“Thank you, Thank you Tina!, “ William fairly shouted, clapping his hands.  “And Bette, thank you, too!  I know this would not have happened without your calmness there in the background…I’ll never forget it.  And I promise I’ll take care of our girl over here, the same way you are obviously taking care of her back there at home.” 

“Okay…I have your word on that William,” Bette said. 

“You do,” William responded, in a more serious tone. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

As Bette and Tina continued to relax into their breakfast, talking about the honeymoon that was finally coming up, Bette was hesitating about Arvind’s suggestion to take a trip to Hyderabad. She felt that the last thing either of them wanted was to mix a business trip with the delayed honeymoon. 

But Tina seemed open.  “So is it near where we’re planning to go?” 

Bette’s plan was for them to spend a week in Bhutan, followed by a trek to Mt Everest base camp in Nepal, and a few days in a resort by one of the pristine lakes in Nepal, then a week being pampered in one of the five star resorts in the Maldives. 

“Hmmm…not exactly, baby.  But we can swing it, and still be on schedule…” 

“I’m okay with that, if you think we can manage it,” Tina said, as she mopped up the last bits of the whip cream with her last slice of the waffle on her plate. 

“But, T, the last thing I want is to start a romantic honeymoon and holiday that we’ve been postponing with a meeting about a prospective investment that George and I could do…” Bette protested, as she worked through her own waffle.  Tina was always finishing ahead of her whenever they ate anything.  Like that time in the garden of the Notre Dame, when Tina wanted to eat some of Bette’s glace’, having finished her own glace’.  When Tina leaned over to lick some of the ice cream, Bette had unknowingly opened her mouth at the same time –and the combination of Tina leaning over and Bette opening her mouth led to their first passionate kiss… 

Tina was finishing her cappuccino, smiling back fondly at Bette, eyeing the spots of cream from the waffle and foam from the cappuccino sitting on Bette’s upper lip.  I wonder if I should come over and lick those off her lip, just like that glace’ in the Notre Dame garden…