Eyes still shuttered, Bette murmured, “I just realized that we haven’t spent a night apart since “family night.”

Tina had polished off her glace’, and decided to snuggle closer to Bette.  Bette absent-mindedly lifted her arm, which allowed Tina to scoot closer to her, to rest her head on the “nook” formed in the space  below Bette’s collarbone, and above her chest.  Tina shut her eyes also, and let Bette’s arm fall across her chest, enjoying the warm embrace.

Tina corrected the brunette,  “well, actually it’s been since the night in the gallery.”

“Yeah! You’re right!,” Bette opened her eyes lazily, nodding her head.  Her thoughts reflected on events following ”family night”.

Bette opened her eyes to glance down at the top of Tina’s hair.  She smiled.  Yes, it had been four eventful nights thus far, not counting the overnight flight to Paris.  Mostly, they slept in the same bed, at times holding each other, but, in spite of  the intense physical attraction they felt for the other, either exhaustion from the day’s events, or the emotional toll of Tina’s break-up with Eric, had combined to form an invisible “wall” to ward off temptation on either side.  Admittedly, it had been difficult for Bette to drift back to sleep whenever she felt Tina’s warm thigh flung across her own, or when she felt the blonde’s backside pressed against her core.  In her sleep, Tina also liked to cuddle, unconsciously seeking body warmth by pressing close to Bette.

Bette noticed that eventually, even if Tina slept on the opposite side of the enormous California king-size bed in Bette’s bedroom, Tina would eventually roll–over to her side to ”spoon,” by wrapping her arms around Bette, and often throwing a leg across her.    On the overnight flight to Paris, their seats had stretched out into beds, and Tina had managed to at least hug Bette’s arm, in her sleep. 

Bette had never gone through a stretch of interrupted sleep like this, night-after-night, in her life.   Yet, she felt content.

Now relaxed with Tina in the  gardens behind the Notre Dame, Bette resumed  licking off the last bits of the hazelnut and pistachio combo that she’d picked out in the Berthillon café scoop shop. Tina had sat up, in the meantime, and spied a clump of ice cream sitting on Bette’s lips.  She eyed it hungrily; Bette really was taking her time with her cone!