information Briget had
updated daily and faxed over, so as of this moment there didn’t appear to be a single
contingency—short of an all-out world war—that would prevent Miranda Priestly from
viewing the spring line with the least possible amount of stress, anxiety, and concern.
“Thank you so much, Stephan. This is most helpful.” I peeled off a few bills for him
anyway, but he courteously pretended not to see it and ducked back into the hallway. I
was pleased to see that he appeared significantly less terrorized than he had just a few
moments earlier.
I somehow managed to find the people she had asked for and figured I had a few minutes
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to rest my head on the four-hundred-thread-count pillowcase, but the phone rang the
moment I closed my eyes.
“Ahn-dre-ah, come to my room immediately,” she barked before slamming down the
phone.
“Yes, of course, Miranda, thank you for asking so nicely. It’d be my pleasure,” I said to
absolutely nobody. I heaved my jet-lagged body off the bed and concentrated on not
getting a heel stuck in the carpeted hallway that connected my room to hers. Once again,
a maid answered the door when I knocked.
“Ahn-dre-ah! One of Briget’s assistants just rang me to see how long my speech is for
today’s brunch,” she announced. She was paging through a copy ofWomen’s Wear Daily
that someone from the office—probably Allison, who knew the drill from her tenure in
Miranda’s office—had faxed earlier, and two beautiful men were working on her hair and
makeup. A cheese plate sat on the antique table beside her.
Speech? What speech? The only thing besides shows that was on the itinerary today was
some sort of awards luncheon that Miranda planned to spend her usual fifteen minutes at
before bolting out of sheer boredom.
“I’m sorry. Did you say a speech?”
“I did.” She carefully closed the paper, calmly folded it in half, and then tossed it angrily
to the floor, narrowly missing one of the men who knelt in front of her. “Why the hell
was I not informed that I’d be receiving some nonsense award at today’s luncheon?” she
hissed, her face contorting with a hatred I’d never seen before. Displeasure? Sure.
Dissatisfaction? All the time. Annoyance, frustration, generalized unhappiness? Of
course, every minute of every day. But I’d never seen her look so downrightpissed off .
“Um, Miranda, I’m so sorry, but it was actually Briget’s office that RSVP’d you to the
event today, and they never—”
“Stop speaking. Stop speaking this instant! All you ever offer me are excuses.You are
my assistant,you are the person I designated to work things out in Paris,you are the one
who should be keeping me abreast of these things.” She was nearly shouting now. One of
the makeup guys asked softly in English if we would like a moment alone, but Miranda
ignored him entirely. “It’s noon right now and I’ll be needing to leave here in forty-five
minutes. I expect a short, succinct, and articulate speech legibly typed and waiting in my
room. If you cannot accomplish this, see yourself home.Permanently . That’s all.”
I fled down the hallway faster than I’d ever run in heels and whipped open my
international cell phone before I’d made it into my room. It was nearly impossible to dial
Briget’s work number since my hands were shaking so badly, but somehow the call went
through. One of her assistants answered.
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“I need Briget!” I shrieked, my voice breaking when I pronounced her name. “Where is
she?Where is she? I need to talk to her.Now! ”
The girl was momentarily shocked into silence. “Andrea? Is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me and I need Briget. It’s an emergency—where the hell is she?”
“She’s at a show, but don’t worry, she always has her cell phone on. Are you at the
hotel? I’ll have her call you right back.”
The phone on the desk rang a mere few seconds later, but it felt like a week. “Andrea,”
she lilted in her lovely French accent. “What is it, dear? Monique said you were
hysterical.”
“Hysterical? Damn right I’m hysterical! Briget, how could you do this to me? Your
office made the arrangements for this fucking luncheon and no one bothered to tell me
that she is not only receiving an award but also expected to give a speech?”
“Andrea, calm down. I’m sure we told—”
“And I have to write it! Are you listening to me? I have forty-five fucking minutes to
write an acceptance speech for an award I know nothing about in a language I don’t
speak. Or I’m finished. What am I going to do?”
“All right, relax, I’m going to walk you through this. First of all, the ceremony is right
there, at the Ritz, in one of the salons.”
“The what? Which salon?” I hadn’t had a chance to look around the hotel yet, but I was
reasonably sure there weren’t any pubs in the place.
“It is French for, oh, what do you call them? Meeting rooms. So, she will only need to go
downstairs. It is for the French Council on Fashion, an organization here in Paris that
always has its awards during the shows because everyone is in town.Runway will be
receiving an award for fashion coverage. It is not such a, how do you say, big deal,
almost like a formality.”
“Great, well at least I know what it’s for. What exactly am I supposed to write? Why
don’t you just dictate in English and I can get Monsieur Renaud to translate it, OK? You
start. I’m ready.” My voice had regained some confidence, but I could still barely grip the
pen. The combination of exhaustion, stress, and hunger was making it hard to focus my
eyes on the Ritz stationery that was laid out on my desk.
“Andrea, you are in luck again.”
“Oh, really? Because I’m not feeling so lucky right now, Briget.”
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“These things are always conducted in English. There is no need for translation. So you
can write it, yes?”
“Yes, yes I’ll write it,” I mumbled and dropped the phone. There wasn’t even time to
consider that this was my very first chance to show Miranda that I was capable of doing
something more sophisticated than fetching lattes.
After I hung up and began typing away at sixty words a minute— typing was the only
useful class I’d taken in all of high school—I realized the whole thing would only take
two, maybe three minutes for Miranda to read. There was just enough time to gulp some
of the Pellegrino and devour a few of the strawberries someone had thoughtfully left on
my small bar.If only they could’ve left a cheeseburger, I thought. I remembered that I had
tucked a Twix bar in my luggage that had been neatly piled in the corner, but there wasn’t
time to look for it. Exactly forty minutes had passed since I’d received my marching
orders. It was time to see if I’d passed.
A different—but equally as terrified—maid answered Miranda’s door and ushered me
into the living room. Obviously, I should’ve remained standing, but the leather pants I’d
been wearing since the day before felt like they were permanently stuck to my legs, and
the strappy sandals that hadn’t bothered me so much on the plane were beginning to feel
like long, flexible razor blades affixed to my heels and toes. I chose to perch on the
overstuffed couch, but the moment my knees bent and my butt made contact with the
cushion, her bedroom door flew open and I instinctively launched to my feet.
“Where’s my speech?” she asked automatically, while yet another maid followed after
