Tina continued to stare out the window, as Bette slowed down to transition East on the 111.   She had felt Bette’s occasional gazes.  She turned with the most recent one and gave Bette a rise smile reaching out to find Bette’s hand meeting hers. Tina continued to ponder all that had been going on between she and Bette over the last few months.  Not to her surprise, Bette had begun opening up.  Therapy covered many aspects of their relationship, but communication was the thing they focused on the most. For the first time since they began living in the same home, Bette had started to talk about the divorce, her mother and what had happened in New York with Kelly Wentworth. They had sorted through a great deal of emotional baggage that had stored up when their relationship had gone south, but some things needed the intimacy and privacy that therapy couldn’t give them. Every divorce has its own story, and each had their own perspective. They were now talking about the finer details, the emotions, the heartbreak and what they wanted their future to look like together. Angie would be leaving home, launching into her own life soon enough. They would be left with each other. The increased freedom and independence that comes with the post child rearing stage of their relationship would allow them to resume their journey as only a couple. They would be finding themselves at a time when divorce rates were at the highest; trying to explore new avenues and new roles that would put their relationship as the priority and on a solid foundation.  Together a choice had been made to reconcile, to follow their hearts. Tina and Bette were no longer seeing their relationship as just about making each other happy. It was now about whether they could walk through the tough times with each other instead of struggling alone. They were willing to do the work to find the happiness and for each to be able to re-discover that special something in their relationship that kept pulling them back together. 

Two hours later, Bette turned onto Tamarisk Road entering the Movie Colony.  The next few turns had them pulling into their mini-estate and home for the next week.