“You’ve never been there?”
“Nope. All I’ve ever seen is what’s between Fresno and Los Angeles. Now I can add Topanga Canyon, Burbank, and the supermarket at Malibu.” She hadn’t had the money or time to travel. “Someday I’ll make it to Disneyland.” With Samuel.
“You’ve lived a sheltered life, haven’t you? Well, here’s your big opportunity if you want to hand-deliver the piece. Which reminds me. I need your cell phone number.”
Grace dispensed it without hesitation.
“When I call, pick up.”
“Yes, boss.” As soon as Roman hung up, she downloaded a suitable ringtone, then called Talia to set a time to meet at the gallery the next day.
Talia Reisner didn’t look anything like the hard-edged businesswoman Grace expected. Dressed in a tiered, multicolored skirt and peasant blouse with a chunky turquoise-and-red coral necklace, her mass of curling red-and-gray hair pulled up in a loose chignon and held by Japanese hairpins, she looked like an aging love child from Haight-Ashbury.
“Grace Moore! It’s nice to finally meet you in person.” Talia ignored the extended hand and hugged Grace. “Did you know there was a movie star by the same name? Grace Moore was around long before you were born and could sing like a nightingale. Where’s the painting?”
Grace opened the trunk of her car. Talia reached in and carefully extracted Roman’s most recent painting. “Oh, look what the boy has done this time.”
The boy again. Grace couldn’t help but laugh. She closed the empty trunk and followed Talia inside.
The gallery had several showrooms with a variety of paintings, not walls laden with modern art as Grace had imagined. She paused to admire an oil of an elegant Renaissance vase filled with purple lilacs that looked so real she could almost breathe in the scent. She liked another of blue herons among reeds. A display pedestal showed off a bronze whale and calf; another, a pod of six dolphins. A large pottery platter looked like a star-studded night sky. Grace leaned in and read the price. “Oh, my!”
“We go for the gusto.”
“Everything in here costs more than I’ll ever make in a year.”
Talia carefully placed Roman’s painting against a wall. “So? What do you think of it?”
“I’m hardly one to ask.”
“Because you know what you like, and it’s not modern art.” She gave Grace a sly smile. “I’ll tell you a secret. I wasn’t wild about Roman’s work in the beginning either.” Talia stood back and studied the painting as she talked. “He came in here with a chip on his shoulder the size of a boulder. He’d been up and down the row, and no one would even look at what he had in his car.” She laughed. “He was ticked off. Do you know what he said to me? ‘Just take a look. If it’s no good, I’m out the door.’ In much more colorful language, of course.” Talia tilted her head. “I know exactly what kind of frame this one needs.” She picked up the painting and moved it into her office.
Grace followed. “What changed your mind?”
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as they say. And it was a very slow day. I told him to bring in his best. He lined up a couple of paintings and wandered off while I studied them. I was going to say sorry, but then a customer came in. I can tell a serious buyer when I see one. He went through the gallery on a mission and stopped at Roman’s paintings. He wanted to buy one on the spot. I told him I hadn’t put a price on it yet. When he handed me his card, I knew I had something special. Roman had caught the attention of a curator from one of the finest modern art museums in the country. He was in Laguna Beach on holiday, just for the day. Talk about coincidence. He bought Roman’s first piece. For his private collection. An investment, he called it.”
Grace looked at the painting again. “Clearly, I don’t appreciate art.”
“It’s a matter of taste, but some people have an eye for new trends. Roman knows what he’s doing.”
Roman’s mural impressed Grace far more than the modern art he set up on easels like an assembly line. The transfers anyway. She might never see the actual mural in San Diego. “This piece is so different from his other work.”
“His murals, you mean.” Talia looked mischievous. “He did one for a friend of mine. An Italian Riviera scene—columns, bougainvillea, urns, and nymphs pouring water from pitchers. Roman has a wicked sense of humor. It took Leo six months to discover the phallic symbol. Several guests noticed before he did and had wagers on how long it would take him to spot it.”