"Right." Tina just nodded and side stepped the last part for later, "But you know we can always wait until tomorrow to…"

"I’m afraid I might lose my nerve in the light of day." Bette huffed out honestly.

……………………

Tina went out onto the back porch first. She really did love Carmen and Shane but they were exhausting wanting to know about everything and anything they missed out on. Tina sat down on the double rocker and just listened. The easy silence of the South is what made these trips enjoyable. San Francisco is a beautiful city but sometimes when you need silence and tranquility you have to go too far out to find it. Even then it feels barrowed and by leaving it to go back to the noise and hustle of the city you have to give it back. But here it belonged to you, and you could take it all in with no apologies. Bette saw Tina rocking in the chair almost listless, but she knew it was the trip catching up to her.

She walked over to her and purposely put her foot in Tina’s way, forcing her to open her eyes. They smiled at one another. Tina patted the spot next to her and Bette happily accepted. She sat down easily almost to shy to even look at Tina. This mad Tina smile as she took Bette’s hand and brought it over to her thigh, softly running her fingers across Bette’s fingers. "Talk to me Baby."

Bette look to Tina’s hand touching hers and it made her sad, the first lump in her throat stole her voice, but she composed herself. "I’m scared Tee." she bit her bottom lip and continued. "Everything feels like it’s falling apart. And I can’t stop it." She was looking straight ahead, she couldn’t look at Tina just yet. "Daddy’s on dialysis. It doesn’t seem like he’s going to get any better. His kidneys are almost shot to shit. And maybe, just maybe his other daughter could be a match for him."

"Other daughter? Bette you never told me…"

"I didn’t know either." Bette said playing with Tina’s baby finger. She shook her head and continued, "Momma knew. He said they were going to tell us when we were older, but that just took a back burner to everything that happened, ya know." She felt Tina brush back her hair and it caused her to close her eyes tight to keep from falling into the touch. "Before he left for Cuba, he was involved with a woman, and he didn’t find out until after he left that she was pregnant. She left before he could get back to her. So, I have an older sister out there somewhere. Katrina or something, I don’t know." Bette sounded so cold and hurt.