Tina walked into the gallery a little over six, taking time to wander and appreciate the different pieces of art inside. The gallery’s soft lights were playfully dancing across her skin, accentuating her delicate features. She wandered around the gallery for a while trying to find the confidence to walk into Bette’s office and ask for her earring back. ‘Why am I so nervous? It’s not as if I’m scared of her or anything…’ Tina found herself asking, totally perplexed as to why she was fighting an internal battle with herself. She knew the last thing she was feeling then and there was fear, ‘But then, what exactly am I feeling? In the midst of her procrastination her eyes came across a photograph, entitled “Solstice”, Tina moved in closer, and examined the picture. Bold colors shown through every single detail of the photo, as if urging for Tina to touch it, just to make sure that it truly wasn’t real. ‘Bette sure has a great eye for art…’ she concluded, immersing herself into the picture, completely transfixing herself onto its beauty.

Bette heard faint footsteps outside her office, “Tina…” she said in a whisper, and at that moment her face began to light up. She knew that underneath her cool, confident exterior there was a certain sense of vulnerability that consumed her whenever it came to Tina Kennard. It was as if she was lost in trance whenever she felt Tina’s presence, and that there was an inevitable force between them that made Bette want gravitate towards her. Bette got herself up and made her way into the gallery, feeling the boxed world her office offered just a few minutes ago, slowly shed away. She searched the gallery for Tina, trying to figure out where she would be; finally she felt her heart stop. Standing before her was what she had been looking forward to all morning, an ethereal vision, dressed in crisp white, and golden locks framing her face, totally immersed in one of her favorite pieces. It took a few moments for Bette to figure out what to do, but then after quite some time she finally decided on walking up to Tina and striking up some kind of conversation.

“Been here long?” Bette asked out of genuine curiosity.

Tina was taken by surprised by the question, not expecting that anybody else would be there except for Bette. She took note of the unusual mixture of gentleness interlacing itself with a slight sultry quality that the tone of voice projected, then it dawned on her, ‘Oh my god! It is Bette…’ she thought as she quickly tried to find the appropriate response to the question she was just asked.

“Uh, not really it’s just that I kind of lost track of time…” Tina said slightly embarrassed, her eyes still on the photo, not wanting to meet Bette’s gaze, afraid that if she did all she’d see was disappointment. “It’s beautiful by the way… the picture…”

Bette on the other hand was anything but upset, she moved forward, nearing herself toward Tina. “It arrived a couple of days ago… You like it?”

Tina nodded, “Yes, I do it seems so… full of life.”

“Do you know why the picture seems so vivid?”

Tina shook her head.

“Well, the artist took it over twenty years ago, but it seems like he just took it yesterday… They say it was the longest day of his life… and somehow he managed to capture it all in one single, perpetual, moment.”

Bette paused and looked over at Tina to see her reaction. She thought of the strange parallel she and the artist seemingly share, thinking that just a little over nine hours ago she too was living out the longest day of her life. And now Tina was there, beside her, and all she could do was wish that somehow she too had a camera to freeze that moment they were in, forever in time.

“So that’s why he called it solstice?” Tina asked, snapping Bette out of her thoughts.

“Mmm hmm…”

“You’re very lucky you know…” Tina said smiling finally finding the strength to look Bette in the eye. “I can just do this for the rest of my life… live for art, I mean…”

Bette gave a small chuckle, and looked up at the picture one last time before turning her attention back to Tina. Her eyes fell upon Tina’s face, her lips were so inviting, as if to tempting Bette to kiss them, there was a certain ease in the way she talked and the way she smiled, ‘Alice is right, I am definitely in trouble…’

“I do love it… my job, that is…” Bette said, “It’s hectic, but it’s all worth it when I see the art reach out towards someone, as if it were something they had been looking for all their life and when they find it…” she stopped midsentence, “I’m sorry I’m getting carried away…”

“No, no. What you said… um, it actually made a lot of sense. It explains the feeling I felt when I saw this.” Tina gently swept her fingers across the photograph’s glass frame.

“Bette?”

“Yes?”

“I was wondering if”” Tina meant to ask Bette if she would mind if they looked around the gallery some more, but Bette interrupted her, thinking that Tina wanted something else.

“Oh god your earring…” Bette exclaimed, “I completely forgot!”

Bette briskly made her way back into her office motioning for Tina to follow her.