Chapter 1

Tina sat on a beautiful hand carved bench staring straight ahead trying to muster a combination of confidence and determination in her demeanor.  She had been waiting for about 20 minutes when the genial young man rose to escort her into the office.  Her heart was pounding.

She entered the office with an overwhelming sense of dread.  She wasn’t sure she could take yet another rejection.  She had every answer prepared.  She was determined to be everything that this person needed or wanted.  No rejection this time!!!!

As she entered the office she approacched the desk with vigor she didn’t know she possessed.  She barely noticed the person she abruptly reached her hand toward.  The woman rose grinning.  She accepted the hand with a grace and confidence that struck Tina – Dumbfounded and at a loss of words.

"Christina Wilson…I presume."

"Yes, Uhhm Yes, Uhhh….It’s nice to meet you uuuh….."

Bette looked at the woman in front of her with a bit of amusement and said:  "….Bette Porter"

"Yes, of course.  It’s a pleasure.  Thank your for taking the time to meet me."  Tina looked down at the hand she still had in a vice grip and quickly let go.

"Well, please make yourself comfortable and have a seat".  Bette said gesturing to a chair to Tina’s right.

"Thank you"

"So Ms. Wilson what brings you to us today?"

Tina stared at Bette as if she had never pieced together a coherent sentence in her life and at that moment panic set in.  Gone was the professional, confident, determined job candidate and here stood "Tina", the wide eyed eager high school senior who was going to take the world by storm.  With her eyes as wide as a child on Christmas morning Tina spewed…."Well my daughter started college this fall – at Stanford and I um, well we, finally are going to be in one place for an extended period of time and it’s finally time for me to hit the job market.  Not that I need the money – well I’d like to be paid.  But anyway – I got pregant at the end of my senior year of high school and married my boyfriend who was then a junior at North Carolina.  I spent a semester at NC before the baby was born – studying film but after Ellie was born I stayed home to take care of her.  Don’t get me wrong – I don’t regret a moment of the time I spent with Ellie – she is the light of my life.  But anyway – After college my husband Jim entered the job market and got a great job with a tech firm but it involved a great deal of travel and relocating.  We’ve lived in 16 different homes over the last 17 years.  Well Jim has finally landed ‘the’ job.  He’s the new CEO of his company and that means there’s nowhere else to go.  We’re there.  So anyway, I started taking classes as soon as Ellie started kindergarten and I have taken classes at some 14 different colleges and universities and although my degree is in business I have an extensive background in Art, History, Writing, and Film and Production and I think I could be and asset to you, um…I mean The Bette Porter Gallery."

Tina stopped as abruptly as she had begun