She didn’t realize she’d dozed off until she gradually woke.. And then she was reluctant to move. Someone was shaking her and calling her name.

When Kate had called her, Helena had left the office in search of Tina,because she was not answering her cell. Helena decided to try her house first. The front door was locked, she went around the back and tried every sliding glass door until she found one that was open. She found Tina in her bedroom,lying across the wide bed, her shoes were on the floor,toes pointing toward the bed, as though she’d stepped out of them and lain down in one movement. She was curled into a fetal ball, her knees drawn up,head bent so drasticly that her chin almost touched her chest.

Helena said nothing, she went straight to the bed and sat down. Leaning over Tina ,she stroked her hair. For a moment Tina lay there unmoving. Then she rolled to her back and gazed up at Helena through the darkness. “Kate told me that both Henry and Bette was in your office today. And they both left angry. And ten minutes after you left without telling her where you were going. -After you failed to return to the office ,she got worried about you and called me.___are you OK?, please talk to me Tina …I’ve been worried about you.”

Helena’s heart twisted with remorse when she saw that Tina’s eyes were swollen from crying. There were smudges of watered-down mascara beneath her lower lashes. Her lips looked bruised. “What the hell did Henry or Bette do to you? What did they say to you? I could strangle those two. ”

Tina’s answer was a long time in coming. “I’ve been so confused”

“About what?”

“About what’s going on inside of me, what I’m feeling”

“Feeling?”

She lifted tear-laden eyes and looked straight into Helena’s eyes. “Feeling for Bette”

“What’s this feeling like?” Helena asked softly.

“I think you know”

“Give me a hint”

“When I’m around her , I can’t think clearly. I always make a fool of myself.”

“You!” ___Helena said smiling__make a fool of yourself___never!”

‘It’s true, I had everything under control until she came along. Now I’m always flustered and unsure and I don’t know why.” .Tina made an impatient gesture . “I can’t explain how I feel. I keep telling her to stay away, but I don’t want her to. Even with Henry, I was always thinking about Bette. Henry wasn’t the only one unfaithful in the relationship, Helena, because in my heart and in my mind I was always unfaithful to him.____I don’t want to love her Helena, but I do.”