I had decided to put Janie behind me and get on with my life.

At least I could now look myself in the mirror again and say that I had tried to change my life. If it didn’t work out then that’s just how life disappoints us all at times.

I threw myself into my work with an apparent enthusiasm that I hadn’t shown in years. I didn’t feel as enthusiastic as I looked but I was sure that burying myself in my work would give me back the reason for living that I needed.

Three appointments with big stars were lined up for the next couple of days and it looked like I was going to have a lot on my plate in the coming weeks.

Heidi was glowing with pleasure now.

“It’s good to see you back to your old self, Frank. We missed you.”

“This is what I do best. I fulfill other people’s dreams for them.” I could have added that I did it instead of fulfilling my own but I left it there.

To be honest, I still hadn’t forgiven Heidi for lying to Janie but perhaps it had all worked out for the best. If she had gone rushing straight into bed with another man then it was clear that she wasn’t the right person for me.

Yet, as each working day ended I felt a loneliness settle over me that I had never felt before. I used to love working out in the gym and then watching a movie but it all seemed to have lost its appeal now.

I started staying at work later and later each day, to avoid going home to a big, empty house. The joy of living alone that I had always appreciated so much now seemed so pointless.

That night, I had a special appointment with one of my most famous clients to date. This lady was currently the planet’s hottest actress but she needed my help to sort out her ears, which she had always had a complex about since she was a kid and got bullied for them.

We arranged to go out for a meal in the city’s best and most expensive restaurant. Most people couldn’t get a table here unless they booked months in advance, but all I had to do was call and tell them what time I wanted to eat.

I looked around the room as I waited for her to turn up fashionably late. This was where I usually felt most at home. I wondered whether Janie would like it or find it all a bit too posh and intimidating.

The actress looked stunning as she walked in. All of the heads in the room turned as she swished past their tables, wearing a dress that was somehow elegant despite revealing more of her breasts and legs to the world than if she had only worn shorts and a bikini top.

She sat down across from me and I felt the jealousy of every man in the room turned towards me. Did we look like the world’s most perfect couple? Could I find happiness with a woman like this?

Maybe the key to my future lay in finding someone on the same social level as me.

“I adoro this place, Frank. It suits my image so much.”

“It does. You look as though you belong here.”

“I spent two hours getting ready to come here but maybe I needed another one. Is my coiffure just perfect or does it need to be touched up?

“It’s absolutely gorgeous.”

“I worried that I might be showing too much escote. Am I ravishing or did I veer a soupçon towards vulgar?”

“Ravishing. Your cleavage is magnificent as always.”

“I love this petit necklace that my second husband bought for me. My amigos tell me that it brings out the color in my eyes and lights up my smile like the aurora borealis.”

“Yes, it is beautiful.”

“Oh Frank, my ears are just my only debolezza. I do hope that you can give me cute little ears like Brigette or Sophia. I adore my neck and chin but I need to hide my ears as though they were some sort of…ordure.”

This excruciating and one-sided conversation carried on throughout the meal.

Were her eyes suitably sfumato? Had she lost weight or was her cleavage a little sobrepeso? The actress was obsessed with her own looks and with adding in a bewildering mixture of foreign words, even if she didn’t really seem to know what some of them meant.

Of course, this is the sort of painful conversation that I was used to with my clients. Just about every one of my clients was like this woman; vain, self-obsessed and a crushing bore to be with.

She might be one of the planet’s most beautiful women but I didn’t know how any man could spend more than an hour in her company without losing the will to live. Once you had seen her plunging escote and been dazzled by her petit necklace all you were left with was vanity and empty words.

The image of Janie came into my head. Was she as attractive as this woman in front of me? Probably not in the classic sense of the word, no.

However, she had what the actress would probably call je ne sais quoi. Janie was fun to be with for her body and for her mind. She was funny, she was bright, and she made me feel good about life.

I recalled Janie’s charming way of always turning the conversation towards me and asking me questions that no-one else had ever asked. She had asked me about whether I liked my job and had encouraged me to open up about my feelings.

Did this world famous actress even remember who she was with? To her, I was just another faceless admirer who was there to shower her with compliments and make her feel like the most attractive, important person on the planet.

“Ooh, caldo, caldo, caldo!” She screamed dramatically after tasting the soup. “Mozo, my soup is far too hot for human consumption. I can’t afford to scald my lips or ruin my voix for your fault.”

I tried not to laugh as I imagined how Janie would gently poke fun as this horrendous woman I was working for.

The conversation finally got round to her ears. She hated them and wanted them to be smaller, more rounded and infinitely sexier. Could I do it? I sure could.

I told her that I could do it next week but that wasn’t going to suit her schedule.

“I start filming with Michael next month. He is such an amore but I can’t afford to turn up with bandages on my ears. I need you start work pronto or the whole thing will be terribly stressful for poor Michael.”

My brain was working overtime to see how I could fit her in tomorrow. Sure, I could work pretty much non-stop for the next couple of days and fit everything in. It would be worth it.

“Sure, tomorrow is fine by me.”

“Maqnifique! There’s just one tiny little problema.”

“Yes?”

“I need to be in Las Vegas tomorrow. For the ensayo, capiche?”

When I spoke to this actress I was glad that I had learned Spanish with my Mexican relatives as a kid and listened to a lot of Italian music, as it was the only way I could at least get a grip on at least part of what she was saying.

“I have a colleague who has a clinic in Las Vegas. I can do the job there if that suits you.”

At least the hard work and the traveling would take my mind off other matters. I could maybe stay for a week and do some networking to look for other clients there too. It could turn out to be just the break that I needed.

“Meraviglioso!