“Don’t I know it.” Kit shook her head. “They say they forgave each other about all that stuff in the past, but the forgetting? Huh uh. Not happening.”

“I know, and it’s ridiculous. Neither one of them is all innocent. But they love each other. At the end of the day, can’t they just put that ahead of their trust issues?”

“You’d think. So what are we going to tell Angie?”

“We?”

“I told her I would pick your brain for ideas,” Kit said.

Alice finished her cup of coffee and poured another as she and Kit brainstormed. After twenty minutes and another drained cup of coffee, Alice snapped her fingers. “I’ve got it!”

“Yeah?”

“You remember how Tina used to love the holidays? Like always making a big to do about them?”

“Yeah…”

“And you said this year she totally ignored Thanksgiving and stayed shut up in her home office most of the time, yeah?”

“Yeah… where are you going with this, Alice?”

“Well she can’t have changed that much. I know Tina. You know Tina. She loves that stuff.”

“And?”

“Well we can use her natural inclinations for all things Christmas to help her remember that she loves Bette. You know, get them in Christmas-y situations that will make Tina all warm and fuzzy and then hopefully get Bette in a slightly better mood, then let nature take it’s course.”

“Uh huh. And how exactly are we, all the way across the country, going to get them into Christmas-y situations?”

“That’s where Angie comes in. We send the kid our ideas for situations in which she can throw her mothers together. You’ll be back there for Christmas, right? Well go a couple days early. You can help Angie to set them up in person if need be. But it may not even be necessary. Knowing Tina, she’s going to collapse into Bette’s arms once she sees some mistletoe, Bette will crysmile and apologize for everything, and they’ll be making up in a matter of minutes.” Alice paused for breath. “I need a pastry. Or some water. Too much coffee. Why’d you bring me a whole pot?”

“Girl, you’re too much,” Kit snickered, and then got serious again. “Do you really think it will work?”

“Yep, I do. I know it will.”

Kit raised an eyebrow. “You know, do you?”

“Well, yeah. I just can’t imagine a reality where Bette and Tina aren’t together. Can you?”

“Not really.”

“Exactly. So let’s think up some ideas for Angie and then we’ll call her up this afternoon.”

“What about your deadline?” Kit asked. “You haven’t even started your piece yet.”

Alice waved her hand. “Priorities, Kit. Anyways, you know as well as I do that I wasn’t going to start until about an hour before it was due.” Alice shifted in her seat and theatrically cracked her knuckles. “Now. Lets think up the most sentimental scenarios we can. Between the two of us, we’ll have Bette and Tina happy again by the end of the week.”

“I think we’re going to need more than a week, Alice.”

“Okay, before Christmas. Trust me. When have I ever been wrong?”

“Do you really want an answer to that?” Kit asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Just help me think.”

Kit was dubious that this was going to work, but it was better than anything she had come up with. Remembering that Angie was counting on her, Kit tried to concentrate and hoped that for once, Alice had a good idea.