“How do you want to celebrate ?”

“How about we go on holiday – we could even take Shane along “

“And Sheba ?”

“We can deal with her when we decide where to go and when “

Bette lent across the table and kissed Tina

“You will never regret this “

“I have not regretted a single minute of our relationship from when I rang the airline and booked the tickets for Angie and I – that was the leap for me. Except it wasn’t a leap. I had the others on my back from when they found out where I had gone -and they kept saying how could I be so stupid to take such a gamble. It wasn’t a gamble- I do not gamble with Angie’s happiness. I couldn’t see a downside to going to stay with you. It was like – you know – if you bump into someone from your past and your first reaction is – wow – they have really changed but it only takes a few days or hours to realise that the changes that might exist are superficial at the best  — they are the same person just with a slightly different coating. That wasn’t how I felt about you . I know you so well Bette – we were so wrapped up in one another – I knew that you had changed a lot. It was the right thing to do – to come here for all our sakes “

Bette smiled “I still look at you sometimes and I just cannot believe that you are here and I am a wife and a mother “

“You better believe it babe “

“I do – there are just times when I pull myself up and I realise how much my life has changed”

“Is that when the apartment is in uproar with Angie tearing around after the kitten and I am yelling at both of them and you are trying to work ? “

Bette nodded “Yeah – that’s pretty much when I look at everything and I get close to being cross- to demanding to know if I would get more peace if I went and worked in Grand Central Station”

“I have seen that look a couple of times”

“It is now the norm for the apartment to be noisy when I come home – the TV blasting out – Angie dancing around the room – the kitten keeping out of the way – that I don’t notice it”

“But you have come close “

“As you say  – there have been a few times when the old Bette has surfaced – or threatened to”

“What stops you ?”

“The memory of being in the same apartment for days on end and not seeing anyone. Just get up to a silent apartment – nothing moved from how it was the night before. I would always have jobs to do -paperwork and emails and the accounts and working on the apartment but all the same – I could easily go from leaving the gallery on Friday night to coming into the gallery on a Monday and not speaking to anyone.”

“That scares me about you – my fear was that you would have found someone new and be happy and married but if I had thought about it –  well I could see you becoming a hermit”

“No danger of that now is there “

Tina finished her pie and took hold of Bette’s hands

“You Bette Porter are never going to face anything again without having the love and support of me and your children – and your kitten of course “