“Mom, you know when you’re in love, you can’t really sleep when you’re not together?”

“Sure, honey.”

“Then why did you put Bette in another room?”

“I wasn’t sure you would want to sleep with her in your girl’s room and I wasn’t sure if you’d want to sleep in your girl’s room at all, you know, the teenage memories and your father… Maybe you wanted to sleep there for old times’ sake, but not with Bette. If you want to sleep there with Bette, I am very confident that she will sneak to your room at night. If you don’t want to sleep there, I’m confident that you will sneak into Bette’s room at night.”

“Why didn’t you just ask me what I wanted?”

“I’m just a silly old woman with her silly old ways sometimes.”

Tina knew there was more to it, but decided to let it rest. She gave her mother a hug and went in search of her girlfriend, who was in her girl’s room. She had been there before and was again standing in front of the book rack. She turned when Tina appeared in the doorway. It was amazing how they felt one another’s presence. 

Bette smiled. “It’s so interesting to see the books you read when you were a teenager. Certainly not the typical stuff. But there are some gaps in here, you didn’t tell me why last time.”

“Obviously because I took some books with me when I moved out and went to college.”

“Why didn’t you take these.”

Tina tried to shrug it off, but couldn’t stop her tears. “They remind me of my dad. A lot.” The blonde went to sit down on her old bed, taking in the room once again. Bette hesitated and then joined her there, wrapping an arm around her, pulling her closer.

“It’s okay, Tina. It’s normal that you miss him. I’m not going to claim that I understand – I don’t. You know I don’t have a very good relationship with my dad and you sure as hell know why. But you can cry, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I just… my dad always wanted me to be happy and he would always do everything for that to happen. Whenever I had an idea for a hobby, however expensive, dirty or downright disastreous, he would support me. There’s so much he’s missing out on – me becoming a teacher and loving it, falling in love again after Eric, with the most beautiful person. The thought that he won’t give me away at my marriage…”