I had been assigned to ICU for the next couple weeks due to Ms. Lerner’s condition. I spent a huge amount of time with her because she wanted to make sure she was ready to run in the L.A. marathon in a couple months. Ms. Lerner was a distinguished artist and was very well known in the art world, so she was throwing a lot of money at the hospital and because she liked me, I was asked to work with her closely. This wasn’t the ideal situation but it was also perfect because while I was there, I was able to get to know Tina.

“Here you go Tina,” I said putting a cup of coffee in front of her, “creamer and three sugars, just the way you like.”

“Thanks Bette! Wasn’t sure if I was going to make it downstairs to grab a cup,” she said sipping, “seems like Ms. Lerner is ready to leave.”

“Yeah but she really doesn’t want to.”

“Why not? If I was in the hospital, I’d want to get out quickly.”

“Well, she likes me and has been asking me out ever since we met. I keep shooting her down but it doesn’t stop her.”

“Oh so, you’re…” Tina started to ask, and then stopped.

“Yeah, I’m gay, why? Does it bother you?”

“Not at all, I kind of guessed, but I didn’t want to ask.”

“Yeah I’m kind of used to everyone asking, and making a big deal of it.”

“Well, I won’t make a big deal out of it; I’ve just never had a gay friend before. I’m from Chapel Hill, North Carolina so gay people were very few and far between. So forgive my ignorance.”

“It’s ok if you want to ask questions, I don’t mind. Unless they border on hate, then I get very defensive.”

“Well if I cross the line, I’m sure you’ll let me know,” she said walking to her computer by her patient’s room.

“You know I will,” I said and smiled, “hey since Eric is off and you have no gay friends, why don’t you join me for lunch? I will introduce you to a bunch of very cool lesbians. You probably already know them anyway, but not like I know them,” I said and winked, she laughed.