Goodbye Reckless

"Papa please at least let me meet her before the both of you gallivant to Alaska all freshly engaged."

I had sunk so low I was even pleading to my own father, something as a rule I never pulled into practice unless in the case of an emergency, and this was so far beyond emergency that the problem should have been hospitalised years ago.

I was backstage at a fashion show in uptown Chicago applying a fresh layer of Bobbie Brown's match perfect foundation to a lanky model who appeared to be all legs and arms, whilst at the same time attempting to reason with my father over the phone.

But he would not listen. In the end I hung up on him and quickly finished the model's make up. This having been completed I sank down on the chair that she had previously occupied and breathed out a sigh, watching the model that I had just worked on saunter down the catwalk wearing Marc Jacob's latest collection; of which I had just been donated a dress, a pair of shoes and a jumper.

I had been working as a make up artist for three years, having scraped by beauty school and through some utter miracle ended up working backstage at many a famous runway show, as well as being the head make up artist at prime photo shoots. These were the only reasons why I possessed the odd designer jewel such as the leopard print shoes from Chloe, or a Marc Jacobs handbag; all gifts for having made the best of out of the model, and in this respect it was the most amazing job I could ever imagine having.

"Elena! Tatiana! Please leave those shoes alone!"

My father was at present in some embassy in town attempting to sort out his visa for Alaska, and so I was left with the honorable duty of looking after the two blonde and hyperactive twins, which Svetlana so graciously had left behind for my father to look after, it being Saturday meant they had no school.

The Sanders household is a very special one, despite every child being from a different mother, we all managed to bear each other well. The twins were attached to me in a special emotional way that can only be built up through hours of intensive baby sitting and family therapy; something that my father insist we do to 'put aside our differences'.

The twins adored Ryan and every time he came to visit my father, which was Wednesday's after school and Sunday afternoons, they lunged at him and refused to let go until the Mexican house keeper that my father employed as their nanny managed to pull them off him.

I had just extracted the Marc Jacobs shoes from the clammy hands of the twins and roped in my assistant make up artists Tracy and Leonie to give the twins a 'make over' this caused squeals of delight to ensue from the nine year old already much like Barbie doll girls.

With a sigh of relief I could now just sit down and relax whilst somebody else fussed other the models. Mercifully I only specialised in make up on the runways, not being a part of the wardrobe team who had the get the models changed as quickly as possible so they could go onto the catwalk again.

I had just downed a cappuccino that one of the stage managers had made for me, when I felt my phone vibrating in my side pocket.

"Hello?'

"Hey crazy shoe girl!" It was the cheerful voice of Andy, or The Butcher; a nickname that I found rather bizarre, as he certainly did not look like one.

"Hey guy without his shirt on!" I replied with a grin.

"In my defense; it was boiling in that venue."

"And in my defense, I'm too short not to wear heels."

"Fair enough, say what are you doing this afternoon?"

"I've got my therapy session," I said bluntly with a small smile on my face.

"A what?" Came the weary answer. "Not that there's anything wrong with needing to go to therapy," he said quickly. "I just want to know what I'm getting myself into."

"Perfectly understandable," I said with a laugh. "It's a family therapy session, too crazy to explain right now."

"Well how about I offer you my own version of a therapy session? Say at three?"

I laughed.

"Sure thing at three, I might be late though my session only just finishes then."

"That's fine I can wait. Opposite the ice cream factory ok?"

"Sound excellent, see you later then."

And from there the one thing that remained constant in my life had been introduced.