The phone was ringing, but where was it? Tina threw clothes and books from the couch as she scrambled to reach the phone before the answering machine picked up. Finally she spotted it in the corner of the sofa, half-hidden under a pillow.

"Hello?" she breathed into the receiver.

"Hi, is this Tina?" a woman’s voice inquired.

"Yes…"

"Hi, this is Bette Porter–I got your number from Eric. I hope I didn’t interrupt anything. I just wanted to let you know that I found your earring."

"My… earring?" Tina had been distracted by the smoothness of the woman’s voice that she had completely missed what she was saying.

"Yes, Eric mentioned that you must have lost it the other night at the artists’ dinner." Her tone sounded as though she was smiling; could she sense Tina’s distraction?

"Right. Right, of course." Tina replied quickly, shaking her head.

"I can mail it to you, or you could pick it up if you prefer." Bette’s tone had suddenly become business-like. Tina could hear murmuring in the background.

"Oh, no–I can come pick it up."

"Great. I’m usually at the gallery pretty late; I’ll probably be here until at least 8.00 tonight."

"Alright, I’ll see you then." Tina sighed as the hung up the phone. 

She actually didn’t particularly care about the earring. The earrings had been a gift from Eric, and completely not her taste. He never really seemed to pay attention to what she liked, instead devoting energy to picking out things that were expensive. She wouldn’t have even said anything about losing one if he hadn’t been the one to notice when they got back to his apartment. He’d insisted on calling Bette to let her know, despite Tina’s protests that it wasn’t a big deal. 

At least this would get her out of the house, and she wouldn’t mind seeing the gallery again. Eric had been so busy parading her around to meet people that she hadn’t had a chance to really appreciate the artwork. She began to clean up some the of the mess that was her apartment, and before she knew it, it was almost 7.00. She quickly threw on an outfit and grabbed her keys.

As she pulled into the parking lot, she groaned. The gallery was dark. She got out and slowly walked up to the glass doors, and tentatively pulled on the handle, expecting it to be locked. To her surprise, it opened, and she stepped inside. There was no one in the room, but she could hear music coming from somewhere in the back. She wandered around the dimly lit room until she saw a doorway that spilled light into the hallway. Tina walked over to the opening and called out.