Bette : It has been almost a year now . I had to be here for daddy .

Bette’s eyes watered up . Seeing this , Tina reached out her hand and gave Bette’s hand a little squeeze . Bette gave her a small smile .

Tina : I heard . I am so sorry Bette .

Bette tried to rub off her teary eyes . She didn’t want to become all upset right now and end up crying and spilling out her pain to the only one person , she had needed at that sorrowful time in her life . Bette knew that Tina was the only one who could have eased her pain and comforted her .

Bette : Thanks Tee , it really means so much to me . But its ok now . I have made my peace with that fact . Anyways, coming back to the point of what I have been upto , Well not much actually . I have my own gallery now . After I came back from Europe , I realized that I was a little out of touch . I was , as they called ” off base ”   as far as the art world here is concerned . I had to get myself back into the game . But now it seems to be getting better . So its good . Now tell me about yourself . What have you been upto ?

Tina : Wow , ” The Bette Porter Gallery ” . Hmm……I like the sound of it . For some reason , I always knew that you could do so much better if you had your own gallery , like it was in the beginning . And I can see that , that definitely seems to be the case . I am really happy for you .

Tina smiled at Bette . Seeing that genuine smile , Bette felt her pride sore to the surface . Bette flashed her trade mark smile for Tina . All this success hadn’t meant anything to Bette . It just didn’t matter any more , now that Tina was not there with her to share the joy and happiness of her success . Bette was really feeling very happy right now . It seemed like it had been a long time since , someone who really mattered to her , was acknowledging and appreciating her work progress . She was on Cloud Nine .