Chapter 2

Kate sat in the lounger near her pool, squinting against the sun reflecting off the water, as she flipped through another page of Lez Girls. She rolled her eyes dramatically as she scanned the words in front of her depicting another argument between controlling ‘Bev’ and submissive ‘Nina’.

She tapped a red pen on the screenplay, wondering how much of what was written was truth and how much was from the scary recesses of Jenny’s mind. Regardless of the answer, Kate cringed reading the next paragraph, feeling as if she needed to rewrite the entire script.

Kate redlined the entire paragraph that she had read twice trying to make any sense out of what was written. She scribbled notes in the margins of what needed to be changed, suddenly feeling miserable about accepting the role of Director with such an amateur writer. She reached down to the ground where she had dropped her pack of cigarettes and lighter, desperate for nicotine to make it through the remainder of the current chapter she was reading.

Kate was thankful for the interruption when the doorbell rang. She looked over her shoulder to see Tina shifting her weight back and forth nervously on her feet. Grinning, she motioned for Tina to come in before turning her focus back to the paper in front of her, determined to persevere and finish her work for the day.

Tina stood next to Kate’s chair, uneasy about what she should say given the conversation the previous night.

“I brought your coat back,” Tina said avoiding Kate’s eyes. “You weren’t at the studio today so I thought I’d just drop it by on my way home.”

“What were you doing at the studio today?” Kate asked with a smile. “It’s the weekend.”

“We both know that this script is beyond help,” Tina chuckled as Kate nodded her head smiling. “I figured I’d go in and see if I could pull off a miracle.”

“And?”

“Honestly?”

“Always,” Kate said intrigued with Tina’s answer.

“I couldn’t concentrate,” Tina admitted.

“Why not?”

“I found myself checking my watch every 5 minutes to see if you were going to show up or not.”

“Sit down,” Kate said with a smile. “If I have to suffer through reading this then you should too.”

Kate handed Tina the pages she had already redlined and stood up, smiling down at her while she laughed at the entire paragraphs that were crossed out in red.

“No mercy I see.”

“Why should I?” Kate asked as she walked toward the house. “I’m going to either grab a cold beer or tequila to numb the pain. You interested?”

“I’ll take a cold beer.”

“One cold beer coming up,” Kate said as she walked inside.

Tina focused on the pages in front of her, seeing Kate’s scribbled notes in every possible blank space there was on the page. Most of her notes seemed to focus on the ‘Bev’ and ‘Nina’ characters, questions about certain scenes and the personalities of the characters.

“One cold beer as ordered,” Kate said handing Tina the bottle that had already began to form condensation on it.

Kate sat back down and grabbed her red pen, picking up right where she left off, crossing off multiple lines and groaning at the words in front of her. Tina watched out of the corner of her eye, taking in Kate’s profile while she worked. She started with Kate’s hair, how long and thick it seemed. Recently, Kate had been wearing hats, but in the comfort of her own home her clothing was simple and light and Tina couldn’t help but notice.

Tina took a sip of her beer, the movement catching Kate’s eyes, in an effort to cool herself off.

“Hits the spot doesn’t it?” Kate asked.

“Hopefully it will numb the pain,” Tina joked as she read Kate’s notes on the side. “I’m reading your notes more than I am her drivel.”

“And?”

“They scare me,” Tina admitted honestly, taking another gulp of her beer. “Some of them are too accurate for my comfort.”

“How so?”

“You seem to know ‘Nina’ and ‘Bev’ very well,” Tina rolled her eyes as she moved her fingers in air quotes when she uttered the fictional character names. “I’m not sure if I should be grateful or afraid that you know me too well.”

“You?” Kate acted shocked to lighten the mood. “Nina is you?”

Tina laughed as Kate rendered her best performance at being surprised.

“Well now that changes everything,” Kate teased. “If you’re Nina you might not be fond of plumbers and I can’t fathom actually doing my own plumbing should something go wrong.”

Tina allowed herself a moment to laugh at Kate’s sarcasm and teasing ways.

“Carpenter,” Tina simply said. “She was a carpenter.”

“Oh well they are a dime a dozen,” Kate teased, but quickly turned to face Tina and smiled at her lovingly. “You didn’t deserve to be treated that way.”

“It wasn’t all Bette.”

“No,” Kate took a deep breath unsure if she wanted to have this particular conversation. “It does take two to destroy a relationship usually.”

“She’s painted Bette out to be a monster for that,” Tina said with tears in her eyes. “She wasn’t a monster, we just fell apart after the miscarriage.”

“Some couples do,” Kate said laying her hand on Tina’s, which was resting on her leg. “It doesn’t make either of you right or wrong.”

“She didn’t write it that way. She’s blamed so many ugly things on both of us, when really we just didn’t communicate and it fell apart from there. We aren’t the only couple to ever suffer from a lack of communication.”

“This has to be hard on you, seeing your life hacked out on the page before your eyes, and I must say you handle it a lot better than I would.”

“Don’t be fooled,” Tina said. “I’ve had my moments.”

“How do I help?”

“I’m not sure that you can,” Tina said honestly.

“Don’t be too sure about that,” Kate said with a smile. “You want to know what I think?”

“Enlighten me.”

“I think the only person that can help me do ‘Nina’ and ‘Bev’ justice is you.”

Tina looked at Kate, not understanding what she was alluding to.

“If Bette isn’t the controlling, workaholic, monster that Jenny made her out to be. A woman with no feelings or no time to help ‘Nina’ feel her pain at such a great loss, then let’s rewrite her.”

Tina blinked, internally thanking the heavens for Kate being so understanding. She was, however, also puzzled given the challenge that Kate had laid down last night. Tina was certain that Kate felt as if she were competing against Bette for Tina’s affection, yet it spoke volumes to Tina that Kate would want to portray a more realistic view of Bette and not the insane character Jenny created.

“I know you’re not this mousy little woman, one dimensional and an emotional wreck, that ‘deserved’ to be cheated on,” Kate continued. “But to rewrite it, you have to be able to live through it again and deal with what happened. Can you do that?”

Bette walked back into her hotel room after an hour long run in the hotel gym, checking her Blackberry to see if there were any urgent matters that needed her attention. She silently cursed herself, wondering if she was checking for messages as a means to delay the activity for the day. She threw the device down on the bed as she picked up the pad of paper that had the details of Jodi’s whereabouts scribbled down. She picked up the hotel phone, sat down on the bed, and dialed the number of the man that she had contacted the day before about renting his tractor.

“It’s now or never I suppose,” Bette said taking a deep breath to calm her nerves.

As she waited on hold, she picked up her Blackberry and turned on her messaging function. She quickly typed a message to Tina, asking how Angelica was as well as expressing her gratitude for the previous night’s conversation. She dropped the Blackberry when the man came back to the phone and they solidified their arrangements. Bette hung up the phone, pacing a few times the length of the room, and then opened her suitcase. She carefully chose her clothes and laid them on the bed.

“It’s now or never,” Bette uttered once again as she headed toward the bathroom to shower and begin her ‘out of the box’ gesture to win Jodi back.

Tina smiled as Angelica babbled from her car seat in the back, Kate’s words echoing in Tina’s head over and over. It was a simple question really, one that should have a simple one word answer. Yet, Tina knew it was never that simple between her and Bette. Kate took Tina by surprise when she had yanked her to her feet and held her close. What had surprised Tina more was that she felt so many emotions she hadn’t encountered since she had left Bette. That alone made Kate dangerous in Tina’s eyes.

When Tina reluctantly stepped out of the embrace, Kate smiled at her, causing her to shiver. It was as if Kate’s eyes bore down to Tina’s soul.

“Tina, the greatest tribute you can make to your relationship with Bette is to tell it honestly. Use it to portray the reality of lesbian relationships to those that will see this film, a glimpse at just how loving a relationship between two women could be.”

Tina left shortly after Kate’s pep talk, asking for time to think about the offer. She knew in her heart that she needed to rewrite it, to change the images of ‘Nina’ and ‘Bev’ that were simply not representative of who they really were. The question was whether she had the strength to do it.

Instantly, Tina thought of Bette in New York. Although she was certain that it was necessary to use her influence at the studio to be granted a rewrite, she wasn’t sure how much of reality Bette would be comfortable sharing with the public.

“She hated what Jenny wrote though,” Tina reminded herself. “Maybe I should just ask.”

As Tina pulled into her driveway, she glanced at her phone and realized the battery had died. She sighed, putting the car in park, and shutting the engine off. She quickly got out of the car and headed to the backseat where Angelica was laughing at the book that was in her hands. She babbled, pretending she could read it, while Tina gathered her bags and then began to take Angelica out of the car seat.

Tina struggled to balance the bags on her shoulder while carrying Angelica inside.

“We’ll have to text your Mama B and have her call us later,” Tina said in her best playful voice. “I can’t commit to making it better if she isn’t going to agree now can I Boo?”

Angelica smiled at Tina as she used Bette’s nickname for their daughter, melting Tina’s heart with a laugh.

With the sign loaded on the tractor, Bette pulled herself up into the seat and waited for her instructions. The farmer who had been gracious enough to loan her the tractor gave her a quick lesson in its controls before smacking her soundly on the thigh and turning back toward the barn. Rubbing her stinging thigh, Bette pulled her Blackberry from her jacket pocket and made one last check of her messages. Finding nothing but a ‘hey’ message from Phyllis, she stashed the phone safely inside her coat again and started her journey toward Jodi’s site.

The tractor was easily spotted by Tom as he watched Bette dragging the sign ’17 Reasons Why’ behind her. Jodi noticed him completely turned around, not interpreting any of her directions to the students around her. She turned to see what had captivated his attention and put a small smile on his face.

She squinted to see through the blinding sunshine that had graced the day. Without taking her eyes off Bette approaching the site, she maneuvered around the current standing sculpture to get a better look at Bette driving the tractor.

Jodi was in awe of Bette’s obvious attempt at reconciliation. It was a far cry from the sad flowers she had sent with a lame apology scribbled on a card. Jodi shook her head, blinking to ensure she was seeing the scene play out before her eyes.

Jodi couldn’t help but smile as Bette expertly parked the tractor and looked over in her direction. She saw Bette climb down from the seat and hesitantly saunter in front of the tractor, changing her focus from the ground before her to Jodi’s face.

Bette looked almost like a nervous child, shoving her hands in the pockets of her coat. Desperate to be close to Bette, Jodi covered the distance between them. Bette had made a point to stand in front of the sign, a message that Jodi would have to meet her at least the few steps to where she was standing.

After Bette and Jodi took one more glance at the sign behind them, the faced each other hesitantly. Jodi grabbed Bette’s hands in her own, smiling as she looked into Bette’s eyes.

“You better not break my heart,” Jodi said as Bette smiled.

Bette quickly grabbed the back of Jodi’s head and pulled her in for a kiss. She felt an instant connection as she forcefully pressed her lips against Jodi’s. She needed to feel a sense of security after stepping so far out of her comfort zone that the kiss took on a life of it’s own quickly.

Bette stepped back in an effort to control herself. They stood for a moment, hand in hand, looking into one another’s eyes. Bette then noticed that Jodi’s attention was darting between the existing sculpture and the sign she had brought as her apologetic gesture. Placing her finger under Jodie’s chin, Bette gave her a quick kiss before signing for her to go and focus on how the sign would work in. Rewarding Bette with a smile, Jodie stepped closer to the sculpture, circling and studying it. After the third trip around, Jodie stopped and sauntered toward Bette.

“What?” Bette signed, chuckling at the tempting look on Jodie’s face.

“I want you,” Jodie signed back.

“Oh really?” Bette replied, eyebrows raised.

“Uh-huh,” Jodie smirked as she reached out to unzip Bette’s jacket. “I want you to start taking that sign apart to unload it.”

“You are so bad,” Bette answered, her eyebrows dropping. Shaking her head, Bette slipped her jacket off, slinging it over the trailer before heading towards the table where the tools were laid out.

As Bette began to unload the sign, Jodi leaned against the trailer to drink some water and decide how exactly to work the sign into her sculpture. She gained Tom’s attention and began to sign him directions so the sign only had to be moved a minimal amount of times.

Jodi smiled as she watched Bette help another worker fasten a piece of the sign where she had directed them to do so. Scooting back, Jodie settled in to enjoy the view as Bette stretched and her shirt slid up, revealing her back. Putting one arm behind her, Jodie noticed an odd vibration near her hand. She reached back, touching Bette’s jacket and realizing it was the source of the vibration. Dragging the jacket forward, she felt around its surface, locating the Blackberry. Pulling it out, she yelled across the field to Bette and, when Bette turned toward her, she waved it in the air, indicating that it needed Bette’s attention. Thinking it was probably another message from Phyllis, Bette signed ‘who’ to Jodie as she finished tightening the bolt she was working on. Pressing a button to activate the Blackberry, Jodie’s face fell as she saw the sender’s name.

Staring at the name on the screen, Jodi sighed as the realization hit her that Tina was still very much a part of Bette’s life. She knew, to some extent, that they would be connected through their daughter, yet the friendship they seemed to be fostering recently made her uneasy. To say it didn’t would be lying to herself, not something that Jodi made a practice of doing.

“It’s from Tina!” Jodi shouted as loud as she could, given the distance between her and Bette across the windy field.

After confirming that the sign was stable enough to walk away, Bette jogged toward Jodi to take the phone. Jodi felt overlooked as Bette quickly took the phone from her hands and walked past her to read the text.

Jodi watched as a smile graced Bette’s face, her fingers began typing quickly a response to her ex-wife, and Jodi was left standing alone struggling between her anger over being discarded and her sadness that she felt she may not ever be good enough to truly capture Bette’s heart.