We joined him near Chubby’s front door for a moment, debating whether to go in or wait for Derek out front since I hadn’t seen his car in the lot. We opted to go in and get a beer, telling the hostess that we were expecting a fourth. We waited at the bar until he came in a few minutes later, and she showed us to our table. I made the introductions and everyone shook hands.
I could see Derek critically eyeing both Marci and Michael, and wondered whether that was a habit of his, always on the lookout for photographic subjects, or if he just always examined people as one would a piece of meat. It was an almost uncomfortable thing, seeing the way he looked at my friends, but I was aware of my prejudice against him on all matters Alli-related so I let it pass.
We had lunch and made polite conversation. Marci was very intrigued by Derek’s photography career and asked him a lot of questions, which clearly played to his ego. It didn’t surprise me when he suggested that she pose for him sometime, whether for serious “art” shots or for something more along the lines of the simpler, “campy” glamour shots he’d taken of Alli, the ones which started this ball rolling in the first place. I saw Michael giving her a bit of a raised-eyebrow look when she agreed, saying that it might be fun.
Accordingly, it surprised me when he said, “I think you should do it, babe. It would be fun, and I’d love to have some shots of you like the ones Allison did for Dave.”
That was an opening that Derek couldn’t pass up. He turned to Michael and said, “How about you? I’d love to do some of the two of you together; I think I could get some shots you’d both love. We can go as tame as you want, just some nice portrait shots, or we could do something very sexy and intimate. That would be totally up to you.”
I sat back, the innocent bystander for a change, awaiting the inevitable. It was actually kind of nice to not have a dog in this fight. Michael merely laughed, as I’d known he would. “Oh, I don’t think so! I’ve never viewed myself as good photo-fodder, so not really a possibility. Marci is the beautiful half of this couple, so I think I’ll leave the photos up to her.”
She immediately took Derek’s side, also not a surprise to me; I figured she’d love the idea of getting some sexy shots of Michael or of the two of them together. “Oh, that would be fantastic! You’re beautiful and sexy, baby; I think we should do it. It would be so much fun, and we’d have those photos forever then. C’mon, please? Think about it, at least?”
He shook his head, but reached out and took her hand in his. I didn’t think he would be able to stand up to her pleading for long, and he again proved me right. “I’ll think about it, okay? No promises though; let’s talk about it later.” He turned to Derek. “We’ll get back to you on that, if that’s alright with you. In the meantime, since you’re the artist, think about what kinds of shots you’d like to do – and how much you’re going to charge us!”
Three of us laughed at his display of pragmatism in the face of Marci’s enthusiasm. Derek, still smiling, said, “No problem, and don’t worry too much about the cost. I’m sure we can work something out.” He looked thoughtful for a moment before he went on, “I guess you two know by now about the project that I’m trying to work out with Dave and Alli?”
When they confirmed that they did, he continued. “I’ll need to take some test shots, of course, but it’s possible I could use one or both of you as models for some of the photos for my book. If that worked out maybe we could do a little horse trading, your time and talents for mine; you model for me, and in return I’ll do the sexy glamour shots for just the two of you.”
Michael frowned. “Me, in a book that will be out there for the public to see? I don’t think so. I’m not even that crazy about the idea of Marci in something like that, but that’s entirely her call. As for me…”
Derek cut him off. “Just promise me you’ll think about it, okay? You’d be great; I can already envision some shots in my head, the way I could use either or both of you with Allison.” He paused and turned to me, saying, “That’s assuming that Dave and I can get the details worked out. How would you feel about Alli working with Marci and/or Michael, Dave? Would that cause you any problems?”
I shrugged. “As you say, assuming we get to that point, no, not really. Alli and I talked about it, and we’re already very close to them; I feel like that would be better than her working with total strangers for something like this.” I laughed, struck by the absurdity of my own statement. “Of course, I have absolutely nothing to base that on, considering I have no prior frame of reference in this arena.”
They laughed too, Michael sympathizing with my position before Derek cut in, “It’s not the insurmountable thing you’re making it out to be, Dave. People model for cameras every day, from selfies and the DMV all the way up to high-dollar commercial shots, and for anything commercial there’s always a contract.” He reached down and pulled a small sheaf of paper from a slender, leather attaché case he’d brought with him. “You’ll see when you look through this that it’s about eighty-five percent boilerplate, while the remainder applies specifically to Allison or the nature and terms of this particular project.”
He handed the papers to me; I was not disappointed to discover that it was only perhaps five or six letter-sized pages, double-spaced and single-sided. Legal real estate contracts and leases can easily run upwards of twenty pages – plus exhibits - often legal-sized and sometimes single-spaced. He had a point about the boilerplate, the parts of contracts that have become standard issue, de rigueur inclusions in every contract over the years, various statements of fact, disclaimers, legally-mandated things and even a few non-verifiable items which are assumed to always be true. Attorneys and regulating agencies have had a field day over the years with ever-expanding contracts.
With real estate contracts there was never any need for me to read the boilerplate; I knew it by heart, and a simple skim to make sure it was included and had not been tampered with was sufficient. With a modeling contract I’d have to read every word carefully, because it was totally new ground for me. I skimmed through it quickly, riffling the pages, relieved to see that it was in plain English and not buried under heavy legalese the way older contracts often are.
We’d finished eating some time ago and had been simply sitting around conversing for awhile. Marci and Michael took my skimming of the contract as their cue to leave and excused themselves, telling me that he would drop her back at the office.
I looked up at them and shook my head. “Nah, I’m leaving now too, I’ll look this over later.” I turned toward Derek. “I assume that’s okay with you? I want a chance to read through this, maybe run it past my attorney…”
He looked crestfallen. “Oh. I was hoping we could at least discuss it so that if there are any sticking points we might get them worked out. I could get my attorney working on a second draft sooner that way, if necessary.”
I considered that; I knew that Alli would be anxious to hear how it had gone, and that both of them were excited about getting started. I also knew that I could hit the obvious things quickly, the monetary aspects and anything which might be a major sticking point in terms of time, obligations, or the photos’ end use and I’d still have ample opportunity to have my attorney review it before we got to the point of Alli signing on the dotted line. Which, by the way, is actually a solid line.
Relenting, I nodded assent. “Okay, you guys go ahead and go; Marci, I should be back in maybe an hour or so, but I don’t think we have anything scheduled.”
She shook her head. “We don’t. You have a conference call on the Anderson deal at 3:30, but nothing until then.”
I grinned, looking at the other two guys. “Beautiful, sexy, and brilliant too – you might understand why I pay her so much to keep her around.”
They laughed, and Marci added. “Oh yeah, that’s the other thing! I set aside some time at 4:30 to discuss my huge new raise and company car.”
I smiled. “What have I told you about drinking too much at lunch?” I stood and shook hands with Michael before they left, and to my surprise Marci gave me a big hug.
I realized why when she took the opportunity to whisper in my ear, “Don’t blow this for Alli! She really wants to do this.” Before pulling away she reached down and gave my ass a firm squeeze, surprising me again.
After they walked away I sat back down across from Derek, who was looking at me, a bemused expression on his face. “Your secretary seems quite… friendly.”
I laughed. “Administrative assistant, but yeah, that’s one word for her. She keeps life around the office interesting.”
“They’re an interesting couple, a study in contrasts. I could do some fascinating things with the two of them.” When I merely responded by giving him a wry look, he laughed. “With a camera, Dave, with a camera! Although, now that you bring it up…”
It was my turn to laugh. “Well, don’t toss anything in front of Marci that you aren’t prepared to follow through on, because she’s as likely to take you up on it as not. Now Michael, on the other hand, that might be more of a challenge.”
He nodded, smiling, and said, “So, sort of like you and Allison then. Why are women so much more open minded, do you suppose?”
I shrugged. “Maybe if the photographer was a woman the situation might be reversed, you think?”
He looked as if that thought had never crossed his mind, and he paused to consider it. “You know, you may have something there. What you’re saying is that you – and Michael, and probably other men – might view me as a threat?”
“Well, let’s take stock, shall we? A good looking guy, talented, artistic, sensitive I assume, given your profession, spending hours around a guy’s naked wife, giving her orders, dressing her exactly how you want her, touching her. Arranging her hair and body so that it looks perfect to your eye, in a way that you find sexy and attractive, molding her into your own personal, perfect image if you can… yeah, a lot of guys might find that just a tiny bit off-putting.
He laughed again. “I can see your point, yes. You think I’m good looking?”
I snorted, astounded by his ego! “That’s what you took from that? Seriously? Let’s say I base that on this; my wife thinks you look like an older version of me, so yeah, you obviously must be pretty good looking, right?”
We both chuckled at my reverse play of egotism as he nodded. “I hope she said a slightly older version. Funny how well we can get along when we’re competing over business things and Alli isn’t in the middle, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “It is. Of course, the business we’re going to haggle over is all about her too, so the truce may be short-lived.” I picked up the contract from the table. “Tell you what, why don’t you see if you can flag down our server and order a fresh round of drinks, and I’ll look this over and see where we stand.”
“Sounds good. I hope it’s not too far off; I tried to adhere to the things we discussed and to be sensitive to your concerns, but I’m open to anything you might suggest… within reason.”
I laughed again. “You might not be surprised to know that I’ve heard that caveat before, sometimes right before a deal crumbles. Sometimes one man’s ‘within reason’ is another’s outlandish outrageousness. Let me take a look.” So saying, I pulled a red pen from an inner pocket of my blazer and buried my nose in the contract.
To his credit, much of it was exactly as he had represented things when he’d been at our house the previous week. The time frame that he expected to meet was the same at three weeks, as well as the maximum length of workday that he’d demand. For monetary terms he had the twenty thousand dollar figure he’d tossed out to Allison for the full three weeks, plus a provision to pay her fifteen hundred per day for each day that he might run over that. It was pretty generous and stayed very close to what he’d spelled out, although of course there was all the boilerplate about releases, responsibilities, and confidentiality.
I’m sure he thought that it would be a quick approval, and I smiled inwardly as I saw him sneaking glances at me as I marked it up, making changes and additions. He was messing with something on his phone, probably online, and acted as though absorbed in that to refrain from either fidgeting or commenting, but he was definitely watching.
As I was reading one clause, I looked to him for clarification. “This has language about Allison appearing with you for ‘up to, but not more than, three photography shows, exhibits, or book signings’. You hadn’t mentioned that, or not to me at least. What’s that all about?”
He shrugged. “It’s nothing out of the ordinary, and of course it hinges on me actually getting gallery shows or book signings, which may or may not happen. She’ll be the star of the book, the number one character. For people interested in buying prints, or the book itself, it would be a real draw to have a chance to bump elbows with the beautiful, erotic star. It would enhance those events immensely for the people with the big dollars, and would add to the prestige for me at the same time.”
As I thought about that, not answering, he laughed. “Not to mention, your wife beautifies any room she walks into. The old guys that buy this kind of thing, the collectors, would love her.”
“Have you spoken to Alli about this?”
He frowned. “Yes… she didn’t mention it?”
“No. I’m a little surprised she would even consider agreeing to that. I think she’d be intensely uncomfortable meeting a bunch of people that were wandering around with a glass of champagne and some smelly but undoubtedly expensive cheese while ogling naked, erotic pictures of her.”
He laughed again. “Well, that’s one way to characterize it, I suppose. I have to give you credit, Dave; you do know your wife. That’s pretty much word-for-word what she said when I brought it up, but we talked about it and I was able to reassure her.”
“Great. Now reassure me.”
He smiled. “You two are a good match. Look, it’s just not that big a thing; for all they know she’s a professional model, and these types of people are very accustomed to artistic erotica. She’ll be dressed to the nines, designer couture and borrowed jewelry, and she’ll be stunning. They’ll meet, chat with her a little, pay her dozens of compliments, fall in love with her and buy my photos and the evening will be over without her ever feeling embarrassed. It’s very routine.”
I shook my head. “Not for Alli, and not for me. I’ll need to talk that part over with her. I still think she’d find a whole evening of that to be sheer torture.”
“She won’t, I promise you. She can have a glass of wine or two to relax, maybe lower her inhibitions just slightly, and she’ll enjoy it.” He shrugged, continuing, “She certainly has nothing to be ashamed of, does she? She’s incredibly beautiful and photographs well – and I’ll be the one creating the images, so I can assure you that she will be flawless.”
“I’m sure. Nonetheless, I’ll talk it over with her, I think, so let’s ignore that clause for now.” I handed it back to him. “Here you go. Look over my changes and we’ll go from there.” I started to rise to leave, first to see if I could get Chubby to run a copy of it for me on his color copier, but also assuming that Derek would want his attorney to see it before we moved on.
He stopped me. “Hold on, let me look it over. If the attorney needs to see it he can, and of course he will if we need a second draft, but let me see what you’ve written.”
I settled back in, willing to give him a few more minutes. As Marci had assured me, we had nothing pressing that afternoon. He ignored most of the document, flipping to where I had made notations in red. I saw his eyebrows rise as he read the first note I’d made, which was the change to the financial terms.
He looked at me, his expression incredulous. “Fifty thousand, and twenty-five hundred for any additional days? I was prepared to be a little flexible, but that’s just not doable.”
I was impressed that he’d remained so calm; I knew I’d tossed out a big number, more than double his initial offer, but it established a starting point and let him know that I recognized that he was willing to pay more. I shrugged, saying, “It’s all about how badly you want her. I’m sure you could find someone else to model for much less.”
“You know this project centers around Allison; I made that clear.”
“Yes, you did.”
He paused, and then smiled ruefully. “My first mistake, I suppose.”
I smiled back at him. “A mistake, yes, but probably not your first.”
He laughed. “Touché. You’re willing to be reasonable?”
“Again, one of those words that can mean something completely different depending upon one’s viewpoint. What do you consider ‘reasonable’?”
He thought for a moment before replying, “I can go to thirty for the shoot, seventeen-fifty for extra days.”
He’d gone up ten grand on his first counter. I took that as a good sign. “I think she’d settle for forty-five, and twenty-two fifty for each day over the three weeks.”
He leaned back, clearly exasperated. “Dave, please try to understand. This is not a commercial project, and I don’t have that kind of money to throw at it. More than anything for me it’s a lark, a personal accomplishment that I’d dearly love to be able to check off my list, but you’re making it very difficult.”
I shrugged again, prepared to walk away. I knew that Alli would be disappointed if the project fell through, but you can’t really play hardball unless you’re prepared to let the negotiation crash and burn. Sometimes it happens and in this case, from my perspective, it wouldn’t be the worst thing.
He sighed. “I can see that you’re in your comfort zone on this type of thing; I’m not, I’m a photographer, not a negotiator. There’s no way I can go to forty-five.” He thought for a moment, then sighed again. “Let’s save us both a lot of time and you just tell me your bottom dollar and we’ll see where that leaves us.”
I was impressed again. It wasn’t a bad tactic. “Forty for the shoot, two grand for each extra day. She’s worth it and you know it.” As soon as I said that I realized how awful it sounded even to my own ears; I felt like I was selling him my wife. I cringed inwardly, but hid it from him. We were trading in Allison’s time and talents so it was unavoidable that I’d feel uncomfortable with it, but that last sentence I’d uttered just seemed wrong.
He looked dejected. “I don’t know if I can do that, Dave. It may be more than I can swing.”
I thought for a moment, and a possible solution occurred to me. “Has she mentioned her animal shelter to you?”
He smiled and nodded, saying, “Yes, Second Chances Animal Shelter. It’s a beautiful thing she’s doing and obviously a labor of love; she talks about it all the time and she simply lights up when she does. Pretty impressive lady, your wife.”
I nodded. “Couldn’t agree more. You know, then, that she’s planning to use most of what she earns working with you for expenses and other needs at the shelter, improvements and such?”
He nodded again. “Yes, she’s mentioned that.”
“Okay then, how about this? You pay her a percentage of the forty grand as modeling fees or salary, or whatever you’ve talked about with her, but provide the bigger chunk – twenty-five thousand, say – as a donation directly to the shelter. It’s a 501(c)3 charity, registered and everything, so you’d have a nice tax deduction, and for her it would work out exactly the same. Better, actually, because she wouldn’t have to declare it as income and pay taxes on it either, although she usually funnels it straight through.”
He looked thoughtful for a moment. “That might work. I’d like to discuss it with my attorney, but it’s a creative solution. Why not just make the entire sum a donation and have her work for me as a ‘volunteer’ model?”
I shrugged. “Worth discussing with her, certainly. I just figured that after all of her hard work she might want to do something nice for herself with some of the funds too, and she’s a stickler for not mixing shelter funds and personal expenses. But yeah, that could work, or the amounts can be very flexible. I’ll leave that up to her to pin down. “
I paused for a moment and then went on, “To your benefit, she puts out a very nice newsletter to all of her members and adoptive pet parents, and it couldn’t hurt to have your name and business in there as a major donor. Some of her more philanthropic friends are quite well off; it could lead to some very wealthy clients for you.”
He laughed. “Nice sales job, Dave. Good point though, I like the way you think. Okay, I think maybe I can meet your terms on money, so let me see what else you’ve done here.” He read for a moment before again looking up at me. “You want me to add language about your right to attend any of the photo sessions at any time? I have no issue with that, as I said the day we met at your house, but I didn’t think it was necessary to enumerate it in the contract. It was understood, a gentleman’s agreement.”
I shrugged. “Maybe, but as long as we’re doing a contract anyway and this will only require a sentence or two, why not spell it out? Let’s avoid any chances for a misunderstanding. Will that fly?” I wasn’t confident enough about him being a gentleman to trust a “gentleman’s agreement” with him; I reserve that privilege to people that I know and trust.
He nodded, saying, “Sure, not a problem for me,” and went back to reading. I was watching his face and I could see when he hit the brick wall, his expression hardening. I knew what was coming next.
“I can’t give you this one, Dave. I can’t possibly allow another party to have censorship or control rights over my work. I simply won’t.”
His jaw was set, and he looked resentful of the fact that I’d even dared to ask. Alli had been accurate in her assessment of his reaction to that request; if anything she had underestimated it, and I began to doubt that even her backup plan would work. “Derek, all I’m trying to do is to ensure that nothing that can harm Allison gets out there, nothing pornographic or humiliating. Photos are forever, and I won’t allow you to do anything that will hurt her.”
He scoffed. “First, even the Supreme Court has been unable to define exactly what constitutes pornography, and in any event I’m not interested in anything that would cross that kind of line. Erotica, Dave, remember that. I don’t do porn. Second, I recognize that you’re trying to do what’s right for your wife, and I respect that – but so am I, and I’ll need you to have a degree of trust in my judgment. I like and admire Allison, and I’d never do anything to harm her.”
“That requires a giant leap of faith on my part. I’m not able to make that leap.”
He sighed. “I recognize that you and I have a rather, um, prickly relationship. I suppose that’s natural, given that I spend many hours with your wife, and that she’s fully or partially naked for much of that time.”
I nodded.