Bette flipped through her closet, trying to decide what to wear before settling on a long, flowing skirt and peasant blouse for her evening with Tina. She put on some gold bracelets that they’d bought in India. She wondered if Tina would recognize them.

She hummed snatches of a song as she put on earrings and searched for her other sandal. She was feeling nervous about tonight, but secure at the same time. She and Tina loved each other. What was there to stand in their way? Unless…

Unless Tina did have a valid reason for not wanting to move in that Bette hadn’t considered yet. Bette frowned, considering. She couldn’t think of any, but sometimes Tina had a way of pulling the rug out from under her.

Oh well. No sense worrying about it. She would cross that bridge when she came to it, with maturity and patience. If I come to it, Bette reminded herself. Which she probably would, so it was best to be prepared.

“You, need to stop it,” Bette warned herself, looking at her reflection in the mirror. There was nothing that she and Tina couldn’t handle. Or so she was going to tell herself. Just in case. She grabbed her bag and moved out of the bedroom and down the hall. What she wasn’t going to do was work herself into a neurotic frenzy, like –

There was a knock at the door as Bette was pulling her bag over her shoulder.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Bette said as she opened the door. Alice was on her doorstep, then barging right in with a flood of words.

“Okay. Here’s the thing, Bette. I know what you said was right, and when I left here I was totally determined to follow through on on what you said, but… When Tasha came home and kissed me hello, everything just fell into place. She was just really happy to see me, you know? And then she was telling me about her day, and it wasn’t even like she’d had a bad day or anything and I didn’t want to pile on further, but it’s the fact that she trusts me and can confide in me, and,” Alice paused for breath. “I love her and she loves me. And that’s what counts, right? I mean, I don’t even know Clea. And yes, I like the idea that maybe there’s another ‘me’ out there, someone that I have tons of things in common with and whatever, but you know what?”