Oh, Tina.  Still wooing her with romance. 

I love you, Tina mouthed, with a warm smile, and then leaned forward to give Bette a quick kiss. 

“I just wanted to call to offer my congratulations on your wedding, again” Arvind was saying, as Bette held Tina’s chin, to keep her from pulling back quickly, and to lengthen their kiss. 

Silence from Bette.  After a beat, Arvind said, “Hello, hello?  Bette can you hear me?” 

Tina gently pulled the brunette’s hand from her chin, shaking her head and smiling.  She walked around Bette to take her seat, as Bette smiled ruefully. 

“Hi…yes, Arvind I can hear you.  There was a …um…slight break in the connection there.  Sorry,” she responded, reluctantly moving to her side of the table, to similarly take a seat. 

“I was just saying congratulations,” Arvind repeated. 

“Yes…yes…thanks very much.  We got your gift…so generous, Arvind!  You really didn’t need to,” Bette was saying. 

Arvind cut in, “No.. please, Bette, it was my pleasure.  I’m sorry, again, that I wasn’t able to make it to the wedding itself.  Even Mark told me it was the most moving and heartfelt wedding he had ever attended.  And you know Mark!" 

They shared a laugh.  Mark was a quintessential Wall Street financier, tough as nails, unsentimental, hard-driving.  By some miracle, he and Bette became close over time, as his respect for her grew, and as he began to understand why George relied so much on her, and continued to retain her as his key adviser even after she’d been away for a year.  Although George had agreed to drastically reduce her day-to-day involvement in George’s business upon her return, Mark himself regularly sought Bette’s advice before heading out for a trip abroad for meetings with potential firms or other business interests that they were targeting.  Like George, he now felt better about things once he’d gone over a proposal or the agenda of a meeting with a potential target with Bette. 

“Well…Tina and I hope you’ll make it here to New York some time, and visit with us, Arvind.  You’re welcome to come by anytime, you know that.”  Tina nodded in agreement, as she sipped the cappuccino Bette had prepared for her.  Delicious! 

Bette had acquired a real skill as a barista, getting more practice making cappuccino given that she now had more time to spend at home.  She’d also begun to pick up skills in other areas, such as mixing tea leaves that the brunette would purchase directly from wholesalers around New York.   At first, it was Tina who had been more interested in doing things in the kitchen, but, as all the frenetic activity of the reconstruction of their home ended, as well as of the wedding that followed months after the memorable Valentine’s Day party they’d hosted, Bette filled out the block of free time that opened up in her day by “puttering about,” as she called it, in the kitchen also.