So, what about a mixture of the two?

Imagine side by side seats.....but you slide the passenger seat back roughly 2
feet.....if you do that and allow the passengers legs to be lower than the
level of the pilots hips....you can have a pretty narrow cabin that would still
allow a decent amount of elbow/hip/shoulder room .....and perhaps even allow
for the left (say) passengers leg to be under the pilots seat....

Anyone ever seen an arrangement like that?

There is an article in an old Popular Mechanix or Science where just
that seating arangment was proposed for a "next generation" trainer.
IIRC Rutan had something to do with the article........


Blll

For the original poster - Since she doesn't like the look of the back
of your head, have you considered turning her around and let her look
where you have been? This arngment also has the added benefit of
having the pilot and passanger's CG closer together than the
traditional arangment.