Bette slid behind the wheel of her car, smiled to herself thinking of the breakfast that she and Tina had just shared and then slipped the transmission into reverse. As the car slid quickly through the morning traffic it would have had a long way to go to catch up to the speed of Bette’s mind.

Time to see what Jodie has done to fix this Bette thought to herself as she flipped open her cell and dialed Phylis’s number at the university. It was still early but Phylis often arrived at least an hour before she needed to. Bette had to admit that she would definitely be relieved if, contrary to what her gut was telling her right now, Jodie had contacted the board and retracted her accusations. Part of the problem with acting like you had brass balls was that people often thought you did and treated you accordingly. The truth of the matter was that contrary to what she knew alot of people thought, even often T in the past, Bette really found no pleasure in conflict and could be hurt and hurt deeply. It was simply something that had to be done in order to accomplish goals sometimes. As she drove Bette wrestled with the reality that Jodie’s actions though in many ways typical of what Bette should have expected had hurt and still hurt her deeply. Her mind turned back in on itself to another time that had created a deep scar and should have served as a warning, the night of the dinner party. Hodie had only been able to see her side of things and how she had been ‘victimized’ by Bette’s ‘control’. It had been the first and only time that Bette had ever seen the deeply engrained bitterness that lurked in the artist’s soul. She had been startled, shocked and hurt by this side of her lover and had left the room furious. Bette was sure it was this very well hidden part of Jodie Lerner that was now calling the shots. If you think I have made a victim of you now Jodie. Brace yourself is all I have to say. she thought as she listened to the unanswered ringing of her cell phone.