Page 69 of Casanova LLC

Claire’s hand landed on my forearm, tugging me to a stop. “That’s why I didn’t tell her. Let her make her money. Please. It’s my pleasure. Don’t refuse me my pleasure.”

Her mind was made up. I had to admit: there was something I liked about that. “At the very least, he doesn’t need two.”

“Maybe not right now. But who knows? Right?”

I’d never imagined him having a partnered life. I’d never even thought to ask him if he wanted that.

“Besides, it’s from my company. A write-off. Feel better, now?” She took my arm in hers and we continued to explore the village until we got hungry enough to have some lunch. I took her to a favorite place of mine, where we dined on their house special, a fresh seafood risotto. The bottle of wine was complimentary, no matter how much I insisted.

I decided to channel my problematic desire to have her know the real me into getting to know the real her instead.

“So, Visage. What made you want to start a cosmetics company?”

“Self-preservation?”

“Why not just marry a plastic surgeon?”

“Ah, but by marrying a billionaire, I could have all the plastic surgeons I wanted.” She tapped her temple, and I grinned. “No, the truth is, it was as close as I could get to creating art.”

“You do have impeccable taste.”

“Because I adore your work so much?”

“Obviously. But, seriously, why a cosmetics company?”

“Because I’m good at it?”

“Are you asking me or telling me?”

She sipped from her glass of Vermentino. “Look. If I had to do it all over again, I’m not sure I’d do cosmetics. It was right at the time. For a lot of reasons.” She waved this off, getting back on track. “But I made it more than just makeup. I made it art. Made foundations for over twenty different complexions, used my knowledge of color theory to bundle them with complementary eyeshadow, blush, bronzer, and lipstick.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s smart, and I appreciate what you did, but why didn’t you do something with actual art instead?”

“The business of art is what I enjoy the least about it.”

“Fair enough. But maybe you could have changed that?”

She chewed her bottom lip, considering. She looked at her wineglass, twirled it on the table. “When I started dating Richard, he kinda sucked up all the oxygen in the art world. Even though I was building my own reputation, a respected one, but…you know.”

“No, I don’t know.”

“Once we were together, it would never have been my own gallery, my own school, my own endowment. He…loomed large.” She picked up her wineglass. “In all ways. In all areas.”

“Except cosmetics.”

“Except cosmetics.” She sipped on her Vermentino. “Didn’t stop people from thinking he was involved, of course. That was the most exhaustive investigation. But it came back clean. Literally the day before I got here.”

I’d read about that, but I’d left it up to her to mention it. The pundits had been sure he’d used Visage to launder money. But the audit had vindicated her and she walked away with full ownership. For whatever it was worth now. “We don’t have to talk about this if it’s?—”

“No, it’s good. I want to.” She put down her wine and picked up her spoon for another bite of risotto. “Building Visage, honestly, wasn’t about what I created, but how I did it. That’s what mattered to me. I wanted nothing from Richard. No doors opened, no financing, no let-me-make-a-call, nothing. And when it became successful, when I became successful…” She wiped her beautiful mouth with her napkin. “He would see me as…more. And he’d want more. Of me.”

“He didn’t want you?”

“He wanted the me he could put on a shelf, along with his other prized possessions. But that, forgive the pun, has a shelf life. But joke’s on me. I needn’t have worried about the future.”

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