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    Love’s Recovery

    Chapter 20

     

    Bette slid past the crowd gathered at The Planet waiting on their morning rush of caffeine. She had woken up periodically through the night, not only worried about Maxine, but the impact Maxine’s presence could have on her and Kit.

     

    She claimed a small table in the corner, watching Kit help the counter staff manage the crowd as she thought about her late-night conversation with Tina.

     

    “I can actually hear your mind spinning,” Tina said rolling over and taking Bette into her arms. “You’re tossing and turning.”

     

    “I’m sorry, I contemplated going to sleep on the couch and then realized I just didn’t want to be alone right now.”

     

    “Never apologize for that.” Tina laid her head on Bette’s chest and began to drift back to sleep, calmed by the rhythmic beating of Bette’s heart. “Practice yoga breathing.”

     

    Bette began aimlessly drawing patterns on Tina’s bare back as she felt Tina begin to relax once more in her arms.

     

    “Ok, if you aren’t going to try to go back to sleep, do you want to talk about it?”

     

    We’ve been over it countless times, T.”

     

    “And yet here we are at…” Tina glanced at the clock before continuing, “almost 3:00 in the morning still awake. Maybe we need to talk more.”

     

    Bette threaded one of her legs between Tina’s and settled back down as she closed her eyes.

     

    “You’d think it was because my mom came back from the dead but honestly I keep thinking about Kit.”

     

    “What about her?” Tina’s voice was barely audible.

     

    “That Maxine’s been in our lives less than a month and it’s already driven a wedge between my sister and I.”

     

    “Because you let it,” Tina pointed out. “If you don’t want to be estranged from Kit, especially with how close you two have become, then fight for it.”

     

    “How do I do that?”

     

    “Just talk to her. She’s certainly the easier of the two.”

     

    “And Maxine?”

     

    “Only you can answer if you want to give her a chance,” Tina mumbled before drifting back to sleep easily while Bette lay awake pondering the pros and cons of letting Maxine back into her life.

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    Comments

    1. Hi Gumby,

      Welcome back!!! ..

      I have reread this story many times and so happy that you are going to finish it!!!

      Will read it after i finish work this afternoon.

      Thank you so much for coming back!!!

    2. Welcome back Gumby!

      Five years ago I asked that you come back and finish this! Delighted to see my wish may come true!

      Been back and re-read the previous 19 chapters and enjoyed familiarising myself again with the story.

      Next Chapter please:-)
      SG

    3. If i am honest i find Maxine pushy, she doesn’t give Bette the time to think about what she wants and certainly has no right to tell or judge Bette about that Bette was out of control during the time with Provocations and would step out on Tina.

      Maybe if Maxine was there as a mother during that time and Bette had the chance to talk about her feelings and thoughts to her, she wouldn’t have stepped out and make such a mess of her life. You never know what would have happened but in my opinion Maxine is taking the easy road and tries to pressure Bette in having a relationship with her, but she seems to be more interested in a relationship with Tina and Angie.

      For now, i don’t trust Maxine and Bette should really take the time to think if she wants a relationship with her and not feeling pressured in that Maxine could be a grandmother to Angie for example. She has to make that choice if she is able to trust Maxine and if she can forgive her.

    4. Great to see you back, Gumby! Just after episode 7 I started to re-read your “Sweet memories” to get over the desperation of hearing Tina say “Carrie asked me to marry her…”. I’ll put that on hold now and start re-reading “Love’s Recovery”.
      Thanks for picking up this story again, can’t wait to see how it goes.

    5. After reading all 20 chapters, I find that Bette still has not allow Maxine or anyone else tell her story to her. She is processing that Maxine is back with a list of assumptions which came basically from Melvin who lied to her about the situation as it is. How is it that a man fakes a funeral for a woman who is the mother and step-mother of his daughters? Someone with a lot of resources and contacts for sure.

      Most anyone who wants to catch a person in a lie ask them questions and then allows them to talk as freely as they which. Then ask them a follow up question. In a lie, the pieces will not mesh together. Parts of the response will not match other parts. Bette has the ability to detect when someone is not being truthful. Her basic problem is that she has not allowed Maxine to tell her story and then check the details for accuracy. Her entire behavior is based upon her anger and false perception of what the truth is. Tina knows that Bette has this preconceived ideas of what happened but also knows that she will not hear the truth until she is ready.

      I would ask myself: What would I do if I were in Bette’s situation? Well for one, I would have a thousand questions as to what happened and why do Maxine abandon me? I wouldn’t be able to leave this woman alone until I had every scrap of information possible. This event had too big an impact on my life not to understand everything about it. Only then would I decide whether there was a future relationship between Maxine and I. I would have to understand the relationship between Melvin and Maxine. Those were the two adults who made the decisions and even though it is possible that Melvin was an innocent party, they fact that he lied and faked a funeral shows a great deception perpetrated on my life and I would want to know why. Only after all those questions were answered would I make a decision as to whether or not Maxine will be in my family’s life or not.

      Oh, and the fact that Maxine came to Kit’s aid would have some positive meaning for me. Maxine gave Kit help which I could not (if I were Bette). Kit is my sister whom I love and up until meeting Maxine, my only living relative and making her life reasonable and whole again would have my gratitude.

      I really like how Maxine is responding to Bette. Maxine is not being judgemental to Bette but is pointing out events and truths about Bette and her past which seem hurtful. But deep inside, Bette knows they are true. During the Provocations Exhibit, Bette was not in an emotional state of mind to take on the reemergence of a dead mother after having lost a baby, cheating on her spouse, putting together the art project of her career which drew public disdain and having her marriage fall apart, Bette was drinking constantly to the point of non-functioning without having any more issues.

      Maxine will never be an instantaneous support figure for Bette. And Maxine and Bette will never be as close as a mother daughter are normally. It will take many months if not years to establish a close relationship if Bette allows it all.

      Great story…. lookforward to more

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