James stared at Bette as if she had 2 heads.  He had never seen his boss appear so, umm at a loss for words and …sweet?  And she was grinning. OMG.  He turned toward the women and nervously said:

“Well, I’ll set these up in your office, okay boss?”

Still staring at Tina and smiling Bette said:  “Sure, James that’d be great. Oh and be sure to help yourself”.

“Thanks boss”

Bette turned toward Tina and gestured toward her office and said, “Shall we?”

Tina nodded and gave Bette a truly effervescent smile and followed Bette into the office.  Tina thought to herself okay so far so good, until she looked up and almost passed out at the sight in front of her.  She walked into the door frame but recovered before Bette turned around.  ‘What the F—?’

Bette and Tina had spent about an hour at the couch drinking their coffee, enjoying the pastries and discussing Tina’s general duties and the day to day operation of the Gallery.  Bette gestured toward the  desk to begin mapping out the plans for the next 3 weeks,  Bette had explained that the Gallery would have its biggest show of the year over Thanksgiving weekend which was only 3 weeks away and that meant they’d be swamped from this moment on.  Bette turned toward Tina.

“So Tina, I hope you don’t mind that there will probably be some late nights and even some weekends over the next 3 weeks.”

“No, not at all, I expect to work hard and I really want to make an impact.  I’m all yours”

Bette’s voice caught in her throat so she took a sip of coffee to stall and compose herself.

“Ahem, Great” “Let’s head over to the desk and um… get to it.”

The women spent 2 hours outlining everything that needed to be accomplished over the next 3 weeks and setting up a training program for Tina.  Bette leaned back in her chair and said,

“Wow that was intense.  I wasn’t even counting on having this finished by the end of the day.  I think we’re off to a great start.  Why don’t you take lunch while I take care of some phone calls and go through some things on my desk?”

Tina looked at Bette with big eyes and said:  “Sure, but what about you?  Don’t you get a lunch break?”

Bette looked at Tina as if she were speaking a foreign language and really had no idea how to respond.  She merely smiled at the kindness of the woman in front of her.

Tina interrupted Bette’s thoughts,  “Uh Bette?”

Bette finally broke her trance and responded.  “It’s okay Tina I’ll just have James order me something later and I’ll eat at my desk.”

Tina looked confused.  “Well I don’t know if I could eat knowing you’re here working.  How about I go get us something to eat and then settle in and when you’re ready we can have a working lunch?

Bette stared at Tina, stunned, she couldn’t remember a time when someone had thought about her with such selflessness, it shook Bette at a very deep level, but somehow she responded:   “Oh, um, okay, Thanks.”  “Oh and Tina I haven’t shown you your office yet.  Right now it’s just an old desk, a computer and a phone but I thought you might prefer to choose the furnishings.  The decorator will be here early tomorrow.  I’ll have James show you where it is, get you into the computer and give you a key.”

“That was very thoughtful Bette, I really appreciate it, Thank you.”

After watching Tina walk out of the office, Bette put her head in her hands and the only coherent thought she had was ‘Could I forbid her from ever wearing that suit to work again?’