“Too bad you were the weapon of opportunity, you are one sexy woman,” she whispered into Amy’s ear and bolted to the door, intent on finding her prey.

            One Dana Fairbanks. 

~*~*~*~*~*

            It took Bette almost half an hour to extricate herself from the one-sided conversation with Franklin, his wife standing silently to the side like the good little woman she was.  He was effusive in his praise for Helena and unabashedly gleeful at the coup of landing the Barnes exhibit.  The Peabody Foundation would fund it.  He was sure of that, which would take every competing gallery down a few pegs…an artist of Barnes’ caliber…she’d been heavily sought after for thirty years, and she’d turned them down, every one.

            Bette allowed her mind and gaze to wander, while retaining an interested smile and nodding from time to time, something she could do in her sleep after so many years of schmoozing and sucking up to people like Franklin and the CAC’s patrons.  Not for the first time, she wondered if this was really the right place for her.  Yes, she was good at it; she’d taken the CAC from a little obscure gallery to one of the leading exhibit spaces in the country.  However, accomplishing that simply seemed to create a wider gap between herself and the passion she felt for art…for its own sake. 

            Peggy Peabody was the only person who could appreciate how she felt.  Tina had always been supportive, even attentive.  But Tina just didn’t…didn’t “get it”.  Candace, on the other hand, had an intuitive knack for knowing what looked best where, how to build a space that was perfect for each piece.  In the few months they’d been together, Bette had talked more art with Candace than in all her years with Tina.

            Watching her over Franklin’s shoulder, deep in conversation with Susan and Alice … what’s THAT all about, she had wondered…her heart ached.  If she’d had any doubts at all, she knew it now.  Tina was lost to her.  Forever. 

            It wasn’t just the vortex.  She was beginning to realize that the vortex had merely amplified deep-seated feelings, and drawn them out.  And inside Tina, all along, there had been a powerful woman capable of taking charge, making decisions on her own, moving through life with a kind of power she’d never shown in their relationship.  Maybe it’s because you never allowed her to show it, the inner voice whispered in her skull.