Post 37

            Rosanna looked down at the caller id on her cell phone and smiled.  It had been two days since she had last heard from the brunette that held her heart.  She hesitated aware that Bette and Tina had dinner a few days ago to talk and sort things out between them.  Rosanna was very aware that this could be her Dear Jane call. 

            “Hi, honey.” She answered optimistically.

            “Hi. How goes it?”  Bette smiled into the phone. 

            “Good, it’s been busy at the CACMH its good though it takes my mind off a certain brunette.”  She laughed.

            “Can a certain brunette have dinner with you tonight?”

            “Depends, where and what’s on the menu?”

            “A little French place to start and you for dessert.”

            “Can we skip the meal and head straight for dessert?”

            “No” Bette laughed.  “I want to have dinner with you and talk.”

            “Alright” Rosanna conceded, “as long as I get my dessert I can wait impatiently.  Shall I have the car pick you up so you won’t worry about driving home later?” 

            Bette wasn’t used to being chauffeured but realized that there were advantages to letting someone else do the driving.  It allowed her to focus on other things and her experience with Rosanna proved that she could easily become distracted. Bette agreed and they made plans to get together at six. 

            The food was excellent as always and they were sated when the waiter came back to the table.

            “May I show you the dessert menu?”  He inquired.

            “No, thank you, we are having dessert elsewhere” Bette stated nonchalantly, placing the menu aside with a quick glance at Rosanna “a cognac would be nice though.” 

            “Cognac for me as well” Rosanna answered swallowing the lump that rose in her throat and trying to breathe through the heat that ripped through her straight to her center. They had yet to talk so she was not sure what dessert Bette planned for them.  If Bette planned to end things after scorching sex she would do her best to resist.  She couldn’t wait any longer to know where Bette stood.

            “So how did your dinner with Tina go the other night?”  Rosanna asked. 

            “It was painful, but good.”  Bette replied.  “We really talked for the first time in years.”  Bette was surprised by her statement and realized it was true.  They had stopped really talking shortly before they found a donor for their children.  A piece of the puzzle slipped into place for her.

            Rosanna noted that Bette was lost in thought and by the flicker of pain she saw she guessed it had to do with Tina.  “Sounds productive” Rosanna replied noncommittally.

            “We have decided to work on being good parents to Angelica.”

            “What happened to your perfect love?” 

            “It’s still there, buried under the rubble, I suspect.”  Bette smiled wryly. “I realized something though” Bette paused to collect her thoughts.

             “Love isn’t all it takes to make a relationship work.  I love Tina and always will.” She met the blue eyes that were fixed on her. The acceptance she saw there urging her to continue.  

              "After saying all that I can’t go back there to where we were.  If we were to get back together now for me it would be because of Angelica more than anything else. Angelica is our child and I so wanted to raise her with Tina as a family.  I wanted that Tina and I."

               Again the look crossed her face that Rosanna would later come to call it the Tmoment.

 So we are going to work on being good co-parents.  I won’t lie to you or lead you on.  I can’t tell you that I am not still in love with Tina.  I can’t be with her now, or at least right now, or it may come to pass that we are indeed over."  Bette broke eye contact with Rosanna for a second before meeting her eyes a second time.   "A part of why I can’t go back to Tina now is because of how I feel about you.”  Bette paused again, placing her hand over Rosanna’s on the table ready to speak her heart.  “Do you want to hear anymore of this?”  Bette asked.