‘What are you doing?’ Tina asked.

The chef didn’t reply. She tossed the tunic on a counter, went to her locker, got her bag and walked out. It took about thirty seconds. Tina was stunned. Completely agog. 

When she recovered enough to move, she hurried to the door and called her name after her, but Karolina kept walking in the direction of the staff parking area.

Fuuuuuuuuccckkkkkkk!!!!

Tina went back into the kitchen and stared at the empty space where the chef used to be, at the tunic, as if it might magically reconstitute itself with a standby inflatable chef. Then she went outside again. Karolina was about a hundred yards away, but not yet at her car. Tina was a runner. She ran.

***

‘Hey, man.’

Bette knew that voice anywhere. She looked up and saw her dear friend looking very Shane today, leaning in the doorway of the estate office, forearms against the jambs on either side of her head.

‘Hey, yourself,’ said Bette.

Their embrace was long and close. When she drew back, Shane looked Bette over.

‘I heard about this. You doing okay?’

‘I’ll live.’ 

‘Does it hurt?’

‘Only when people talk at me like a pirate.’

They were laughing when Alice appeared in the doorway, with Joan Didion on a lead.

‘There you are!’ she said to Shane. ‘You got my clothes?’

‘Uh, yeah. In my car.’

‘Well, c’mon! I’ve been dressed like a lunatic for days.’

‘“Dressed like”,’ muttered Bette.

‘I’ll be back,’ said Shane to Bette.

‘Sure. Oh, Alice – any sign of this patch?’

‘What? Oh, yeah! I saw a delivery thing. I’ll check.’ 

Alice tugged Shane’s arm. Bette watched them go, almost ready to believe, for just a moment, that everything was back on track.

***

Shane McCutcheon’s laid-back energy was welcomed with open arms by the stressed-out gaggle at Amistad. She’d last visited before the crush, so the vines and the air were very different as she and Bette went for a stroll to talk Babygirl before dinner.

The label was doing well. A breakout star had balanced the books, but the A&R side was tough. Shane went over the trips she’d made in the last two weeks: Austin and Atlanta were the big ones, but also Pioneertown and Nevada City.