Escorted
Shortlisted for the All3Media New Writers Collective 2024
When a struggling married shoe shop owner is mistaken for a paid companion and offered £500 for a single evening, he begins a secret second life. But as the women he meets become increasingly involved in his life, keeping his two lives apart becomes almost impossible.
Max Taylor never intended to live a double life. He simply wanted to save the family business that had been passed down through generations.
His Yorkshire shoe shop is on the brink of collapse, but Max can't bring himself to tell his wife, Hannah. Their marriage has already endured years of financial pressure and the grief of losing their only son, and Max is determined not to add to her health problems with even more stress.
Then a chance misunderstanding changes everything.
Successful businesswoman Chrissie mistakes Max for a paid companion and offers him £500 to accompany her to a charity event. Reluctant but desperate, Max accepts and soon discovers that Chrissie isn't looking for sex. She needs companionship. Someone to simply be there for the evening so she's not judged for being single.
Afterwards, Max realises this could be a way to save both the shop and their home. Under the alias 'Henry Higgins', he begins offering companionship to other professional women. With help from Rob, the son of his plain-speaking high-street neighbour and former girlfriend, Mandy, what begins as a one-off solution quickly develops into a successful secret business. More surprisingly, Max discovers he's good at it, and the women trust him.
But the women Max meets aren't simply clients. As their lives become increasingly entwined with his, each relationship brings complications of its own. Eternally independent Chrissie finds herself wanting more than companionship, while her daughter Donna's growing dependence on Max forces mother and daughter to confront a relationship they've spent years avoiding.
When Mandy discovers what Max is doing, he must decide whether he can trust her, knowing the chaos she brings to almost every situation. Mandy relishes the opportunity to support him, while carrying a secret of her own. One that could change all their lives.
Meanwhile, Hannah begins to sense something has changed in Max. He is behaving differently, disappearing without convincing explanations and telling her lies that become increasingly difficult to maintain. Eventually, she turns to the one person she believes she can trust: Max's oldest friend, Chub, a local detective. Chub reluctantly begins investigating the man he has trusted all his life.
As Max's two lives become harder to keep apart, every relationship becomes more complicated. Chrissie wants more. Donna becomes increasingly dependent on him. Mandy knows more than she's saying, while Rob becomes ever more involved. Most importantly, Hannah is getting closer to the truth.
Max thinks he's the one keeping the biggest secret. He has no idea how wrong he is.