“I’m Tina. Tina Kennard. It’s nice to meet you Bette.”

”Nice meeting you too Tina. Is Valerie around?”

”No. I’m sure she would love the opportunity to talk to you but she isn’t here right now. She had a schedule conflict so I volunteered to watch her booth for a couple of hours.”

Bette was disappointed not to be able to talk to the artist but she hoped that Tina would give her the message.

“I’m sorry I missed her. Will you ask her to contact me?”

“Sure.”  Tina took Bette’s business card and slid it into her back pocket.

“Are you an artist also Tina?”

“No. I’m a development executive for Shaolin Movie Studios.”

“You know as long as I’ve lived in California I’ve never taken one of those movie studio tours. I guess it must be kind of exciting to get a behind the scenes look at how movie magic is made.”

“It is pretty cool but once you know all the secrets it kind of takes away from the experience. Shaolin is just a small independent but we’re being acquired by a bigger company. Hopefully after the merger we’ll be able to compete with the mega studios. I’d be happy to give you a personal tour sometime if you like. I think you’ll enjoy it.”

“I’m sure I will. I may take you up on that.” Bette and Tina smiled at each other. They were running out of small talk but it seemed neither one was ready to part company.

“Hey why don’t I give Val a call and see where she is. She should already be on her way here to help me pack everything up. She has all the packing stuff in her truck. If you have time to hang around maybe we can go for coffee afterwards so you two can talk.”

“Yeah that would be great. I don’t have any plans. I’d love the opportunity to talk to her as soon as possible.”  Tina’s cell phone rings at that moment.

“Hey Val I was just about to call you. Where are you?”

“Tina. I’m so sorry.  I’m held up in traffic. There’s a really bad car wreck a few miles ahead and traffic is at a standstill. I can’t even exit the freeway. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to clear but judging from the backup it could be an hour or more before I can get to Venice. Do you think maybe Eric can come get you?”