“Tina Kennard,” said the breathless voice on the other end of the phone.

“Where the ***** did your assistant go to find you? Santa Barbara?” Alice asked.

“Something like that,” Tina said, sounding distracted and a little frazzled. “Ive got wall to wall insanity happening today.”

“I wont keep you long. I cant get your lesser half to return phone calls, so I decided to go right to the brains of the operation. Theres a band playing tonight at Moxie. I interviewed the lead singer last week for a profile and if their music is anywhere near as hot as she is, they’re definitely worth seeing.”

“I dont know,” Tina hesitated. “Bette is meeting this photographer and I’m not sure how late shes going to be.”

“Why dont we have dinner and she can hook up with us afterwards at the show?” Alice suggested.

“Okay. Yeah. Lets do that.”

Several hours later, they were seated in a booth at a cozy Italian bistro, talking about life and work. And Bette. Alice watched Tina push her pasta around on her plate while she poured them both a second glass of wine. Tina had greeted Alice with a hug outside of the restaurant and seemed happy to see her, but there were dark circles under Tinas eyes and her typical ebullience was decidedly absent.

“What did your mother tell you?” Alice asked with mock sternness, folding her arms across her chest.

Tina looked up, all of the color draining from her face. “What?” She asked weakly.

“You know. About not playing with your food. *****, what did you think I was talking about?”

Tina took a deep swallow of wine and shook her head. “Bette didnt say anything?”

“How? She doesnt respond to phone, email, or smoke signals.”

“I told my mother about Bette and shedidnt handle it as well as Id hoped.”

“Totally freaked out on you, huh?” Alice asked sympathetically.

Finally, faintly, Tina smiled. “Kind of.”

Alice waved down the waiter and ordered another bottle of wine.

“I tried that already, it didnt help,” Tina said, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“Time helps. ***** helps. Revenge helps,” Alice said, clinking her glass against Tinas. “But we can discuss that later.”

“How did your family react when you came out?”

Alice rolled her eyes. “My family isnttypical. I mean, my mom invited Martin Scorcese to my Sweet 16 party. And he came. That was the same party, by the way, when I found her in the carport making out with one of the valets.”

“Wow,” Tina said, her eyes wide.

“Yeah. The sleeping with girls thing? Not such a big deal. I would have needed to sleep with Charles Manson to get a rise out of her.”

“Are you close? With your mom?”

“Lenore and Iwe have an understanding. Weve found that the key to remaining close is to give each other a lot of space. A lot. Of space. How about you?”

Tina sighed wistfully. “Not as close as I thought. I justI cant believe Im going to lose my family because Icare about someone.”

“But thats the thing, Tina. Youre gaining a new family. People who won’t reject you because of who you are. Or who youcare about. So instead of having parents, youre about to inherit a few thousand sisters.”

“Ive never had a sister,” Tina said quietly, playing with the stem of her wine glass.

“Hey,” Alice said, touching Tinas arm across the table. “You do now.”