Tina and Bette had talked the night before. Bette had been thinking about it for a while. She was ready to dispose of her interest in Porter Gallery of Los Angeles. They did not need the income. Paris didn’t need it. Bette wanted to give her interest as a gift to James. James Preston had been her assistant in her early years, the manager in the art gallery for the years when she was partners with Kelly Freemont Wentworth Morgan, and had a small equity interest when they brought Paris in to be the curator. A couple of years later, Bette bought out Kelly totally and gave James 16 percent of the gallery, Paris 33 percent and retained 51 percent for herself. Bette was ready to disposed of her shares, but she did not want to do anything that would put Paris in a defensive position. She could split her share 50/50 and that would leave Paris as the majority shareholder. But until she talked to Paris about her future intentions with respect to the Gallery.  Bette would allow them the use of the name as long as either James or Paris owned a majority interest. Should both of them disposed of their joint interest to below 50 percent, then use of her name would need to be licensed and a fee paid.  Bette trusted James and Paris to maintain the quality standards which were traditional to the name.

Paris meet Bette and they had coffee.  Bette asked Paris what she thought her future was with respect to the gallery.  Paris said that she was seriously considering hiring her replacement and go do other things. She didn’t specify what things and Bette didn’t ask. Bette then told her that she was ready to dispose of her interest in the partnership. She did not need the income and her ultimate goal was to turn the gallery over to Paris and to James. Paris said, well she too did not need the money.

Paris then proposed to hire someone to replace her position and then both of them give their interest to James and then let him have the business as a sole proprietor. They could be available for a transition period and for advice. If he wanted Bette and Paris to serve as advisors, they could serve as agreed between all of them.