She needed to deal with that conclusively, and, together with Brom and Mike, determine first how serious it could be. 

She would deal with Scott after.  Not immediately, most likely after the movie was done, when he could no longer harm Tina or her reputation that way. But he would be dealt with.  A measured, appropriate, and equally devastating response. 

“I’m here to support you, T,” Bette continued, and heard Tina laugh lightly through her sniffles.  “Just as you’re supporting me.”

“We’re going to beat this, baby,” Tina finally responded, in a soft, determined voice.

“You bet. Why don’t you fill me in on the rest of your conversation with Scott when we see each other, then?,” Bette asked. 

After a short exchange, they rang off.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tina reached out to hold Bette’s hand, which had been lying on the table as the brunette sat back, quietly enjoying her wine as Tina discussed script and production particulars with the producer.  Bette loved observing Tina work.  Or do anything, really.  She had such a graceful, but economical way about her, including how she went about doing her business, like getting people to do what she wanted, often with a light touch, like right now.  She was rarely heavy-handed with anything – but always got her point across.    The blonde was saying, “… and, at this stage, the script is the most important thing to focus on right now, so for now all we’ll need are daily updates on how it’s developing.  We’ve spent enough already on the treatment alone, and I want to make sure we get it right, ok?”

Rachel Prentice, one of the up-and-coming producers in Film Features Tina tapped for the movie, nodded, putting in a repeating calendar entry in her tablet to remind her to call Tina every evening at 7.  Just as she was about to flick the calendar app off the screen, she tapped in a repeating calendar entry to remind her to call Tina at 8 every morning also, looking up at Tina as she did.  “Why don’t I check in with you in the morning also?  Before the day starts, just in case there’s something that you may have thought of overnight, that we’d need to know, anyway.  Why put it off ‘til the end of the day, right?”