Bette: (answering her cell phone) “Bette Porter.”

Tina: (hesitates, unsure what to say) “.Hi.”

Bette: (realizing it’s Tina, starts smiling) “Hi! I am so glad you called.”

Tina: “I got your note.”

Bette: (still smiling) “And the cell phone apparently. I hope Jonathan didn’t have to break any laws to get it to you. He hasn’t made it back in yet and I was just beginning to wonder if he might be in jail.”

Tina: (smiling at Bette’s words) “No, it just so happened he was at the gate when I was coming in.”

Bette: (thinking that is just another sign that fate intended for them to meet) “Fate steps in again. So Tina, can I convince you to come and meet me so we can talk about Friday night?”

Tina: (still unsure but she can’t seem to help herself) “Okay. Where you want to meet?”

Bette: (her heart beating rapidly at the thought of seeing Tina again) “Why don’t you come to my gallery and we can decide where to go from there.”

Tina’s heart begins to flutter as a memory of “the voice” floats through her mind. She thinks ‘Oh my God. She is “the voice. How could I have gotten hold of her instead of my client? Could she be right? Could it be fate that had brought them together?’

Bette felt like her heart had stopped beating, awaiting Tina’s reply, which had yet to filter through the cell phone. She presses the phone closer to her ear, as if Tina was speaking too softlybut only is greeted by silence.

Tina: (letting out an audible exhale) “Okay, we’ll meet at your gallery. Friday at six o’ clock sound alright?”

Bette: (finally able to resume breathing, she takes an audible deep breath) “That sounds perfect. I’ll see you then, Tina.”

Tina: (suddenly, she finds herself smiling into the cell phone when she hears Bette calling her name) “.Okaybye, Bette.”

Each woman had pressed a button to end the call and stared mutely at their respective cell phone. Each woman had a million thoughts racing in her mind. Each woman had a million feelings pulsing through her heart. Each woman sat at her seatbreathless, anxiousand never recalled feeling better or having a bigger smile on her face from simply hearing a voice.

The workweek had never felt so slow in Bette’s life. She was anxiously waiting her Friday night meeting with Tina. Bette never remembered being so happy to leave work, her passion…but she knew each time she walked out the gallery doors to call it a day, she was moments closer to seeing Tina again.

Tina was in the same predicament. Work kept her busy, but not busy enough to free her mind from thoughts of Bette Porter. ‘What is it about her that has me feeling’ Tina couldn’t finish her thought because she herself didn’t know exactly what it is she was feeling. She had been watching the clock all week long and wished she could speed up time to make Friday happen right now

[and so Friday evening had finally arrived]

Bette paced the gallery nervously, awaiting Tina’s arrival.

She checked her watch, realizing Tina would be arriving in minutes. ‘Get it together, Porter’ she thought to herself, her breathing quickening and a nervous smile forming on her face, at the idea of being with Tina once again.

Jonathan watched his boss move from one end of the gallery wing to the other, listening to Bette’s heels clicking furiously on the marbled floor.

‘I wonder what’s going on?’ he pondered. ‘Bette seems anxiousmust be some client she’s expecting.’

Bette looked up to the gallery entrance and her eyes widenedin horror. ‘You’ve got to be ***** kidding me!’

Shane and Dana: “Hi Bette!”

Alice: “Hey Porter! Got those beans for me yet?”

Bette: (smiling at Shane and Dana) “Hello ladies.” (turning to Alice, nodding) “Al.”

Alice: (examining Bette’s face closely) “Hmmmstill got that happy Botox smile, I see.”

Dana: “Aw *****, Aldon’t start.”

Shane: (trying to diffuse the situation) “We’re heading out to grab a bite. Care to join us, Bette?”

Bette: “Oh, I can’t tonight. I’m actually expecting”

Alice: (screaming) “I knew it!”

Dana: (sighing) “Ohhere we go again.”

Bette: (nervously peering at her watch to check how much time she hadto get rid of Alice) “Knew what?”

Alice: “You’re waiting for a woman!”

Shane: (laughing) “Well, Detective P(alice‘s last name)it would be a woman or a mandamn you’re good!”

Dana: (laughing) “Or a pet?”

Alice: (glaring) “Laugh all you want. I know you, Porterand there’s something going on”

Bette: (smiling) “Yes, there is.”

Alice: (raising her fist in victory) “Aha!”

Bette: (speaking slowly to get it through Alice‘s thick skull) “It’s calleda ‘client meeting’you know, those of us who work have them occasionally.”

Alice: (smirking) “Funny you are”

Shane: (patting Bette’s shoulder) “That’s the first logical statement she’s made so far.”

Bette: (discreetly trying to end the interrogation) “so anyway, after my client meetingI’ll give you girls a call?”

Alice: (using her fingers to make quotes in the air each time she uses the word ‘client’) “Client, huh? I’d love to be around to tell your client of your reputation as West Hollywood‘s best”

Bette’s eyes grew wide and her mind played a scenario of Tina enteringand being interviewed by Alice. ‘That would have Tina running out of my life like Flo Jo’ Bette thought to herself.

Shane: (noticing Bette’s expression, cuts Alice off) “Art gallery director.”

Dana: (oblivious) “Yeah, the Bette Porter gallery rocks!”

Alice: (unwilling to relieve Bette from torment) “NoI want your client to know all about Porter’s skills and that she knows how to work her”

Shane: (again, stepping in) “Knowledge of the art world to ‘wow’ the masses!”

Bette exhales in relief and looks to Shane in appreciation.

Shane: (winks at Bette) “So, we were on our way out”

Bette: (realizing Tina could in fact walk into this never ending conversation becomes nervous and looks like she’s about to go into cardiac arrest) “.yeahso I’ll catch you guys later”

Alice: (protesting and not wanting to leave) “But”

Dana: (to Bette) “We’ll see you later!”

Dana and Shane grab Alice by the arm and pull her along to the gallery’s exit doors.

Alice: (as they are walking off) “You can’t hold out forever, Porter. Sooner or later I will know the truth.”

Alice and the gang had just walked out the front door when they saw this beautiful blond woman heading towards the door of the gallery. They stood there and watched as she opened the door and walked in. They moved so that they could peer in the door and watched as Bette came to greet her.

Bette: (smiling broadly as she watched Tina walk in the door) “Hi!”

Tina: (softly smiling) “Hi.”

Bette: (trying to buy time to convince Tina that they should get to know each other better) “I’m really glad you came. I really want to explain about Friday night but how about I show you around the gallery first.”

Tina: “Okay. I would love to see the gallery.”