“Oh. Is she OK? Is she waiting for you in a safe place?” Bette asked concerned for her young friend.

“Yeah. She’s safe. She’s waiting for me at that seafood restaurant near our home. As a matter fact she suggested we have dinner before heading home. Did you make any dinner plans for us tonight?”

“No, I was waiting for you. Why don’t you go ahead and have dinner with Shane. Angie and I will have something delivered. We’ll see you when you get home. I love you baby.”

“I love you too. OK I’ll see you in a couple of hours then.”

“OK. Drive carefully.”

***

When Tina got to the restaurant Shane was waiting outside. She told Shane to go in and get a table while she parked the car. They had a nice dinner and caught up with each other. She really loved this restaurant and the fact that it was so close to the beachfront home. They’d finished all the renovations but had yet to move in. They had most of it furnished and so far they were sticking to the plan to move in once Angie finished 2nd grade which would be in about 6 months. They were also using that time for Bette to get the gallery up and running.

Shane and Tina finished dinner and were on the way to West Hollywood. As they were driving by Bette and Tina’s beach house Shane told Tina she thought she saw lights on in the upper level. Tina had been concentrating on the road and hadn’t noticed. It would be strange for lights to be on at this time of the evening especially since the gallery was closed. She made a U-turn and went back to check.

Sure enough lights were on and Bette’s car was parked in one of their designated spots. When she’d spoken to Bette a couple of hours earlier she’d assumed that she was at the house in West Hollywood. It seemed strange that Bette wouldn’t tell her that she was at the beach house especially since she knew Tina was in the neighborhood with Shane. Tina asked Shane if she could wait by the car for her while she went upstairs for a minute. She trusted Bette implicitly but she didn’t want to walk into an embarrassing situation with Shane in tow. Shane said no problem she would just have a cigarette and window shop in the stores nearby while she waited.