Free The Very Picture of You by Isabel Wolff Page A

and drove slowly away.

THREE
    ‘Ella?’ said Chloë over the phone a few days later. ‘I need to ask you something.’
    ‘If it’s that you want me to be a bridesmaid, the answer’s no.’
    ‘Oh…’ She sounded disappointed. ‘Why not?’
    ‘Because I’m nearly seven years older and two stone heavier than you are – that’s why. I don’t fancy being a troll to your fairy.’
    ‘How about maid of honour then?’
    ‘No. See answer above.’
    ‘Actually, that wasn’t what I was going to ask you – Nate has a five-year-old niece who’s going to do the honours.’
    ‘That sounds perfect. So what did you want to ask?’ My insides were churning, because I knew.
    ‘I’d just like to set up the first sitting with Nate. I was half expecting you to get in touch about it,’ she reproached me.
    ‘Sorry, I’ve been working flat out,’ I lied.

    ‘Can we fix up some times now?’
    ‘Sure,’ I said breezily.
    I rummaged on the table for my diary and found it under this month’s Modern Painters. I scribbled in Chloë’s suggested date.
    ‘So where are you going to paint him? His flat’s near to yours, if you want to paint him there.’
    ‘No – he’ll have to come to me.’ Disliking Nate, I preferred him to be on my ground.
    ‘That’s eleven a.m. next Friday then,’ said Chloë. ‘It’s Good Friday.’
    ‘So it is. I’ll get some hot cross buns in for the break.’
    As I tossed the diary back on the table I remembered the girl at the auction asking me if I could paint someone I didn’t like. I was about to find out.
    ‘Nate will be a good sitter,’ I heard Chloë say.
    ‘I hope so.’ I sighed. ‘I’ve had some tricky ones lately.’
    ‘Really?’
    I wasn’t going to tell her about Mike – I felt a growing concern for him and wondered what had happened to make him so unhappy.
    ‘So how are your sitters being tricky?’ Chloë persisted. I described Celine’s behaviour. ‘How odd,’ said Chloë. ‘It’s as though she’s trying to sabotage the portrait.’
    ‘Exactly. And when we finally got to start, she took two more calls then went to the front door and spoke to her builder for fifteen minutes. The woman’s a nightmare.’
    ‘Well, Nate will be very good. He’s not that keen on it all either, as you know. But at least he’ll behave well during the sittings.’
    ‘In that case, we should be able to get away with fiverather than the usual six.’ The thought cheered me. ‘Or even four.’
    ‘Please don’t cut corners,’ I heard Chloë say. ‘I’ve paid a lot for this portrait, Ella. I want it to be… wonderful.’
    ‘Of… course you do.’ I felt a wave of shame. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll do a good job, in at least six sittings – more if they’re needed,’ I added recklessly.
    ‘And please make it truthful, not just attractive. I want the portrait to reveal something about Nate.’
    ‘It will do,’ I assured her, then wondered what – that he was cynical and untrustworthy, probably. Convinced that my negativity about him would show, I now regretted the commission even more and wished I could get out of it. I fiddled with a paintbrush. ‘I saw the engagement announcement in The Times , by the way.’ Seeing it in black and white had depressed me…
    Mr Nathan Roberto Rossi to Miss Chloë Susan Graham.
    Chloë snorted. ‘Mum also put it in the Telegraph , the Independent and the Guardian ! I told her it was over the top, but she said she “didn’t want anyone to miss it”.’ I immediately suspected that what Mum really intended was for Max not to miss it.
    ‘She is amazing , though,’ Chloë went on. ‘She’s already booked the church, the photographer, the video man, the caterers, the florist and the marquee – or Raj tent, rather. She’s now decided on a Moghul pavilion – she says it’s the most elegant way to dine under canvas.’
    ‘Is it going to be a sit-down affair then?’
    ‘Yes. I told Mum that finger food would be fine, but she