Senor Lorenzo & Estella

In the summer I want nothing more than to lie on the beach in St Leonards.

A few years ago I started messing about with pebbles, making odd characters that I’d photograph on my Turkish towel before shaking them out and returning them to the wild. I made a lot of them, infact it became quite an obsession. I posted the photographs on Instagram on the day I took them and called the series Beachlife. It became like my job, a perfect reason to lie on the beach all day - I even had a set of greetings cards printed.

As they were my people I had the idea to write their stories but only wrote this one about the unlikely couple who’d presented themselves to me.

Stella always found it easier to go into work if she developed a little crush. It added a spark of excitement and she dressed with the possibility of a flirtation or even a romance in mind. The new cloakroom assistant job may not have been one her careers advisor would have chosen but it wasn’t as dull as some she’d tried. Witnessing glamour second-hand was better than never seeing it at all.

She first spotted Senor Lorenzo standing by the doors of Le Grande Cirque,

immaculately turned out in his evening attire. He stepped forward to graciously greet the bejewelled and be-suited couples, welcoming each by name as he ushered them though the velvet curtains. He made it look as if the club was his own and they were all close friends. He wasn’t her usual type and not a bit like her man Ty who had never bothered with gracious. She was surprised to realise that she rather liked his style – what a change it would make to spend some time with a gentleman who knew how to treat a lady, for sure. He was older too, probably close to her dad’s age and she wondered if he had a wife at home – or maybe he was gay? Something about the way he smiled at the women made her doubt that, but then, he was a pro.

And so was she. The club suddenly got busy and she frantically accepted coats, put them on hangers and gave out tickets with a beaming smile, hoping that each one would match up with its owner at the end of the evening and translate into a tip. The clientele were dripping with money but that didn’t necessarily mean they were endowed with generosity. She would also have to get it right at the end of the night and in all but one case, she did.

It happened very quickly. A glamorous woman strode across to her booth and demanded her fur coat. She hadn’t got her ticket or time to wait. She was angry, intimidating …and she was leaving. The pressure was on Estella and she made a big mistake. She brought out three fur coats and asked which one was hers. As the woman reached for one of the coats Senor Lorenzo appeared at the woman’s elbow. He spoke to her in a very firm, low voice but Estella could hear every word. “Hand the coat back to this nice girl and come outside with me…” There was nothing gracious about that invitation. He meant business. She dropped the coat went with him like a lamb. As they walked away he turned back to Estella he said “You will come to my office before you go home tonight.”

Estella felt her knees go weak. The rest of the evening passed by uneventfully and there were plenty tips from the tipsy. She knew the coat episode might get her the sack and felt nervously sick at the thought of her appointment with Senor Lorenzo.

She found his office, knocked and was asked to come in.

“I’m Stella, from the Cloakroom? …I’m really so, so sorry…”

Life is full of surprises.

The man who greeted her in the office was Senor Lorenzo alright but he looked younger and had shed his air of authority.

His jacket was off and his collar unbuttoned.

He offered his hand and introduced himself.

“After hours please call me Carlo” he said “and may I call you Estella?

“Yes Senor…Carlo”

“Will you have a glass of wine with me?”

She needed that.

“You have lovely caramel skin Estella - do you like sunbathing? “ he looked into her eyes and smiled as he slowly twirled his moustache between his beautifully manicured fingers.

“I love sunbathing….” she answered.

“Good, let’s talk about the coat tomorrow then,

on the beach…”

oOo