This was the place that used to be The Planet. Tina frowned. She knew that Kit had sold up and was now back making a living as a singer and musician but this made her yearn for the past even more. Tina put one foot in front of the other and pushed the door open. Shortly afterwards she chose a table by the front door and took a mouthful of her coffee followed by a bite of her breakfast. If she concentrated hard enough she could picture Shane, Alice and Dana talking trash about some poor unsuspecting soul. Normally one of Shane’s conquests if they were being truthful. She would usually listen in and just laugh along with them knowing that she was glad to be out of it. Her and Bette had been solid and in love. They didn’t need to take part in the trash talk.

The streets of New York breathed new life into Bette. She stood at one of the many entrances to Central Park and smelt the air. It was good. The art world was vibrant here and Bette hadn’t struggled to find work and she found that she enjoyed her time off here more too. Bette thought about calling Alice. She had sprung a major surprise on Bette twelve months ago by turning up at her front door announcing that she was bored of Californian life and wanted to experience the East Coast way. Bette had let her stay for two weeks before Alice found an even smaller apartment not far from hers. Bette had found Alice’s presence comforting. It was having a small piece of home on her doorstep. What was even more amazing was that Alice had found love not long after moving. Of all the people Bette might have thought would be settled at this point Alice was not at the top of her list.

Shane was on Tina’s mind now. A lot had changed in Shane’s life and she was the only one of the old crowd that Tina was really still in touch with. Tina had stayed with Shane when she moved back to LA for a while. Tina had chosen well. Shane never judged or interrogated her over her failed relationship with Bette. Shane just accepted the facts of Tina’s life and let her adjust to her new life. There were a lot of tears and a lot of self-recrimination. Tina hated the fact that she couldn’t make it work with Bette. There was no one like her and yet there was just something that wasn’t right. Tina didn’t think that either of them really knew what it was and that was mostly the problem. They couldn’t fix anything because they could never nail down what was wrong.

Bette headed home. She really should get on with some work. There was a big project on the horizon, working with the most promising artist she had encountered for a long time. She was struggling for motivation though. Work felt less important than it ever had. Bette took her phone out of her pocket and scanned through the numbers she had programmed in. She ran her thumb up and down the screen. Back and forth. Tina’s number appeared and disappeared from view. It had been a long time. Well over a year since they had spoken last. There was no reason for them to talk. Bette was kept up to date with the gossip from Alice and Bette knew that Shane provided the same service for Tina.

Tina headed to her office. She sat behind her desk and took a deep breath in. This movie wasn’t heading in the right direction. She knew that and also knew that she should talk to the director and the other producers about it. Tina picked up her phone so that she could scan through to find the number of her fellow producer. As the names flicked by she saw Bette’s name come up on her screen. Tina knew that she should have deleted the number at least a year ago. A clean break was needed and yet she couldn’t rip off the band aid. Tina stared at the name, her thumb hovering over the screen. All she had to do was press down on the screen and the number would be dialled.
Bette took a deep breath in. She had spent ten minutes staring at her phone. She loved Tina but it was like a scab that she kept picking at. The wound never healed because she kept opening it up again and again. Bette steeled herself and pushed on the screen. She could hear the ring tone loud and clear.

Tina jumped. She wasn’t expecting her phone to ring. It was then that she saw the caller’s name.