“You’re not going into work?” Tina asks.

“No, not today. I took the day off, and then I am only going to work for 4 days, then I took out vacation.” Bette says.

“For how long?” Tina asks.

“As long as I want to.” Bette replies with a smile. “At least not until your school year starts up again. One of the privileges I have by owning my own business.” Bette says.

“So I have you close by for two months?” Tina asks with a grin.

“You do, if you want to.” Bette says. “Maybe we could go on a trip somewhere?” Bette asks.

“I’d love that. But where?” Tina asks.

“I don’t know, where do you want to go?” Bette asks.

“I don’t know, maybe California?” Tina suggests.

“I’d love to go there, visit Alice and Dana, I’ve been meaning to go over there for some time now, looking for a gallery space.” Bette says.

“You have? Why haven’t you gone?” Tina asks.

“Meeting you, the accident and everything that followed… I just didn’t want to leave you for two weeks. So I just stayed here, with you.” Bette says and smiles.

“I’ve been okay now for almost 6 months, you could’ve gone sometime then?” Tina says.

“I could, I just forgot. I would much rather spend my time with you here than 2000 miles away.” Bette says.

“Okay, but we could go now then? Perhaps stay a few weeks?” Tina asks.

“We could stay for a month or more… There’s one more thing I’d like to talk to you about.” Bette says, suddenly becoming a little shy.

“What?” Tina asks, noticing the change in demeanor from Bette.

“I was thinking about… that I could, or we could… because what’s mine is yours and so on… That we could buy a house out there, that we could go house shopping while we’re there. What do you say?” Bette asks.

“Buy a house? Why now? We’re not moving there for at least another year.” Tina says.

“Good point, but, if we are serious about moving there when you are finished with school, we have to have a place there. And with me opening a new gallery there, I need to go there a lot the coming year. Overseeing renovations and so on. Opening the gallery will take a long time.” Bette starts. Tina listens.

“And also, I don’t like hotel rooms. I would much more prefer my own bed to sleep in. It makes sense to me, to buy a house there.” Bette says.

“How much time do you need to spend there?” Tina asks.

“I don’t know right now, but I’d say, from the time I used to get this gallery I have here in Philly up and running, I would need to be there for at least one week every month. Sometimes, maybe even longer. So because of that, I would want a house.” Bette replies.

“So much time away from here, I miss you already.” Tina says with a soft smile as she leans in and gives Bette a soft kiss.