The only sour note occurred when she saw Bette walk away from the main gallery toward what was probably an office area. An enormously attractive redhead caught up with Bette and took her arm, running her hand up and down her sleeve. Bette took the woman’s hand and brought it up toward her face. Their backs were to Tina, but Tina knew that Bette had kissed the woman’s hand.

Tina was hit with a wave of anger when she saw Bette take the woman’s hand. Tina realized it wasn’t really anger, it was jealousy – to the extreme. She had never felt this kind of jealousy before. It made her want to walk over and physically disengage the hands of the two women. She wanted Bette to take her hand.

She watched Bette start walking backwards through a door. She was still holding the woman’s hand, pulling her along. The smile on Bette’s face was unmistakable. They were going to engage in some serious kissing or maybe more. Tina had to look away.

Tina didn’t have an opportunity to talk to Bette again and it was probably just as well. She didn’t know how she would act. Later she noticed that Bette and the attractive woman had moved toward the entrance doors of the gallery. The woman said something to Bette and Bette nodded and smiled. Then she left. Tina was encouraged to see the redhead leave. But discouraged because the body language of the two seemed that of people who were physically intimate.

Not long after Bette’sfriendleft, Eric was ready to go. When Tina left the gallery, she actually felt a sense of loss. It had been thrilling just to be in the same room with Bette. But she had picked up one of the color brochures displayed on the table at the entrance to the gallery. As least she could take something of Bette Porter with her.

As they were driving away, Eric was disappointed when Tina said she wanted to go home; he knew he wouldn’t be invited to stay. “I have an early and busy day tomorrow,” she had explained

“Don’t walk me up,” she said as she let herself out of the car, waved at him and walked quickly toward the entrance to her apartment complex.

She changed hurriedly to her sleeping clothes, washed her face and then prepared to treat herself to what she had been thinking aboutthe gallery brochure. She poured a glass of wine, sat down on the bed, leaning against the pillows, and began to look at the slick pages. There were beautiful pictures of the gallery, exterior and interior. But the real treat was on the back which was devoted to the gallery owner.

The capsule biography described Bette as being from Philadelphia where her father, Melvin Porter, still lived. She had graduated from Yale with a bachelor’s and master’s in art history . She had worked for a while in New York at various galleries before she accepted a job at an art museum in Los Angeles. About a year ago, she had left the museum and had opened the Bette Porter Gallery.

But the real prize was on the back of this brochure, a photograph above the biography, a beautiful picture of Bette. She was looking into the camera with her amazing smile and sparkling dark brown eyes. Her hair was down in this photograph and fell in curls past her shoulders. She was wearing a gray jacket with a deep red blouse which perfectly set off her face. Her hair stood out against the light gray color of the jacket God, Tina thought.

Like her gallery, Bette was beautiful and dramaticand Tina was incredibly surprised at how drawn she was to her.