Chapter 11

Bette helped Tina to the sofa and sat her down. She went to the kitchen and poured her a glass of water. She handed Tina the water and sat quietly next to her watching her closely trying to read her thoughts. “T?” Bette said gently rubbing Tina’s back.

“Um.” Tina tried to talk. “That night you came by, when that little boy died.” She started.

“Bret.” Bette’s eyes filled with tears as she mentioned his name. “We had situation at the school. We went in.”

“Were you ever hurt?”

“Umm, we’ve had instances where things didn’t go as planned.” Bette tried to play down the dangers of her job.

“So all those weeks you left on business you were?”

“Yeah.” Bette still couldn’t read Tina.

“T, nothing’s changed. I mean now I don’t have to lie to you anymore.”

“Yes but now I would be worried like hell. Every time you leave for a job I would wonder if it’s the last time I see you.” Tina said getting anxious.

“Tina,” Bette tried to calm her.

“No Bette.” Tina said her tone raised slightly pushing Bette away. “This isn’t going to be easy for me. I love you.” Her voice softened, “I love you so much. But I am not sure if I can live everyday scared to death that when you’re out working I may get a call one day saying that you’re not coming home.

“Tina?” Bette tried to hold her again, but Tina pushed her off and went to the room. She watched Tina till she disappeared at the top of the stairs.

Bette grabbed her keys and left the house. She didn’t think that it was a good thing to stay given Tina’s mood. She got into the car and drove aimlessly for a couple of hours before heading to the apartment. When she got there she poured herself a glass of scotch and emptied it in one gulp. She went to the training room hoping to clear her mind a little.

Tina finally fell asleep after tossing and turning since she left Bette downstairs. She got about three hours sleep before the alarm woke her up at six. She felt for Bette like she did every morning since they moved in together. Bette’s side was cold indicating that it wasn’t slept on. She sat up and massaged her temples remembering the conversation they had last night. She went to the bathroom and washed away the tears that started to flow. She looked in the mirror and said, “I won’t survive if anything happened to her.” She wiped her face and checked herself once over for any sign that she was crying. When she was satisfied she went in to check on Christian. He was still fast asleep. She then went down stairs expecting to see Bette either asleep on the sofa out in the back yard reading the morning paper having her coffee, which she wasn’t. She dialled Bette’s mobile and it rang into voice mail. She waited a few seconds before trying again and got no answer again. She tried the apartment and got no response as well. “Bette where are you?”