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 approached the desk with a vigor she didn't know she possessed.  She barely noticed the person she abruptly reached her hand toward.  The woman was grinning.  She accepted the hand with a grace and confidence that struck Tina - dumbfounded and at once a loss for words.

"Christina Wilson...I presume"

"Yes, uh, yes, uh....It's nice to meet you uh......"

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 you 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 toward the seat to her 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 focused professional, confident, determined job candidate and here was "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 - 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 pregnant 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 came but after my daughter was born I stayed home with the baby.  Don't get me wrong - I don't regret a moment of my time 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 moving around.  We've lived in 16 different homes over the last 17 years.  Well Jim has finally landed "the" job - He's the new CEO - with nowhere else to move.  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 an asset to you, um.. The Porter Gallery."

Tina stopped as abruptly as she had begun.  Her heart was still pounding and her eyes were still as wide and eager as when she began, but then she looked at the eyes of the woman across from her and a calm came over her as she looked at the beautiful and gentle smile of Bette Porter.  Tina regained enough composure to return the smile but with that came the realization of what she had just done.  She quickly looked down at her hands and felt the blush rise to her face.  If the woman hadn't spoken at that moment Tina might have rushed out of the office in tears, but the woman's kind and gentle voice spoke.

"Ms. Wilson, That was quite an answer, I feel like I need a break.  Why don't we go over to the couch and I'll get us a drink and we can finish our conversation."

Tina looked up at the kind eyes and merely said, "Thank You"

Bette Porter walked across the room with an ease and a grace that left Tina yet again dumbfounded.  As Bette gestured toward the couch, Tina stared at Bette with her mouth and eyes wide open again not unlike a deer staring in a car's headlights.  Tina watched as Bette moved effortlessly toward a fridge in the back in the back of the room and Tina took a moment to compose herself.  Shaking her head, slowly standing and taking a very deep breath she made her way with a great deal of awkwardness and trepidation to the couch that seemed a mile away.  She made it.  With another deep cleansing breath she turned and smiled at Bette as she was handed a chilled water bottle.