She pursed her lips in a half-smile, half-frown. “Oh, I haven’t given up on that yet, Brom” she answered.

He shook his head with a wry grin. “I had a feeling you hadn’t.”

They finished drinking their coffee, then he continued, “Ok, talk to you again in half an hour.”

She smiled tightly, and set her cup down.  She began to type out her notes, engrossed in thought.

Half an hour later, just as she stood to join Brom in the couch, the landline rang.  She picked up the handset on her desk to answer it.  It was Martin.  He apologized for calling at an early hour at the start of a weekend, and then explained there had been a change in plans, and that he and Yves would be returning to Paris later that day instead of on the next day.

“I’m sorry, again, that we didn’t have dinner last night like we’d planned,” he started.  “And that you ended up by yourself last night —  it was Valentine’s Day, too!,” he exclaimed.  “Sandrine was upset with me for leaving you on a lurch like that!  Um … so did you get to talk to Tina last night, at least?”

“It’s alright Martin,” Bette assured him.  “I was tired, anyway. Yeah, I did talk to Tina.”  She didn’t elaborate.

“So?,” he pressed, teasing.

Bette was quiet at first, and then said “So we talked a long time.  And I’ll be calling her again later.”

Sensing she wasn’t going to say anything further, he said, “You sound pre-occupied, Bette.”

“Yeah, just working on something,” she said briefly.

“Ahh, Bette!  Always working, as Tina said!  Even at the crack of dawn on a weekend,” he teased her. “Well, I won’t keep you.  Yves and I will be coming by for our luggage at around 9 if that’s ok?”

They clicked off soon after.

Brom gave her a quick smile as he shuffled the papers that he’d set aside, and said brusquely, “Okay let’s get started.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

“Okay, so you’re both advising that Tina does a couple of difficult things: support the hiring of Scott as director and stay engaged in the project, so that she’s able to keep tabs on what’s going on,” Bette summarized.

“Um … Bette,” Mike responded slowly, peering at her from his side of the screen.  He paused as he and Brom exchanged a quick look.  “We know that that could be difficult for you, having Scott around Tina again,…”