Collision Course – 4.06

Tina

            “I never realized how much stuff I had,” smiled Tina shyly.  The prospect of living somewhere other than this house hung over her heavily.  Buying a house, having Henry insist that they do it together, Tina was finding that she was losing what little control over her life that she’d finally fought so hard for.

            “Did the closing on the house go well?” asked Bette.  Pushing another box into the living room, where Shane would more than likely pick it up, and deposit it into the U-Haul.

            “Yeah, it did.  All signed and sealed,” said Tina, a tinge of regret in her voice.

            “Where do you want me to bring this?” asked Alice, who was holding the smallest box in the room, pretending it weight a ton instead of three pounds. 

            Tina gave Bette a look, rolling her dark eyes, making Bette snicker behind a cupped hand.  Their friends theatrics were becoming legendary, crying jags on air, hitting on every woman in the room, then blowing them all off. 

            “Um, in the U-Haul is good,” smiled Tina, watching Alice very carefully with her dark eyes.  Seeing just how secluded inside of herself Alice really was when she was with everyone else.

            “Right, the U-Haul,” muttered Alice.

            “She’s not doing to good, since Lara left, is she?” asked Tina.

            “No,” answered Bette. 

            “She misses her,” said Jenny from behind a door, walking into the living room, “But she certainly won’t tell Lara that her moving to New York was a bad idea.  She won’t tell her that she loves her,” added Jenny.

            “Unbelievable,” sighed Shane.  “We shouldn’t be meddling.”

            “Hmmm, maybe if we’d meddled, you wouldn’t have left the love of your life at the alter,” reminded Jenny with a knowing look.  The room went silent for a long moment.

            Shane left the room, and Tina watched Bette packing another box, thinking sometimes the things left unsaid were the most important things that should have been said.

*****

            Tina was sitting at her desk, trying, with no luck, to make heads or tails out of the newest list of book that they were attempting to make into either mini series or movies.  Harlequin Peabody knocked on her door.  Long blonde hair, tied up in an always tight severe ponytail or bun, green piercing eyes that seemed to be able to ferret out a lie more quickly than a lie detector.  In the business world, Harlequin was known as ‘Ice’.