NEW YORK MINUTE

CHAPTER 105

“Bette “
Bette looked up from her laptop at James who had just come into her office
“Yes James “
“We finally got the last instalment of that money we were owed from the so -called high class auction house a few blocks away from here “
Bette raised an eyebrow and took the letter and the cheque that was attached to it”
“Most auction houses would just pay it into our account – what a bunch of dinosaurs”
“I did look and its not been signed in ink – just a biro”
“Well get it into the back before Thanksgiving – there is something hickey about that place that makes me uneasy”
“Its got such a reputation “
“Yes – but its what its got a reputation for that worries me more and more. We should try and not use them”
“Their catalogue for some forthcoming sales came in a separate envelope”
“Anything interesting ?”
“Not sure – I will flick through it and mark anything you might think we could sell on”
“Well you never know what will turn up”
“As long as our cheques turn up “
“I know – things are quiet here today – why don’t you clock off at lunchtime “
“Don’t you want to ?”
“Tina’s parents are coming to stay “
James raised his eyebrow at Bette – a neat trick he had learnt from the number of times she had done it to him – in fact he could do a fairly reasonable Bette impersonation – the art was to know how many “ fucks “ to get into a sentence and still make it understandable.
“And how do you feel about that ?”
Bette picked up her coffee cup and sighed “I do like them “
“Why do I suspect there is a but coming here?”
“Because there is – I know what happened was huge and it totally defined the whole family but to be honest James there are times when it is the sole conversation topic and I can say this to you and Shane and no one else – I don’t like some of what they say “
“In what way ?”
“Its still like they blame Tina for everything – a theme seems to now be – well if only you had told us you were gay things might have been different “
“Do you believe that ?”
“Not for a minute – would you believe it if you were me ?”
“It seems that they are still making excuses for what happened – do they think that he wouldn’t have shot the boyfriend if Tina had told them she fancied girls ?”
“First of all I am uncomfortable with “what-if “ conversations – I have beaten myself up with – well what would have happened if I hadn’t got involved with the Carpenter – you cannot spend your life that way and it messes with your head if you try and do that. Yes I do it – like what would have happened if I hadn’t fled to New York and I had found out about Tina being pregnant and well it upsets me. So I don’t do it and I can see that it does upset her “
“Have you said anything ?”
“Tried to a few weeks ago “
“Not good ?”
“No – Tina got upset and said that she didn’t want anything to mess up her new found relationship with her parents “
“Well you can understand that “
“I can and I know what it means to her and you know how much I love her”
“I do – you always have and you probably always will”
“I will – thank you James”
“Its just the truth – so you were saying about not wanting to rock the boat”
“I don’t – I swear that I don’t want to hurt her – but neither do I want to see her get hurt and I don’t like the implication that all of what happened stemmed from Tina being too whatever to tell them she was gay . I don’t for a minute think that Tina knew she was gay when she was that age. She was confused about her sexuality and she was trying to do what society expected of her – to date boys. If she had told her mom she was gay or that she was in love with one of the cheerleaders “ Bette stopped and shook her head
“It wouldn’t have ended well “ James summed up
“If the girl had been older than Tina then there would have been a row about how Tina was being lead astray. Its bullshit that they would have been able to handle a lesbian daughter”
“They would have probably thrown her out “
Bette nodded “ So you see my dilemma – I like them and they are great with Angie who just loves having grandparents and they are both great with her. I just worry about how these comments that get made – I worry about what effect they have on Tina and it also lets Jack off the hook for what he did.”
“Maybe – and this is just a thought “
“Yes “
“Maybe you could suggest that they will never move forward as a family if they keep talking about the past “
Bette laughed “ That is exactly what I think – they do always end up talking about the past. Every fucking conversation ends up at the same junction – recrimination fucking central. Just like Tina and I had to move on – so do the Kennards”
“Well the wedding is coming up – that is always good for several hours of discussion -dresses and stuff “
“Sadly for that idea Tina and I sat down the other night and made a timetable – nothing much really to plan. We both roughly know what we are wearing – Angie is being a diva about what she wants to wear “
“Wonder who she gets that from “
“Well its not from this momma for a start and it would be unwise to suggest other given that I have offered you an afternoon off. Actually she wants to wear something similar to what I am wearing”
“I am looking forward to seeing the whole event “
“You and Shane will be the only guests who were at our first wedding “
James sighed “That seems like a whole life time ago and two different people”
“Did you think we would last ?” Bette asked with interest
“Then or now ?”
“Then ?”
“I thought that it would last because she calmed you down “
“Calmed me down !” Bette said in mock shock
“You know what I mean – I thought – like I still think that she is great for you and she brings you out of yourself. I wasn’t shocked when — well – when you did what you did”
“Why ?” Bette was genuinely interested
“Because you two were making each other miserable and you were under the most intolerable pressure – I was sad when it happened but I had seen it coming – you needed someone to take the rocks from your shoulders and it wasn’t Tina because she was so angry at you for whatever reason – sorry -that was how I saw it “
Bette smiled – she did have a close relationship with her assistant – and if he had really hated her he wouldn’t have moved to the east coast to work with her again
“For the record you are pretty much spot on – – what about now ?”
“Now ? “ James laughed “Now you two will be fine – less demons on both sides and a daughter you both adore and spoil totally – you two will be growing old together “
“Thank you James”
“Are you looking forward to you night out ?”
“I could do without it to be honest but Angie is so excited at having her grandparents baby-sit her and we do have to talk to Roger “
“I know you are torn on what to do “
“I am – Tina is hell bent on telling Roger that Kit is his problem – she’s not mine”
“She always was – how many times did you have to put up bail for her ?”
“More times than Tina knows “ Bette agreed
“You have other priorities Bette – and at some point in her life Kit is going to have to take responsibility for her life and what she has done to herself. That was what you did – it took you reaching the gutter for it to happen – you cannot help her unless she wants to help herself “
“That’s what Tina says “
“She told me very forcibly the other day when she was here “
Bette raised a eyebrow again “ Really ?”
“Yes – I think she just wanted to see if you had said anything to me about it “
“What did you say ?”
“There is an element of the priest confessional about the two of us at work sometimes – I just told Tina that I didn’t know – which actually I don’t “
“I don’t know what I am going to say to him – I know how Tina feels and that has to be part of my thinking “
“Do you think she is right ?”
“I think she believes she is – but then again – I think I am right about how the three of them need to move on from what happened – relationships aren’t easy and outside influences play a part “
“I think one of the many reasons that you and Tina are dong better now than you did before is because you don’t have Alice and the rest of the brigade around. You two can have an argument and it stays private – it doesn’t become the hot topic of Alice’s phone in – that cannot have been easy for you and Tina. Just as well Twitter wasn’t around back in LA because Alice would have set up an account solely devoted to your relationship”
Bette laughed and went back to her laptop – that Twitter comment would have been funny if Bette hadn’t thought there was a large portion of truth about it.