“Bette, James will be fine, just try to not be so hard on yourself, for me, okay?”Again Tina waited for Bette to respond and she nodded again.”

“Now, why don’t you tell me what’s going on?” 

Bette looked at Tina with such awe she had forgotten the anger and more importantly the importance of the anger, so she began to tell Tina about the disastrous events of the morning.  Tina listened calmly and attentively and when Bette had finished Tina commented. 

“Okay, let me see if I’ve got this straight.  This artist thought he was the Showcase artist but is merely your Featured artist for this show and he is trying to pull out because he feels you’ve misled him, am I right?”

“Yeah, his agent is beside herself, she can’t believe he’d do something so unprofessional.  I’m really not sure what to do it’s really too late to find a replacement.”

“Do you think that you could bring the artist around if you talked to him in person?”

“I’m not sure, we got along pretty well the one time we met, as a matter of fact, I think he was hitting on me.”

“Bingo, all you have to do is go talk to him. Where does he live?”

“Santa Barbara, it’s about 3 hours from here.”

“Well what do you think, maybe you could call the agent and see if she can set up a meeting?”

Bette thought for a moment and then answered.  “Tina, you’re amazing.  Thank you.  I’ll give it a try, what could it hurt?”

“Great Bette, I’ll wait in my office.  Let me know if I can help. Okay?”

“Great”

About 20 minutes later Tina was sitting at her computer when Bette burst in. “Tina, it worked, I have a dinner meeting tonight at six.”

“Oh Bette that’s amazing, I know you are going to pull this off.  Hey do you think you might have a few minutes to give me some direction before you leave?  I really want to contribute with everything there is to do before the show.”

Bette thought for a minute before she spoke.  “You know Tina, if at all possible we could get a lot done in the car if you came with me.  I know it’s a lot to ask but missing a day in the office this close to a show could be a disaster.  What do you say?”

“I think it’s brilliant.  Will we have to spend the night?”

Bette was caught off guard and stuttered.  “Um, I, I…um I’m not sure.”

Tina seemed unfazed and was quickly making plans.  “Okay, either way do we have time to stop by at our places to pick up some stuff, just in case?”

Bette gazed at the delightful excitement that was Tina at that moment. “Sure, we really have plenty of time.  I’ll have James book us a room, um rooms, this way we’ll have a place to get ready for dinner and maybe even work a bit before dinner.  Why don’t you grab your stuff and I’ll get some things ready that we’ll need to work on in the car and then I’ll brief James.”

“Sounds great.”

“Okay, I’ll see you out front in a couple.  Oh and Tina, do you mind if I drive?”

“Oh Bette, please….I’d love it if you drove.”