Los Angeles, Bette Porter’s house, backyard, Saturday, 8:30 am.

Drinking her coffee, Bette was watching at her ex-wife whose eyes were fixed in a dead point somewhere in the pool. The time has come for them to open their hearts, and the brunette is the one who decided to start this hard but needed conversation, nonetheless now she is nervous and isn’t sure how to approach the subject. A long silence that was screaming loudly stopped Tina from her thoughts; with an interrogating look, she turned to see her ex-partner who opened her big eyes.

Bette: “T, I think we should talk, and I know this isn’t going to be easy, just tell me when you’re ready.”

Tina: “yeah…, I know, Angie is much better today, and it’s time…, yes, I’m ready, but are you also ready to speak openly without hiding any detail?”

Bette: (frowning her brow and looking scrutinizing at her companion’s face) “do you think I’ve been hiding things from you?”

Tina: (looking at the dark big eyes to lowering her sight at the end of her answer) “I think that we both have kept things that we haven’t shared, and I believe that in a certain way it led us to make decisions that we tacitly assumed we both agreed.”

Bette: (sighing) “well, in that matter, perhaps you’re right…, yeah, I agree on that.”

Tina: “are you willing to walk this path with me, to retrace the… how could I call it… the wrong steps, and please don’t misunderstand me.”

Bette: “wrong steps…? Whose wrong steps, Tina.”

Tina: “Bette…, don’t take it badly, it’s just a manner of speaking…, or are you suggesting it was my wrong steps?”

Bette: “no, I’m not suggesting anything, you called it the wrong steps, no me, and that wasn’t what I meant.”

Tina: “then, what did you mean?”

Bette: “Tina, many things happened, and you’re right, we didn’t talk, I won’t deny that I was fearful to reach this situation, and I don’t want to discuss if it was your or my fault, I just want us to talk and see if we missed something because for me, I still feel like something hit me very hard several months ago and I still don’t know what it was…, and to tell the truth, T, I still have strong feelings for you and as we both know, Carrie wasn’t a solution for whatever happened between us.”

Los Angeles, Bette Porter’s house, Tuesday, noon.

The ring at the door has disconcerted the two moms who were talking in the kitchen, none of them is expecting anybody today, neither the grocery van nor the mail delivery.

Tina: “who do you think it could be?”

Bette: “no idea…, do you think someone is looking for you?”

Tina: “I don’t think so…, perhaps someone from the university wants to see you”

Bette: “no…, they would call first, besides they know I’m quarantining”

Tina: “hmm, it maybe somebody from the hospital”

Another ring at the door stirred the women who looked at the entrance with apprehension. For Bette it was uncertainty and a little fear, could it be Carrie? How could she dare to come to her house? No…, she couldn’t…, but if she was, this couldn’t be a worse moment; now that she and Tina are starting to talk and work things together…, like a family… However, for all Bette has heard that Carrie must be a viper hard to rid of.

For Tina, there is this fear that someone from the hospital may bring bad news, perhaps Jordi is very bad or worse, or perhaps it is the new test for her and her ex…, or maybe it could be someone looking for Bette… one of her many dates…, well she has no right to complain, after all, it was her, Tina, who was going to marry Carrie two or three weeks ago.

Another ring at the door called the attention of the two paralyzed women.

Bette: “we better ask, whoever is there, what they want”

Tina: “yeah…”

But nobody moved until finally Bette held Tina’s hand and softly pulled her to the door.

Bette: “we look like two little girls home alone at night scared by strange noises”

Tina: (smiling nervously) “you may be right; I hope it won’t be bad news”

Holding hands the two moms went to the door, it was Bette who asked.

Bette: “who is it?”

Maya: “it’s me, Bette, I called to your office and James told me you were working from home, I know Angie is sick and you may need some help, I brought lunch”

Tina lowered the head and her face changed, she released Bette’s hand, which made the brunette look at her with surprise.

Los Angeles, Bette Porter’s house, Monday morning.

Bette: “Tina, can I ask you a question?”

Tina: (sad) “yeah”

Bette: “do you love Carrie?”

Tina was looking down and closed her glassy eyes, yes, she loved Carrie, she cared about her, because when she was down after she and Bette broke, it was Carrie who gently consoled her, who took her out to dinners and meetings and rides to easier her pain; for that Tina was grateful; because of that she felt the peace of mind and stability when she was with Carrie, and because of that is that she accepted to be her girlfriend even though she wasn’t in love, she couldn’t because her heart already belonged to someone else, her ex-wife. Even though she knew she couldn’t love Carrie, she considered her a great friend and companion in her future life; but now the blonde felt overwhelmed with grief and bitterness, looking at the situation objectively, apparently, her fiancé has been lying and showing herself as the woman that she wasn’t. A person can’t change that much overnight, no…, Carrie has played with her feelings, her broken heart, her solitude, her needs for a friend.

Tina: (with tears in her eyes) “I… I thought I did…, I thought she was, above all, a great friend, oh my God, Bette, how could I’ve been so blind; in this last week she has been lying constantly at the point that I don’t know who she is any more”

Bette: “I’m sorry, T… and yes, she sounded demanding when we talked by phone yesterday”

Tina: “well, not only demanding, she was a real bitch, I can’t believe it”

Bette felt sorry for Tina; she knows that the reason why Tina left her was to fulfill her professional dreams, but again Bette reflected on how they reached that point… it’s not uncertain.  Bette remembers 8 years ago when they were in New York and Tina worked in a movie studio, while Bette was working half-time in the art gallery she and Kelly had in Los Angeles, how incomplete she felt, coming down from being a gallery owner, a museum director, to a part-time and long-distance art dealer, not to mention that she had to endure the sexual advances of her business partner every time she traveled to L.A. because of the gallery; of course she never told Tina about Kelly’s harassment, not even about that video recorded by Jenny when Kelly came to her house at night and Tina was in New York, ten years ago. It was hard, and due to all those reasons the brunette decided to look for another job then, which she found as commissioner of the Art Committee of Los Angeles city council; when she was selected, she decided to take it, making Tina resign to her job in New York to come with her to L.A. Bette never thought that one day Tina would do the same, but of course, Bette is not Tina, she’s not a quitter, she didn’t let Tina’s professional dreams to interfere with her own career, after all, sooner or later her beautiful wife would come back because she knew very well that Tina loved her…, until that miserable day after their divorce when the blonde told her that she was in love with another woman, that broke her, the brunette felt empty, and that emptiness was scarcely patched by a few lovers. Yes, she was hurt by her ex-wife behavior, she still is, but she understands her and she still loves her. Shyly Bette moved closer to her ex and moving her hand to the blonde’s shoulder she asked.

Los Angeles, Bette Porter’s house, 1:00 p.m.

Tina waited for a moment thinking to go back to Angie’s bedroom when she listened at Bette answering the phone call.

Bette: “Carrie, let me pass you with Tina”

Tina stopped on her feet and slowly walked toward the phone, but Bette didn’t see her coming from behind.

Carrie: “no, I wanted to talk with you”

Bette: (with a look of surprise on her face) “with me? Okay, what can I do for you?”

That was enough for Tina, in a split of a second she remembered what Carrie had done a few days ago when she called Helena to complain, and now she’s doing the same with Bette, no, Tina can’t believe it and can’t let this to happen again…, not with Bette; she advance to the phone and clicked in the microphone, Bette saw her and was doubting on keeping conversing with Carrie, but her ex made a motion with her hand asking her to continue.

Carrie: “look, Bette, I know that Angie is sick and I’m very sorry for her, but you and she have to understand that Tina and I are going to get married and soon and we’ll have our own life together, you can’t put all the weight of this in Tina’s shoulders, especially now that we have planned to move there…”

Carrie kept talking but Bette couldn’t understand what her point was.

Bette: “wait; hold on, may you, please, tell me what this is about?”

Carrie: “look, Bette, what I mean is that we all have to make sacrifices, I’m leaving my job and my relatives here to go along with Tina to LA, I think I’m doing more than enough to please her because she misses her daughter and she just got a big opportunity there; but Tina is going to be my wife, she won’t be there to run to you every time you have a problem or something goes wrong in your complicated and pity little life…”

Tina’s face was getting redder and angrier with each word Carrie was saying, and she couldn’t wait one second more, she took the phone from Bette’s hand.

Tina: “what the fuck, Carrie, what’s up with you? How you dare to talk to Bette in that way and to tell that shit, you’re an insensitive woman, don’t call here anymore…, oh, and I didn’t know that coming to LA was going to be a big sacrifice for you, all you told me was that big raise your company will give you to work in the LA branch; fuck, Carrie, I don’t know anymore who you are…”

Santa Monica Hospital – Los Angeles, March, Friday 13^th, 7:30 pm

Bette has parked her car and rushes toward the ER building, she has been crying in the way from the university, soon she sees Tina standing close to a nursing post with her face covered by her hands, presumably crying too; the brunette approached coming for behind.

Bette: “Tina…”

Tina turns around, her face is red and her eyes are swelling, definitely, she was crying and had her dress wet in the side.

Tina: “Bette, Angie’s very sick”

Bette: “where is she?”

Tina: “she’s in radiology; they are doing a chest x-ray right now”

Bette: “I want to see her”

Tina: “her nurse will let us know when she comes back, so you could see her”

Bette: “did you talk to the doctor?”

Tina: “yeah…, the doctor told me she has a very high temperature, she’s been vomiting and is congested”

Bette: “oh my God, how this happened, Tina?”

Tina: “I went to your house at six as we agreed, when she opened the door, I saw in her face that something wasn’t right, she said she was feeling tired and cold, when we were walking to the living room, she passed out, I brought her here immediately”

Bette: “was someone else with her?”

Tina: “I don’t think so, I didn’t see anybody”

It was then when Bette fixed her eyes in the wetted part of Tina’s dress

Bette: “what happened with your dress?”

Tina: (almost crying) “Angie was coughing and nauseous, she vomited at the door, I was holding her, I clean a little in the restroom, I wanted to change but I didn’t want to leave her alone”

Bette: “shit, she was vomiting; I need to know how she is now”

Tina: “they gave her an injection, she was a little better”

Bette: “oh lord…, Tina, do you have clothes here?”

Tina: “in the car…, can you wait for her while I’ll bring some clothes to change”

Bette: “sure”

Tina went to her car and brought a sweater and pants in a bag and went to the restroom to change, then she put her dirty clothes in the bag and returned to Bette’s side.

Tina: “any news?”

Bette: “they are bringing her in a few minutes”