“Good for her. How is Bette?”

“It’s hard to say really. She tries to give off this impression that she’s so together and coping, but really I know she’s falling apart. Angelica means everything to her, and much as Tina’s hurt her, I know she doesn’t want to lose her completely”

“Tough break” Carmen couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Yeah”

“Shane…you know this is your house more than it is mine. If you need to come back here, well I can always find somewhere else to stay…or go to Momma’s”

“No baby, it’s your home. You’ve done nothing wrong ok, you stay there”

“Ok” Carmen said softly.

“How’s Jenny? She taking care of you?” Shane tried to change the subject.

“Jenny’s good. She’s away at the moment, her and Max went to visit some people back home”

“They left you all alone?” Shane winced as the words left her mouth, hoping Carmen won’t bite back at them.

“Shane I don’t need mothering”

“I know baby, I’m sorry”

“It has been a bit lonely though”

“Yeah?” Shane tried not to get hopeful.

“Yeah” Carmen took a deep breath “Maybe you could come see me”

“Oh baby I…just tell me when and I’ll be there”

“Give me an hour to pull myself together”

“Ok baby…I’ll see you in an hour then”

“Yeah, I’ll see you then”

Both women put down the phone and exhaled. Shane stepped back into Bette’s house and couldn’t help but smile, which didn’t go unnoticed by Bette.

“I take it a certain lady is the reason for that smile?”

“She’s asked me to go see her” the smile remained fixed on Shane’s face.

“Oh Shane, that’s wonderful” Bette gave Shane a warm hug.

“I…I need to look my best”

“Shane, you look perfect as you are. Right now it’s the real you that Carmen wants to see, not someone dressed up trying to impress”

Shane smiled at Bette “You always have the right thing to say”

“I only wish that applied to Tina” Bette said wistfully.

“Oh Bette, I’m sorry”

“No, it’s fine. Things are just a little complicated right now. At least Carmen’s still the girl you fell in love with. You don’t have to try and completely change a person before you get a reasonable conversation”

“Tina will come round”

“The old Tina would, yes. But I have no idea what to expect from this new version of her”

“Maybe someone else should talk to other than you. When you tell her those things she’s only gonna get defensive”

“Maybe” Bette contemplated the idea.

“I could give it a try?”

“You’ve got enough on your own plate Shane”

“Let me see how tonight goes, and maybe I can try and win Tina over with my charm”

Bette laughed “Ok”

The two women looked at each other with smiles and embraced.

“You know what, you’re almost like a Mom to me” Shane looked at Bette “I’m sorry that sounds stupid”

“No, no” Bette fought back a tear “you have no idea how much that means to me”

The two hugged again, and both smiled more than they had in a long time.

After the hour passed, an extremely nervous Shane stood on the doorstep to her house. She was absentmindedly smoking a cigarette, and yelped as it burnt down to her fingers. She flicked it aside and knocked on the door.

Taking a deep breath, Carmen pulled back the door.

“Hey” she said softly.

“Hey you”