Chapter 14

Saturday, Bette remembered a time
when she couldn’t wait for the weekend but now this day she found herself
wondering around the house aimlessly trying to find things to keep her busy.
She tried painting for a couple of hours this morning but even that did not
keep her mind quiet. So after a while she just gave up.

Sitting here on the couch staring
blankly at the screen of her lap top she couldn’t even focus long enough to
complete the schedules for two new staff next term. Shutting it down she closed
it up and went toward the kitchen for another cup of coffee.

Scenes of last night kept playing
in her head on an endless loop. Certainly she had never expected to walk into
the same room where Tina sat after all these years. However even though it had
been a shock she could still take in everything about Tina in one quick glance.
Time had been kind to her. She was still as beautiful as ever. But Bette did
notice one change in the span of minutes that passed during their exchange she
seemed more reserved than she could ever recall her being in the past.

Maybe like her she had not known
what to say after all this time. Bette had been glad to see that she had mended
the relationship with her family. That was evident because Kasey clearly
supported Tina now. Her presence at the dinner indicated that and for that
Bette was glad. Not having family in her life had certainly left a hole in Tina
that even Bette could not fill. Henry had succeeded in doing that one thing for
Tina that she never could as much as it pained her to admit it. Hell truthfully
there was a lot that she could never do for Tina at least until it was too
late.

But what hurt Bette the most was
the loss of Angie in her life once again. She was sure after last night’s scene
Angie would want to have nothing else to do with her and who could blame her.
Bette was sure she was feeling as if Bette had been dishonest with her and that
was certainly no basis for a relationship. That day in her office when she had
recognized Angie’s name on the application she should have just left it alone.
But she had promised herself so many years ago if she ever got a second chance
she would do everything in her power to fulfill the promise she had made to the
child she helped create.