Finally she managed to force her fingers to press all the buttons necessary to dial the number. It rang once, and just as she was about to hang up she heard a voice say, "Bette Porter Gallery." It was a man’s voice, and she was taken aback. She didn’t know why she had expected Bette to answer, it was obvious that she would have an assistant to do things like that for her.

"Uh… Yes, I was… May I speak to Bette Porter, please?" She stuttered, wishing she had just hung up.

"May I ask who is calling?" He had a bored, business-like tone.

"Um… Tina Kennard."

"One moment, please."

She expected to be put on hold with some tacky house music, so she was surprised when she heard the line ring, and someone pick up. "This is Bette Porter."

There was a long pause, and this elicited another greeting. "Hello?" she heard Bette ask.

"Uh, Hi. Sorry. This is Tina… Kennard." She had no idea what to say.

"Yes, I know," Bette laughed, "James told me when he patched you through."

"Oh, of course…" Tina was feeling more ridiculous by the second.

"What can I do for you, Tina?" She could heard that smile again. Could Bette sense that when she said Tina’s name it made her stomach drop?

"I, well… I was just wondering if…" Tina paused. What was her excuse for calling? She hadn’t actually planned this out, and she had to come up with something. "Actually I was just wondering if maybe I could come back to the gallery sometime. For a proper tour, that is. I didn’t get to see much the first time, and I’ve been dying to see some of the Catherine Opie pieces that you had." Tina was impressed by her own ingenuity. She was interested in seeing the Opie pieces, though.

Bette chuckled, "Of course, you can come any time. I have meetings throughout most of this week, but if you are free on Thursday night–around 9.00, I could show you around."

Thursday… That was two days away. Tina was hoping for something sooner, but she was going to take what she could get. "Thursday–that sounds perfect." She tried not to sound too eager.

"Great, I’ll look forward to it. See you then."

"Yeah, see you then." Tina said as she clicked the phone off and stared at it wondering what she was doing.