Our Love Affair (B&T romance), Ch. 2

Characters (in no particular order):

Bette Porter – Director of the CAC, single, 34, spends all her free time at work or at the Planet, helping her sister Kit Porter to manage the café, has no personal life whatsoever.

Tina Kennard – Yale graduate in Art History, 28, she was offered a curator position with a Whitney Museum in New York after a few shows that she handle while working for them as an intern but she turned it down to move to Los Angeles for personal reasons, works at CAC in the Art Restoration and Appraisal Department.

Alice Pieszecki – Bette’s witty secretary, 29, knows everything about everyone at CAC and in WeHo. Has a girlfriend, Dana Fairbanks, a tennis champion, but their relationship has been on and off since Dana began traveling a lot and also occasionally seeing Lara Perkins, the Planet’s chef.

Dana Fairbanks – Alice’s girlfriend, tennis player, 28, she’s traveling a lot and her relationship with Alice is done mostly through the phone conversations.

Shane McCutcheon – Yale graduate in Art History where she met Tina and they became best friends, 28, head of the Art restoration and Appraisal Department of the CAC, female Casanova and won’t have it any other way.

Carmen de la Pica Morales – accountant at the CAC but rarely spends her time in her workplace because she likes to be involved in different fundraisers and in gossiping with Alice, 25, in love with Shane but thinks she has no chances with her.

Helena Peabody – hot, sexy, rich Brit and a new member of the Board of Directors, 30, knows Tina from the times when she used to be involved with the Peabody Foundation while working in New York, recently moved to LA and bought an ocean view mansion on the Malibu beach.

Dylan Moreland – a young uprising artist, 25, she’s preparing for her first show at the CAC and also works there as an intern, fell in love with Helena but kept it a secret…until now.

Jennifer Schecter – writer and art critic wanna-be, 25, didn’t get good reviews on her first book and now works at the CAC as a night janitor while freelancing for LA Magazine. Enough said.

Franklin Phillips – member of the Board of Directors at the CAC, 61, not important to the story really but needs to be mentioned here because he might appear a few times.

Other characters might make their appearances at some point as well and if they will, their names will be mentioned as an addition to the character list.

Time: present, year 2007

Place: Los Angeles, California.

All events are taking place mostly at the CAC with a rare exception of characters’ homes, the Planet and other areas around WeHo, which will be mentioned beforehand.

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(Previously) “Oops, this is Alice yet again. I forgot to introduce one more person…Helena Peabody. She’s very sexy and rich and her British accent can make every woman’s knees go weak…and a few men, I suppose. She used to know Tina who worked with the Peabody Foundation in New York, which is run by Peggy Peabody, Helena’s mother. What a woman!!! The mother, I mean.”

“Helena is new in LA and she seems great and me thinks that she’s infatuated with Tina. Actually, come to think of it…this whole havoc began one ordinary morning when Helena came to the CAC to introduce herself as the newest member of the board of directors and to have a meeting with Bette.”

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Chapter 2: I don't care what you do, I don't care about you, I don't care get a clue

“When you left this morning did you remember to lock the front door, Dane?” Alice was talking on the phone, pacing around her desk. “Because last time you forgot and I had an invasion of thousands of stray alley cats…Mr. Piddles should’ve been neutered months ago…”

“I don’t have to do anything anymore, Alice…if you remember, we broke up this morning,” Dana’s tone of voice was cold and Alice had a hard time to remain calm.

“Yes, I remember…and you were still in my bed when I left this morning for work and even though you told me that last night was the best break-up sex ever and I fucked your brains out, I hope you have some marbles left to clean after yourself and lock the front door,” she yelled, not paying any attention to a visitor, who was waiting patiently for Alice to finish so she could say something.

Alice took a deep breath and was startled by a sexy voice with a slight British accent, “Pardon me, is this Bette Porter’s office?”

Alice turned around, not at all embarrassed that her conversation was overheard by a stranger. Her eyes traveled over the gorgeous woman, up past her high heels, strong tanned legs, black cocktail dress as if she was dressed for a fashionable party and finally rested on her lovely green eyes and wavy dark hair.

Alice’s mouth opened slightly and she forgot for a moment that Dana was still on a phone, talking about her current tennis tour as if they were not fighting. Alice smiled at the newcomer and swallowed hard, suddenly feeling nervous under her stare when the brunette said, “I’m Helena Peabody…I’m here to see Bette Porter.”

“Dane, I’ll call you later…” Alice said into the phone and hung up, without taking her eyes of Helena. “Sorry, Ms. Peabody…I thought you were just a visitor.”

Helena smiled and uttered, “Quite invective…”

“What?” Alice was confused about that statement and began replaying everything she said to this Peabody woman to see if she used an abusive language.

Helena kept smiling as if she didn’t noticed Alice’s discomfort and inquired again, “So, is Ms. Porter in?”

“Oh, yes, yes…sorry…just go in, she’s expecting you.”

Helena smiled again, noticing Alice’s obvious discomfort in the presence of a new board member. She nodded regally and went to Bette’s office, shutting door tight behind her.

“Good morning, Bette. I’m Helena Peabody,” she said as soon as she closed the door.

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“Guess who just came in? Rich, sexy and British? One guess?” Alice said excitedly on the phone as soon as Bette’s office door was closed.

“Al, I don’t really care who…okay, who is it? And be brief…my plane is leaving soon,” Dana was impatient to get off the phone because she also needed to call Lara about the dinner they were planning when she gets back.

“Helena Peabody…” Alice said reverently as if announcing the arrival of the British Queen.

“No way…that rich chick you told me all about last week, the one that was joining the CAC?”

“Yep…the one and only…wait, why am I talking to you? We broke up…you’re going to be a hard habit to break,” Alice hung up the phone, wondering if she should cry since Dana and she were breaking up every month only to get back together again. No, she won’t cry because the sex was unbelievable and she knew that Dana would come back to her.

Alice smiled and dialed another number, “Hey, Carmen…guess who just showed up to meet with the Boss? Helena Peabody.”

“You’re serious? I heard she’s hot.”

“Yep, and British, which makes her even hotter…I’ll talk to you later so we can gossip for a while.”

“Only if you tell me the latest on Shane.”

“Okay, I will get you some information from Tina.”

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Bette looked at Helena from behind her glasses and motioned for her to sit down.

“My mother told me a lot about you, Bette. She admires you a great deal and she wanted me to give you this,” Helena took a small picture frame out of her purse. “She said you would know what it means.”

“Oh yes…thank you,” Bette smiled fondly at the photograph and placed it on her desk.

She traced the picture with her slender fingers and her mind went back to one summer day five years ago. She was in New York, attending a fashionable party and dinner that Peggy Peabody was giving in honor of some young artist she sponsored. It was his first show held in a small gallery but Peggy turned it into an extravagant gala.

This was the first time Bette and Peggy had met. They instantly found a rapport that made them close friends right from the start. At the dinner they had a few drinks and Bette wandered to one particular painting that drew her attention as soon as she entered the gallery.

It was a painting of a young couple, standing on the edge of the cliff, holding hands and looking at each other. The face of a young woman was full of love and she was smiling. There was an invitation in her eyes but her companion was hesitant. Though he also looked back at her with love and adoration, Bette could see an uncertainty in his face and tension in his body.

The name of the painting was ‘Come With Me’. Bette was so engrossed in the image, trying to understand what she was felling that she didn’t hear Peggy approaching her.

The older woman put her hand on Bette’s shoulder and asked her curiously, “What do you see in this painting, Bette?”

“Myself and my…partner. I see love and devotion but I also see my fear that I’m not enough for her…I see doubts.”

“Does she make you happy?”

“Yes…I think so,” Bette replied with slight hesitation. “She was someone I wanted from the moment we met…we’ve been together for nine months now and things are great between us but sometimes I wonder…” Bette’s voice trailed off because she couldn’t explain her real fears.

“Bette…sorry if I will sound like an old hag and speak in clichés but happiness is not having something that you want. It is wanting what you already have. The true relationship is built on love and also trust. In my experience, you need both to be truly happy. Search your heart for answers.”

Bette didn’t reply her then. The relationship with Jodi was still new and it was first long-term commitment for Bette. She needed to give it a thought, to process why she was troubled by her fears if she claimed that she was in love.

After that night Bette and Peggy often spoke to each other on a phone or exchanged emails about their lives and the news in the art world. Three years later Peggy invited Bette to another party. This time it was a photograph exhibition from several up-coming photographers. It was as extravagant as the party she attended earlier and after the dinner Bette quickly became tired of mingling with all the important people that Peggy invited.