Previously…

“I guess we’ve been inspired by you two,” Alice said with a shrug, giving Dana a kiss on the lips before walking over to Bette’s bed.

She sat on the foot of the bed and Dana stood behind her, allowing Alice to lean into her body as the strong tennis player wrapped her arms around her girlfriend.

“Wow,” Bette finally said, smiling.

“Well, congratulations, you two.”

“And to you two,” Dana said, nodding at me and Bette.

“As soon as you get up out of this hospital bed,” Alice broke in, “we’re all going out on a very weird, very dysfunctional, very in love double-date, K?”

“It’s a date,” I said in agreement, trying to contain my laughter.

* * * * * * * * * *

Later that afternoon, I decided it was finally time to make good on my promise to Bette and return to San Marino. Shane and Alice offered to help, leaving Kit some alone time with her sister while Dana scampered off to practice for the afternoon. We jumped in my car and began the half-hour drive to the outskirts of West Hollywood, the wind blowing in our hair as we drove.

“So,” Shane asked when we left the parking lot of Mercy Hospital, “you’re really moving back?”

“I’m really moving back,” I affirmed, glancing in my rearview mirror at Shane.

“And everything is as it should be,” Shane said with a smile. “I mean, you and Bette are back together, Al and Dana are having some freaky ***** –”

“It’s not freaky *****!” Alice exclaimed, slapping Shane playfully from the front seat. “Okay, okay. Most of the time, it’s not freaky *****. It’s actually really amazing *****. Best ***** of my life.”

“And you definitely have a long list to compare it to,” I joked, nudging Al with my elbow.

“No, that’d be Miss Thang in the backseat you’re thinking of,” Alice said as she pointed to Shane.

Shane smiled and shrugged, accepting her fate as the player of the group.

“What can I say?” she offered. “The girlies like me.”

“Any one in particular these days?” I asked, trying to get a glimpse of the past six months in Shane’s life.

Shane quieted immediately and I knew I had hit a nerve. Before I left last year, Shane had just ended a tumultuous affair with a married woman. She never talked about it again, but we all knew she had a hard time getting over Mrs. Cherie Jaffe. After a momentary pause, Shane turned back to me and grinned.

“Come on, Shane,” Alice urged. “Just tell her about that hottie dj you’ve been sleeping with.”

“Oooh, a dj!” I exclaimed, pressing Shane for details.

“Her name’s Carmen,” Shane finally relented. “She spins at The Planet on Wednesday nights.”

“That’s all I get?” I asked after waiting for Shane to continue.

“Eh,” she said vaguely. “I’m not in it for the long-term, you know me. But she’s… she’s great.”

As quickly as that love-filled smile crept across her face, Shane did her best to mask it and I knew that I hadn’t heard the last about this Carmen. It seemed that the dj had really made an impression on Shane, and I was glad to hear that Shane was settled and happy. The conversation quickly turned to Jenny, who apparently had asked Shane to move in with her after Tim moved out a few months ago.

“Where is Jenny these days?” I asked, wondering why she hadn’t come to visit Bette.

“She’s on some writing assignment in New York, I guess,” Alice said with a shrug. “I don’t know.”

“Oh,” I replied, efficiently ending the conversation. Jenny was always a little troubled, and I never could quite figure her out. Still, part of me felt like an older sister to her and I silently hoped that she was figuring out her life in New York so she could come back to LA with confidence and, better yet, a smile. Jenny definitely fit into that tortured writer stereotype, and sometimes it was just too much to take. I sighed, silently laughing at the memories from our group that had been stored in my mind and helped me through all those lonely months in San Marino. It felt so good to be back in the presence of my family, the girls that loved me and accepted me unconditionally, and I couldn’t wait to start my life over again back in West Hollywood with them. I pulled up to the apartment complex and dragged Shane and Alice out of the car to help me begin the arduous task of moving out.

~~~~~~~~~~

Five hours later, I parked my stuffed-to-the-gills car along the curb in that familiar neighborhood, leaving enough room behind me for Shane and the small moving truck we had rented. I stepped out of the car and felt a flood of emotions rush through me. For the first time in six months, I was standing in front of the place I’d called home for nearly eight years.

“You okay, T?” Alice asked, standing next to me.

“Yeah,” I replied softly, nodding. “It’s just, it’s been so long since I’ve been back here and I forgot how much I missed it.”

Alice put a loving arm on my shoulder and guided me up the steps to the front door. She fished Bette’s keys out of her pocket and pushed open the door, allowing me to walk in first. I was immediately struck with the familiar smell of Bette, a scent that I could never forget and was so happy to be engulfed in once again. Everything looked exactly the same as I remembered it, from the paintings adorning the walls to the wine glasses hanging in the kitchen.

I walked through the house and stopped just outside the bedroom, hesitant to go in. Suddenly, the memories of that last night in this place rushed back to me. I played out the entire scene in my mind. Confronting Bette about her affair, her heart-felt apology in explanation, the way she tried to hold me and kiss me and make love to me to make me forget, the slapping, the biting, the pushing… I blinked my eyes and tried to shake the memory from my mind but it was etched on my brain. I couldn’t get rid of it, and I sunk down onto my knees in the doorway of the bedroom.

“Where do you want the — Tina?”

I heard Shane’s heavy footsteps before I heard her voice, but soon her arms were around me and she was rocking me slowly back and forth as if she knew exactly what was going through my mind. She held me as I cried the last tears I’d ever cry over Bette’s betrayal. I forced myself to pull it together and looked up at her with love and gratitude.

“Okay,” Shane said sternly, standing up. “Let’s get this moving thing over with.”

Shane always knew the best way to deal with any problem. She allowed the much-needed mourning period, and then she always found a way to snap you back to reality. As she headed back into the living room to haul more boxes inside, she turned back to me and winked and I knew that everything was, just like she said, as it should be.

(TBC…)