“Then finally, to my relief, we got to the end of that film project, right around the time you had flown to Dubai.  After that strange FaceTime session when you were in Dubai, I decided to head to the bar of the hotel most of the crew were billeted in.  Scott and the actors were put up in a different hotel.  But when I got to the bar, I found that they were all having a drink in our hotel.”

Tina took a breath, “I joined the group for a while, and then decided to sit out in the bar by myself.” Both the truth and facts now.

“I really didn’t feel like socializing… I had been with all of them all day, already.  I wanted to be by myself for a while.  I was really missing you, and just wanted to be out in Dubai with you, instead of in cold Toronto.  I was tired, cold, lonely, and, for all intents and purposes, depressed.”

“I was thinking to myself that, damn, this wasn’t a new scene for me.  That I had been in one too many bars by myself ever since Paris, staring into the empty end of one too many glasses, clinking the ice, wondering, “What am I doing here?  What’s happening to us? Where is she?, over and over again.”

Tina paused, and drank the remaining coffee in her cup.  Bette pursed her lips, while half-smiling at the same time, in that unique facial expression Tina had once found endearing.

“Once again, Scott interrupted my reverie.  He was finishing his own drink, and about to get another. He asked what I was having, and signaled to the barkeep to give another one to me.”

Boyfriend?

No, girlfriend.

Really?  I did not see that!

Well, now you know.  (Pause) And thanks for the drink.

Where is she?

Good question.  Tonight…Dubai, I guess.  But it might as well be London, Milan, or some other place.

Hmmm….tough.

Yup. (Draining my drink.) 

Tina recalled parts of the exchange, but decided to summarize it to Bette.  “After chatting a bit, I finished my drink, and began to head out of the bar.”

“I was semi-conscious of the fact that he had been hitting on me ever since production resumed with him as director.  But, I thought, to his credit, he had delivered on the promise I made to the senior guys in Film Features that we would get it done before February, and we were just about done.  Miraculously ahead of schedule. So I tolerated all of that, managing it the best I could.  I reasoned to myself, he hadn’t been any different from many other guys in the past who had hit on me on set, during meetings, etc.  That was part of the life; part of the stuff you had to put up with in this industry.”