James came in the conference room, unsure. He had checked the Studio calendar and found no upcoming events, no artist talks or special dinners, so the purpose of the meeting was unclear. He was greeted by a score of colorful highlighters, pens and notepads that were scattered on the table and a rather long list of Valentine’s Day activities in LA posted on the wall.

“Sit, please James. Thank you for your time.” She gestured to the chair across from her seriously like they were having a mini board meeting.

He sat.

“Sure… ummm… I didn’t see an agenda…” James fished, not sure what else to say, Bette loved an agenda.

“No agenda today, James. This is more of a free flow kind of meeting. I need your thoughts on… well… on Valentine’s Day.”

James coughed, shifted in his chair. He couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. “Katie’s going to be so surprised, Bette. I booked us a romantic dinner at Patina, then we are spending the night at the Hotel Bel-Air. She’s never been, there will be rose petals as she walks in and champagne chilling…”

He was surprised at the frown he was now the recipient of, and he coughed nervously, picking up a pen to scribble something on the notepad in front of him. Bette stood, going to the list on the wall.

“Good for you, James. And how nice for Katie, really I mean that, I like her. I, on the other hand, have royally fucked this up. This is a list of every place within an hour drive from here that I tried to get a reservation at. All are booked. All, James.”

“Bette, some of those places start filling up months in advance. Haven’t you ever celebrated Valentine’s Day with Tina? You were together over seven years before the… break up.”

“I am aware…” she replied, giving him a scathing look. “And to answer your question, yes. At first we did, we did the flowers and the dinner and the dancing, but Tina never really bought into the idea of Valentine’s Day. She preferred more practical gifts, more spontaneous celebrations.”

“What’s different now?”

She smiled, a beautiful smile that transfixed her whole face, making it softer, sweeter, beautiful. It was like the sun had come out from the behind the clouds. “Everything’s different, James. Everything. She’s different, I’m different. We’re different. And I want to spoil her, pamper her, make her so happy she can’t think straight… and now… I can’t…”