Bette was good to her word. She and Tina spent the next week hanging out. Tina had her over for a home-cooked meal, they went to the movies, walked on the beach, and got to know each other better. Tina answered Bette’s questions about her background, and to her credit and Tina’s relief, Bette didn’t probe too deeply. She listened patiently to Tina wrestling with whether or not to give Grant another chance. As for Grant himself, he behaved and stayed away, but he called twice and left a long letter of apology that also proclaimed his love in Tina’s mailbox. With Bette as a patient listening ear and a fun person to hang out with, Tina found more balance and began to look at her situation more honestly.

She could live without Grant. She had been too wrapped up in him, pinning all her hoped for the future on one guy, when Tina knew deep down the only person she could truly rely on was herself. She did it before, and she could do it again. And it was a lot easier with a friend.

She was shopping with Bette one day and got pulled into the doorway of an expensive shop she never usually went into. She hesitated outside the door and Bette looked at her curiously.

“Come on,” Bette said. “It can’t hurt to look around. In fact, I’m going to try to find something fabulous for you and then force you to buy it. You deserve to treat yourself.”

“I don’t know,” Tina hedged. “Everything is so costly in here.”

“No excuses out of you,” Bette said lightly, pulling open the door and ushering Tina inside.

“Now,” Bette said. “What do you want?”

“To leave?”

Bette gave Tina a look.

“Okay, fine. Um. A Scarf or something, I guess.”

Bette snapped her fingers. “There we go, a scarf. Now to find them.” She marched confidently further into the store, and Tina followed, glancing around nervously and feeling out of place.

As she trailed behind Bette her eyes landed on a familiar figure who turned and looked directly at Tina.