Tina moved about the room humming “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas”, and Bette watched drowsily as she pinned her hair up loosely and applied a liberal glop of face cream to her skin, dabbing it around her eyes especially. Tina cheerfully draped her robe on a chair nearby, still humming, and Bette suddenly felt a little more awake when she saw Tina was wearing a red slip of a thing, but then she reached for one of her electronic gadgets – this one was called a tablet – and climbed into bed. Still humming.

Bette let her eyes close. Technology is the murderer of romance, she mused to herself. Just as well, she thought. She was a little too tired tonight, anyway. She could hear Tina tapping away on the screen but at least the humming had subsided a bit. Then she began to murmur little phrases as, Bette presumed, she looked through her calendar.

“Maybe the 22nd… Hanukkah will be over by then… going to need to charter something, I am not flying commercial… Need to check up on the script, they are taking way too long…” More tapping. All the while humming little snatches of that grating song.

Patience, Bette counseled herself. The key to success in every relationship is patience. Bette had nearly dozed off in spite of Tina’s monologue but when she began to whisper-sing Jingle Bells, Bette’s carefully woven thread of patience snapped.

“Let me know if I’m bothering you by trying to sleep,” she said without opening her eyes.

“Oh,” Tina giggled. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was doing it.”

Bette doubted that very much, but didn’t say so. “It’s alright. I had a long day. Longer one coming up tomorrow.”

“Sorry.” There was a pause. More tapping. “My holiday bonus came through.”

“That’s good,” Bette said, suppressing a yawn.

“It’s better than good. The studio did great this year. I’m going to put all of it into Angie’s trust.”

“That’s nice.”

“She deserves it.”

“Mmhmm.”

“I’ll let you sleep.” Tina leaned over and kissed the corner of Bette’s mouth that wasn’t buried in the pillow and for a moment Bette was enveloped in the smell of Tina’s shampoo, her lotion, and her too expensive face cream. It was comforting, familiar. Bette was drifting off into dreamland with a little smile on her lips but before she got there Tina said her name.