“No she’s not” Eric walks away from Tina’s parents carrying the papers in one hand. He couldn’t force Tina to love him and he had finally accepted that. Bette was lucky and he knew it. He would personally deliver the papers right now and set Tina free.

For Bette and Tina the journey home was filled with a tense atmosphere. Neither spoke or made any attempt to speak. It was the same up until they got into the house. Bette had questions and Tina didn’t know how to answer them

“You ok?” Tina could only nod “I think we need to talk about what happened” Again Tina could only nod. Could she tell Bette the truth? What if Bette wasn’t attracted to her? “First I think we need to change into something more comfortable then have a strong drink” Both women change into something less formal before Bette opens a bottle of wine. She pours two glasses and gives one to Tina “So why did you kiss me?” Tina looks at Bette then back at her wine glass. What could she say to convince Bette it was just an innocent kiss even though it was Tina’s way of telling Bette what she had known since they had first met

“I needed my parents to know who I was” Bette could tell there was something more, something Tina didn’t want to admit

“Is that all it was? Something to prove to your parents you preferred women to men” Bette’s voice was laced with bitterness and Tina didn’t understand why

“They needed to get the picture that I’d never be happy with a man” Bette stands up hastily and moves away from the sofa where she had been sitting, her back to Tina so she couldn’t see the expressions on her face. Tina’s confessions were killing her. In the space of four days Bette Porter had fallen head over heels in love with Tina Kennard and here was the love of her life dismantling her heart piece by piece “I needed to show Eric that I didn’t love him” Bette didn’t move from her position

“You could have just told them without demonstrating” Tina didn’t understand why Bette was being so bitter or why she seemed upset, it wasn’t like Bette was in love with her or so she thought

“Why are you being like this?” Tina stands up and moves behind Bette, she wanted to know why Bette was acting the way she was

“I’m going to bed see you tomorrow” with that Bette went into her bedroom and had killed two birds with one stone. She had avoided the question and managed to get away from Tina. Tina is left stunned by Bette’s avoidance of her question; she would ask her again tomorrow when emotions weren’t running so high.

TBC…