“Ow.”

“Who’s that one?”

I followed his gaze to the counter, where Marina was kissing this gorgeous woman with red hair and… well, I don’t want to elaborate on her measurements, but let’s just say that I had to snap my fingers in front of Bette’s eyes a few times to make her look away.

“Oh!” I realized. “That must be her girlfriend. The pictures don’t do her justice.” I looked at Kyle. “Francesca Wolff. With two F’s. She’s a costume designer-she travels for most of the year.”

“Alice Pieszecki, who is actually writing Marina‘s biography…” said Bette in a mild tone.

“I like to know stuff about people!”

“All right,” Spencer said, grabbing Kyle’s hand and dragging him out of his seat. “We really should get going.”

“Oh, well, thank you for meeting us,” Bette said, standing and kissing them both. My hand being attached to hers, she practically dragged me up into a standing position, too, so I had no choice but to kiss them good-bye.

“Yeah, long time no see,” I added.

“I am so busy,” Kyle complained. “I practically own that hair salon now; they should just think about changing the name to Kyle’s.”

“Yeah, because that has a ring to it.”

“Well, not too long before the opening,” Spencer said with the grin that meant he was thinking about what a brilliant photographer he was. “So, we’ll all see each other, then.”

Bette tried to cover up her scowl, but she did a poor job of it. “Oh, great,” I said. “Now you got her in a bad mood and guess who has to deal with it?”

All Spencer said was “Sorry,” and then he and Kyle left me alone with Scowling Bette, Who Hates Art and Everything Connected to it.

It was remarkable, I guess, and a testament to how much I liked her, because I couldn’t imagine anyone else putting up with her ridiculous mood swings and short temper these days. I was gonna be so happy when the opening came and went and Bette could just stop worrying about it.

I sighed. “Okay, I’m gonna get another coffee, you want?”