Bette touched Tina on the shoulder and said, ‘hey, where did you go just now?’

‘Just wondering where to begin.’

* * * * *

Tina looked around the garden and thought they should get rid of all the weeds first.  She handed Bette a pair of gloves and a container.  Bette looked at her like a child waiting to be told exactly what to do.  Tina said, ‘the gloves are to protect your hands (those hands she thought) and the container is for the weeds.’

‘What if I pull up the wrong thing?’

‘It’ll be fine Bette, just pull up anything that looks out of place.’

‘I look out of place.’

‘Yes you do but’

Tina reached for a hand full of soil and smeared it on Bette’s chin.

‘Now you fit right in.’

They both smiled and started to work.  Tina realized she would have to be the one to get the conversation started.  She hated seeing Bette so cautious about every word, every move.

‘I wonder if having so much trouble getting pregnant, the stress and disappointment caused things to deteriorate.’

‘No, Tina that’s not why I’

‘Friends Bette, we’re two friends talking.’

‘Right.  Right.  Just give me a minute.’

‘Calm down Bette, this isn’t easy for either of us.  We just need to find a rhythm.’

‘All right, is that when you first felt things change?’

‘Not really, you?’

‘No.’

‘Was it when I quit work?’

‘I think we had both let things become routine, we had gotten complacent with things.’

‘You mean *****?’

‘Not just that, we stopped making time for each other, for us.’

‘You were so busy; we both were with our jobs.’

‘We were both busy when we met, that never stopped us.’

‘We had to make time in the beginning, we didn’t live together, we never would have seen each other.’

‘Even after we started living together we still made time for each other.  We were both late for work quite a bit back then.’

They both grinned at the memory.  Bette couldn’t believe Tina still blushed and couldn’t help but tease her just a little.

‘You’re blushing, after all this time?  Remember when Alice used to say it was because you were just a shy little straight girl?’