A New Foundation by Rochelle Alers (philippa perry book txt) 📕

She shared a smile with him. “All right. Let’s go.”

Taylor winked at her. “Yes, ma’am.”

“How’s your omelet?”

Sonja’s fork stopped in midair as she smiled across the table at Taylor. They’d arrived at the restaurant as brunch diners were leaving and were able to get a table in the enclosed patio with views of the Hudson River. “It’s delicious.” She’d ordered the farmer’s omelet with a medley of finely diced peppers, onions, mushrooms, bacon, ham and sausage. “How did you find this place?” Taylor had had to drive down several narrow one-way streets before he was able to find parking.

“I told you my college buddies used to search out restaurants to visit, and one day we missed the turnoff for City Island. We decided to keep heading north and ended up here.”

“I thought you said you took the subway uptown and to other boroughs.”

Taylor gave her a direct stare. “Do you remember everything I say?”

“Just about,” she admitted.

“Which means you could catch me in a lie.”

“Do you lie?” she asked, deadpan.

“Hardly ever,” Taylor countered. “I learned a long time ago that if you tell a lie, then you have to tell another to correct that one, and after a while you’re busted.”

Sonja popped a piece of fluffy egg into her mouth, chewed and then swallowed it. “Back to my question about how you ended up in Yonkers. Whose car did you use?”

“It was my rental.”

“Renting a car under the age of twenty-five is pricey.”

“Not for me, Sonja, because I’d just turned twenty-five.”

“How did you get into modeling?”

“I sort of fell into it.”

Propping her elbow on the table, she cupped her chin in the heel of her hand. “Tell me how you fell into it.”

There had been a time in his life when he’d forgotten his career goals. He’d known at ten when his parents gave him a Christmas gift of Lego that he’d fancied himself a builder. Using the interlocking pieces, he spent hours creating entire cities with imaginary office buildings, hospitals, restaurants and even malls. Instead of his obsession waning as he grew older, it intensified. Whenever he went into Manhattan with his father he’d found himself transfixed with the towering buildings and wondering how they were able to stand without falling.

“Earth to Taylor.”

He smiled. “I’m sorry about zoning out on you.”

“Are you or aren’t you going to tell me how you became a model?”

Now he knew why Sonja and Viola were friends. They were like dogs with bones when seeking information. “I’d just begun my sophomore year at NYU when a student asked if she could take some photos of me for a photography project because she said I had an interesting face. I told her I would think about it, but then she told me not to think too long because she had to complete her project and submit it in a couple of days. I said okay and she gave me a form to fill out with my name, address and phone number. There was also a section certifying that she owned the photographs.

“I met her the next day in one of the classrooms set up as art studios, and after about twenty minutes she was finished.”

“Did you have to take off your clothes?”

Taylor wagged a finger. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Ms. Rios-Martin. I wasn’t auditioning for a porno flick.”

She narrowed her eyes. “But you did take off a few garments.”

Taylor wondered if he was that transparent or she that perceptive. “She did ask me to remove my shirt and shoes.”

“Even if she’d asked you to take off all of your clothes, as an artist she would’ve viewed your nude body as art.”

“I’m not a prude, but I wouldn’t have complied in case she wasn’t going to use the photos for her school project.”

“Did you know her?”

“Not personally, but I would see her around campus and always with a camera. I ran into her a month later, and she told me that her professor gave her an A. Her prof said I might do well if she sent the photos to a modeling agency. I told her to do it just to humor her. I’d returned to Jersey for the winter break when I got a call from a woman asking if she could rep me because a modeling agency was interested in booking me.

“I’d forgotten about the pictures until she mentioned the photographer’s name. I was curious, so I agreed to meet her at a midtown restaurant. I listened to her spiel and told her I had to talk it over with my parents. Mom and Dad really didn’t want me to drop out, but I promised then I would do it for two years, and then go back to school. Two years turned into five and even though I’d earned a lot of money I knew it wasn’t what I wanted to do long term.”

“So, you just walked away.” Sonja’s question was a statement.

“Yes. And I’ve never regretted it.”

“How did you manage to remain an enigma when your face was so recognizable?”

Other women had questioned him about his career as a model and most times he was able to gloss over it without going into detail about a time in his life when he’d lost focus on his goal to become an engineer. However, Taylor felt differently when it came to Sonja. Not only was she his sister’s friend, but they would also work together and he wanted her to trust him.

“I had a clause in my contract prohibiting the agency from disclosing anything about my personal life. Professionally I’d become T.E. Wills, while in private I could be Taylor Edward Williamson.”

“What I don’t understand, Taylor, is once you become a public figure it’s virtually impossible for you to claim you want your privacy. Fame isn’t arbitrary or negotiable.”

“I know that. I insisted on privacy to protect my family more than myself. I knew how my life would change the instant my image