Tina was still outside, sitting on the front steps, when Bette arrived 15 minutes later, take-out Chinese food in hand.

“I took a chance that you hadn’t eaten yet,” Bette said.

“I haven’t.” Tina stood up to greet her.

“Good. Because I forgot to eat lunch and I’m starving.”

Bette waited for Tina to open the front door, then followed her inside and into the kitchen. If she noticed the rose or the hastily unwrapped silk negligee sitting on the coffee table in the living room, Bette didn’t show it. Instead, she busied herself taking several cartons out of the bag and putting them on the counter.

“Thanks for bringing dinner,” Tina said, peeking over Bette’s shoulder to see what she was unpacking.

“I wasn’t sure what you might be craving so I went with the classics,” Bette said, angling the containers so Tina could see their contents.

“You must be starving-look at all of this food! You’ll be eating this stuff for a week.”

A few minutes later they were sitting at the dining room table, having dinner together for what Tina realized was the first time in nearly five months. It all felt so familiar, and yet everything was completely different. This amazingly beautiful woman next to her, this woman whose face and hands and body Tina knew as well as her very own, this woman with whom she had shared every intimacy of her heart and soul, had betrayed her. And no matter how familiar things might appear, they would never be the same as they once were. The finality of that thought chilled Tina, and she shivered against it.

“Are you cold, T? Can I get you a sweater?” Bette asked, leaning forward.

“No. I’mfine.”

They sat in silence for several minutes before Bette started the conversation she’d come there to have.

“So. About me moving in. What were you thinking in terms of time frame?”

“I hadn’t really thought about it. Whatever works with your lease is fine with me,” Tina shrugged.

“It’s an executive housing arrangement, so it’s very flexible. I could plan on being here within a week.”

Tina nodded. “We’ll need to get you a bed. There’s no real closet space in the study, so you can keep things in the bedroom if you want. And we can move one of the dressers. Put the desk in storage. Is there anything else you can think of?”

Bette considered Tina’s question for a while before meeting her gaze. “I know this is probably going to be awkward at first. But I’m really hoping that it will give us a chance tobe friends. Or at least start to be.”

“I honestly don’t know if I can do that Bette,” Tina said softly. “I’d like to be friends with you. I would. But first I need to stop feeling so hurt and so angry and sobroken. I haven’t been able to do that on my own. Maybe it’s something we have to do together, I don’t know. I do know that I need to have some kind of closure on this-on us-so I can move on with the rest of my life.”

“Fair enough,” Bette whispered, swallowing hard. “We’ll see what happens.”

“Okay,” Tina said, forcing a wan smile. “We’ll see.”