While Bette and Tina were off doing their forgiveness exercises Paul found a tree of his own to sit under and lean up against to contemplate their situation. To say it was complex would be a gross understatement. Though he’d worked with many couples and individuals whose relationships suffered to varying degrees these two had been made to endure more misfortune and heartbreak individually and collectively in their nine year union than most did in a lifetime. It was a testament to their love everlasting that even though they both played a major role in fucking things up neither one had fucked off; at least not for long. They somehow always seemed to find their way back to one another. The bond was stretched to its limits at times it never actually broke apart.

Since Paul’s therapeutic style varied by individual he schooled himself in many different philosophies and ideologies. He didn’t necessarily subscribe to them all but he could see the value of looking at things from different perspectives or points of reference. He’d visited a couple of websites recently that resonated for him that morning upon hearing of Bette and Tina’s compromise on the subject of Helena Peabody.

Of all the topics of discussion that Bette and Tina shared with him it seemed that the love-hate triangle between the three women was one they needed to address more deeply. If not dealt with properly it would be a continued bone of contention between them and this somewhat fragile truce would bring more harm than good to their reconciliation.

***

Tina wasn’t purposely trying to hurt Bette and though her heart pained to see what it was doing she was helpless to stop it. Helena was an integral part of her life. She wasn’t willing to give her up just because it was what Bette wanted. She needed to be convinced that Helena was purposely out to do them harm before she would consider it. In Bette and Helena’s case a showdown was imminent if Tina didn’t heed Bette’s warning to keep Helena away from her. She would no longer allow Helena to interfere with their lives. They were at an impasse.

***

Paul worked primarily with couples but each person in the couple had to take responsibility for themselves, their actions, and their accountability in what went wrong in the relationship. They had to be committed to fixing those things about themselves before they could fix the couple. The other thing he’d found was that some couples just had bad timing in coming together too soon or too late and sometimes not at all. At times all the struggles they have in making things work is because they are not yet ready to be as one. This he concluded was the issue between Bette and Tina. Once they were ready for each other; their hearts, souls, and bodies synchronized as one they would have the most joyous experience of finally coming together as they were meant to be.