Jenna caught the exchange. She stood up also, as Bette stood.

She hesitated then gave Bette a quick kiss on the cheek.

“I’m sorry about earlier, Bette.”

Bette gave her a small smile.

“I’ll be in touch, Jenna.”

She pulled her roller up behind her and began heading towards an impatient Diane. After taking several steps, she turned and asked the redhead, “I hope we can find a way to be friends? I hold nothing but good memories of London, your mom, and everything about that time.”

Jenna smiled back at her, “We will. ”

She laughed lightly, “We’re smart enough, aren’t we?”

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“Spill,” Diane said curtly as they took the escalator down, after exiting the “Clubhouse.”

Bette gave her a sideways glance, and smiled, “Not an old girlfriend, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Diane frowned, “So new girlfriend?”

“Diane!”

They got to the floor that the departure gate was on and started walking rapidly to the gate.

“I went to London after I left Acapulco. The year Tina and I were apart, when we broke up. After Tina told me about Scott…”

Diane pursed her lips, and nodded her understanding.

“I met Jenna in the Tate Museum a few days after I got there, and although I had only planned to stay in London for a week, I ended up staying for over a month.”

They got to the gate, and Bette and Diane lined up in the First Class line, and then handed their boarding passes to the flight attendant.

As they walked down the jetway, Bette continued, “We found we had lots of common interests. I was dazzled by her intellect, too. And also got along really well with her mom, who was a respected writer. All in all, it was a good time for me to be around Jenna, her mom, their circle. I was emotionally tapped out, and being around them was very stimulating intellectually, and engaged the arts side of me, too.”

Diane was frowning as she listened, and said nothing as they entered the plane, and walked to their seats. A flight attendant helped them store their rollers, and offered them something to drink as they sat on their seats.

Finally, she asked, turning to face Bette, “All I want to know is: does Tina know her or of her?”

Bette nodded, “Yeah, I told Tina about everyone and everything I did the year we were apart.”

Diane was unconvinced, “Does she know how Jenna seems to carry a torch for you, still?”

Bette sighed, and said nothing.

“Or that she’s a stunning redhead?”

“Who would have sex with you if you so much as winked at her funny?”

Bette looked sideways at her, “I get it. I’ll go over all that with Tina when we return to New York, alright?”

She sighed again, “Not something I’d like to explain over the phone or even FaceTime.”

Diane pulled a magazine from the leather pouch in front of her, and began flipping through the pages roughly. She took a big gulp of the champagne the flight attendant had brought over, and drank almost half of it.

Bette pursed her lips, as Diane turned again to face her, “Bette, Tina will soon be officially pregnant. With your baby. That’s an amazing thing. You have got to …”

Bette interrupted her, “Diane, I know. I know, alright?”

She faced forward, and drank her champagne reflectively, “I’ve mishandled incidents before, and it really upset Tina.”

She glanced over at Diane, again, and said evenly, “I’d much rather be with her when I talk to her about this. I know she can be fragile …”

“Especially now, Bette,” Diane answered, not backing down.

“No one is more protective of her, Diane. Especially now,” Bette said, draining her drink as the captain announced he was about to back the plane out of the departure gate.

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