AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thanks. I’m here all week.”
“It’s because I was optimistic about my future. I know they have nothing on me. They left as they came in, with nothing. You, on the other hand? Would you like to leave here as you came in, with nothing? Or would you like me to contact Miss Benn and arrange for you to sit for her?”
“You are shitting me, right?”
“My phone is there. I could call her right now.”
“All right, you know what. Fine. You’re close personal friends with Tracy Benn and you can arrange for her to paint me when her agent has rejected letting me even ask for an interview on no less than six separate occasions. I’m calling your bluff, buddy. Go for it.”
I pick up the phone, punching in a number. “Miss Benn’s office,” the man’s voice answers a moment later.
“Vincenzo,” I say down the line.
“One moment, Mr. Felici.” A click and then she comes on the line. “Vincenzo. How’s my darling boy?”
“Doing well, Miss Benn. I have a request for you.”
“Vincenzo, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Tracy?”
“I have a model for you. Ophelia Addams. When are you free?”
“I’m working on the vice president’s portrait at the moment. Can she come to the studio next month?”
“The first?”
“Super.”
“Thank you, Miss Benn.”
“Thank you, Vincenzo. If it wasn’t for you, Susie would never have gotten into Harvard.”
“She deserved her place. I did nothing but mention her name.”
“Oh, get away. You did everything.”
“Until the first, Miss Benn.”
“Later, gator.”
I hang up and look across at Ophelia. Her mouth is wide open, moving up and down, nothing coming out. “The first of March,” I tell her. “At her studio.”
“Holy shitsnacks. You’re not serious?”
“You can interview her while you sit for her. Will help with your book, right?”
She looks like she’s about to burst into tears. “Why are you doing this for me?”
“You sound surprised. Should I not do this for you?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never had anyone do anything like this for me before.”
“You’ve not known the right people before now.” I glance at the clock on the wall. “Your roommate should be finishing her tour around now. Are you going to tell her the office is hers? Or are you going to refuse to come to my engagement with me?”
“What kind of engagement are we talking about?”
“A simple charity auction. You merely have to attend and make small talk. If anyone asks anything, you simply defer to me.”
“But why me?”
