”Bette… why didn’t you just tell me what was going on back then. I mean, I know things were bad between us, but…”

”I tried, but you were so far out of my reach by then.” Bette looked down, ”The only time we did not argue was when we discussed Angie and we were both always guarded.”  Bette shook her head, ”You weren’t around to see what happened.  It was all over by the time you got back from shooting your movie.”  With bitterness in her tone, Bette said, ”All you saw was the payout for the Gallery and your response to that when I brought it up was, you were fine with whatever I did, it was my thing.”

Tina looked down at her glass of wine swirling it around as she tried to collect her thoughts. She knew Bette was speaking the truth. It was a difficult time and she had put a blind eye to everything that was going on with Bette. Understanding Bette’s hesitancy at the time, Tina could feel the regret flood her mind. What she said next, she knew would be very important to their relationship, to their continued effort to build a strong and open partnership. Tina took in a deep breath. ”Yes, I can see how it would have been hard to approach me with this, especially…” Tina sighed, ”It was such a difficult time for both of us, but I would like to think that I would have listened to you, believed you. I mean,” Tina paused not sure how to say what she knew that Bette did not know she knew, ”I knew Kelly had tried something with you in Los Angeles when I was in New York on business… and that Jenny thought she saw something between you two.”

Bette shifted and caught Tina’s soft hazel eyes staring back at her. ”How…?”

”Kit told me. She and I had lunch just before we had left for New York.” Tina paused, ”She asked all kinds of things trying to find out if you had told me.” Tina gave Bette a sad smile, ”I wish you had.” Tina paused and took a slow sip of her wine. ”Anyways, she told me. She was taking care of you, of us, even back then.” Bette’s eyes began to well as she stared in shock at Tina. ”I knew you would never cheat on me again. Even with my warped way of thinking, I knew you would never break the promise you made to me that night Angie got sick or your vows.” Tina paused, ”There were times back then that I wished you would have cheated, because it would have given my anger towards you validation.”