“Like what?”

“Look at the parallels between our careers Tee. Ten years ago, when we decided to start our family, you’d quit your job and I sold the gallery to take a financially secure position as the director of the CAC. Granted money is not an issue for us today and you didn’t quit your job to focus on having the baby, but we can’t ignore the similarities. We need to balance our obligations between work and family, so we don’t fall into that trap again.”

“Okay, I can see some of the similarities. I’d like to think that we can handle these things much better now but having Emma as a sounding board would be good for us.”

“And it’s not just about work Tee. I think the bigger part of why we fell apart was our sex life being adversely affected. I want to make love to you every day as often as you’ll have me. I don’t want to lose our desires or turn our time together into an activity with a purpose. Granted the insemination has to be well timed and thought out so we increase our chances of success but that doesn’t mean we give up the romantic evening with dinner, candlelight, soft music, warm bubble baths, and a wet and willing partner.” Bette leaned into Tina and kissed her.

“That sounds like something you read on a love coupon.”

“As a matter of fact.” Tina laughed when Bette pulled a slip of paper from her robe and handed it to her.

“Redeem this coupon for “candlelight, champagne, bubble bath, and one wet and willing partner”

“I substituted dinner for champagne and added the soft music. Hope you don’t mind a bit of ad-lib.”

“I love it when you ad-lib.” Tina realized Bette was lightening the mood as this type of conversation between them could get heavy and off track but just the fact that Tina got it and played into it was a reflection of the great progress they’d made since getting back together.
“Thank you for doing this. I love that you’re giving it so much thought and you’re right. I need to do my part too. I’m going to do my best not to shut you out, especially if things don’t work out exactly as we hope. I know I need to tell you what’s on my mind. Back then I expected you to just give me what I needed without asking. I want sex with you to always be about making love and never losing our intimacy especially when we’re making our baby. It’s my biggest regret that we both felt rejected and undesired by the other sexually, and never talked about it. I don’t expect that we will always be in-sync sexually if one of us is tired or having a particularly bad day or just not in the mood, but those are the times when it’s even more important to express our love languages in other ways. That’s a promise and commitment that I am making to you right now.”

“Me too. I love you Tee. Thank you for that.”

“I love you too. Do you think we could have lunch with Emma today?”

“I can ask. I think the sooner the better, but we can wait a day or two if you want.”

“No. Let’s see if we can talk to her today and you probably want to let Peggy know that she’ll be on grandma duty this week.”

Tina leaned over and kissed Bette then stood up and loosened the sash on her robe and let it fall to ground as she walked into the bathroom and started the shower. “Make those calls” she yelled to Bette over the sound of the water. “afterwards you can partially redeem your love coupon for a ‘wet and willing partner’ if you care to join me in the shower.”

Bette stood up and followed Tina into the bathroom when it dawned on her. Her beautiful naked wife was leaning against the bathroom sink holding the ovulation indicator test in her hands.

“You’re ovulating?”

“We’re within the fertile window.” Bette pulls Tina into an embrace and pushes her up against the sink and runs her hands all over her body as she gives her a searing kiss. She pulls away breathlessly. “You should have told me.”

“I came into the room to tell you.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t believe my timing to have this conversation. I should have realized.”

“Don’t be sorry. I’m glad we had the conversation and the timing is perfect especially if we can see Emma this afternoon before going to the cryobank.”

“I’ll make the calls, but first let’s get wet.” Bette removed her robe and though she had already showered she joined Tina as they both stepped into the steaming stream of water jetting from multiple shower-heads.