***

Alice was trying to be a friend to Tina but she was really having a problem with the revelation that Tina’s interest had suddenly turned back to men. She understood being attracted to both genders but for Alice it was more about the person than the gender. In her relationships she wanted and expected the same things from a man as from a woman so she couldn’t relate to Tina’s feelings that being with a man; just any man was going to make her life less complicated or more fulfilling than being with the person she loved.

Tina had admitted to Alice that she was seeing Josh that evening. Alice could blame it on the liquor she’d consumed, but it was likely her annoyance with Tina that provoked the slip of the tongue. Even though it was only a week since she and Bette separated Tina had decided to immediately confront the personal feelings that she’d been harboring for Josh Becker. Alice tried to talk Tina into taking some time on her own to really think about her situation before jumping into an affair with Josh. She even suggested that maybe Tina should make an appointment with Dan Foxworthy the renowned therapist to figure out where these ‘feelings’ were coming from. What Alice really abhorred was the eventuality that Tina’s infatuation with Josh was nothing more than a sex thing that she would regret. Knowing that Bette had left the door open for a reconciliation only if Tina didn’t act on these feelings Alice tried her best to convince her friend not to be impulsive and careless but apparently Tina couldn’t control it.

Tina wouldn’t even consider anything Alice had advised. She didn’t want to wait; she didn’t want therapy; she just wanted Josh. Tina made arrangements to meet Josh at the same bar where she’d met Alice a few weeks prior. She knew that by being with Josh she was risking any chance of a reconciliation with Bette but she had to find out for herself if the ‘feelings’ for Josh was purely sexual. She knew she was being too cavalier about the whole thing but if nothing else Josh would serve as Tina’s jumping off place as she navigated her way back to ‘hetero-ville’ which was the way she and Alice referred to being in a heterosexual relationship.