“Hello”

“Tina Hi, it’s me”

“Hey Bette what’s going on?  Is everything alright with Angelica?”

“You know if we are going to keep up this whole friendship thing Tina and we’re going to be ringing each other from time to time just to talk about things, we are really going to have to come up with some special code that we will use if there’s something wrong with Angie.  Otherwise every time we ring each other there’s going to be that heart stopping moment of panic you just experienced and I also get every time you call me”

Bette smiled as she heard Tina’s soft chuckle coming through the line “You’re right I’m sorry.  I just worry.”

“I understand Tina.  As I said, I do it too.”

“Ok we’ll work on a special code then. So, if it’s not about Angie why are you calling?”

“Well I was hoping to organise a time with you to open Dana’ packet.  To be honest I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since we left The Planet yesterday.”

“I know what you mean.  It was all pretty intense.  I can’t imagine what’s going on in Alice’s mind.  Shane said she talked to her yesterday afternoon and she seemed to be holding it together.  I was thinking I might call her later.  I’m pretty free this week Bette so you pick a time and I’ll make it work.”

“How about tomorrow evening?”

“Sure that’s fine.  Do you want to come over straight from work?”

“Actually Tina you can say no if you want but I was kind of wondering if we could do it her e in the house.  Dana spent so much time here with us I kind of feel connected to her here in some way” Bette’s voice got softer as she finished her request thinking when she said it out loud it seemed stranger than what she really felt.

Tina didn’t reply.  She was thinking about whether or not she would be comfortable doing this with Bette in the house they shared.  She knew that Dana’s letters were going to bring up memories not just of the woman herself but also of the relationship she and Bette had shared.  When Dana wrote those letters she had still lived in the house with Bette and their relationship was in tatters.  At the same time Bette had a point.  When Tina would think about the athlete the memory often took place in their house.   They had shared a lot of happy times there with their friends before everything got so complicated.