“Sure am T..na..I mean! *****, where did that come from?!

We arrived at the restaurant and were taken to my favourite table. The waiter, Antonio, brought across a bottle of the red I usually drink and I offered it to Tina to taste. She looked suitably impressed by the setting and the service and praised the choice of wine.

“Bette, this is beautifulnot just the wineeverything!”

She smiled at me and my heart soaredI knew I was falling for her in a big way and was doing very little to resist the feelingI wanted to tell her things I’ve never wanted to share with anyone, do things I’ve never thought about doing or wanted toeven bowlingalthough I secretly prayed that she had a similar irrational aversion to bowling as I did. I looked into her eyes and started to speak, to begin to tell her about me the REAL Bette Porter and find out every last detail of her life when Antonio bounded back over.

“Are you lovely ladies ready to order”

Without conferring or even discussing the menu in front of us, we both chimed “I’ll have the Spinach and Ricotta lasagne” Our eyes met and nervous laugher bubbled from our mouths “With a green salad”

The waiter walked away, slightly perturbed whilst we laughed in amazement at our choicePorter this girl is for you, you fit each others mindsthere’s no way she’ll like bowling! I wonder if we’ll fit together in another way..wow, out of the gutter now and back to the table!

The conversation moved on and Tina broached a subject I wasn’t expecting

“Bette, can I tell you something important?” She waited for my nod and then continued, “The reason I didn’t get in touch with you straight away was not because I didn’t want to or because I wasn’t sure about my attraction to you but because of my need to be honest with Eric…” she paused and I offered my reassurance

“Tina, that’s perfectly understandable but you don’t have to explain yourself to me”

“Bette, honesty and fidelity are two very important things to meI couldn’t bear the thought of dating you and you not knowing about Eric, or Eric not know about you so I had to make a choice and although I’m so glad I chose to date you, I need you to know this. I’ve been hurt really badly in the past by an ex lover who cheated on me and flirted with other girls constantly. I can’t go through that again and I can’t put anyone else through thatthat’s why I didn’t callI needed to be honest with myself and EricI hope this isn’t getting too heavy because I don’t mean it to but I just want you to know that if we are going to date properly then I’ll only be dating you and if you want to date me properly then you’ll be honest with me and stick with just meI can’t bear to be hurt like that again.”