Tina’s eyes fluttered open, “Oh, no.  That’s terrible!"

Bette nodded, “Yeah, Kit doesn’t have much, in terms of what happened, but she said Shane had helped Joel pack a van, and he drove off with Jacques watching.  Sad-faced, it seemed.”

“Oh, Bette!, That’s really sad to hear,” Tina was slowly waking up now.  “They seemed really happy together.  Remember when they came over for Valentine’s, and they performed this really romantic piece for us later that night?   It was just perfect for that night.  And then their performance later at the wedding service?  Their “Pie Jesu” moved everyone to tears, I think.”

“I know…I know….Hard to imagine that a partnership like that, that produces music that can only be described as heavenly, can come apart, right?,” Bette said, shaking her head.

She and Tina digested the sad news a few minutes longer.  Then Bette added, “I asked Kit to see if she could check on Jacques.”

“He must be devastated,” she commented.

Tina sat up, “Jacques? What about Joel? He was the one who obviously moved out.  He must be struggling right now.  Who knows whether or where he’s found a place to stay?  At least Jacques has a roof over his head.”  Her cheeks were turning pink, bothered for some reason that Bette had not mentioned anything, as yet, about Joel.

Bette smiled as she slowly sat up also.  She picked up Tina’s hand and rubbed it against her face.

“T…I’m just sharing what Kit said…of course we’ll need to also find out how Joel is,” she said, trying to soothe the blonde, who was suddenly hot about something.

“Um…was that what went through your head, being worried about me and what may have happened to me that Saturday…when we broke up?,” Bette asked while gently turning the hand she was holding against her face, and kissing Tina’s palm. Tina’s emotions about their break-up several years ago sometimes lay just beneath the surface, Bette thought.  She, Tina, and Dan had talked about Tina still feeling residual guilt, but that it would resolve itself, in time.

Tina smiled ruefully, “Yeah..yeah…I was frantic that day, Bette.”

She swallowed as the memories of the day came flooding back, “You walked away from me, and then literally just dropped out of sight. Disappeared into the snow.  The cold. I don’t know how or what time I made it home, myself. I stood on the bridge for the longest time, crying, I think, and just feeling so lost, like I’d reached the end of the world.  I thought of following your steps, but got confused, then probably went around in circles.”