Bette gulped and moved to shut the door and lock it. She sat down across from Tina and took a deep breath.

"What’s going on Bette you’re worrying me," Tina said softly.

"You know my carpenter? Candace?" Bette said.

"Yeah, I was telling Oliver we should hire her down at the Center," Tina said.

"Well you should listen to what I have to say before you do that," Bette said. "The other day we were in here talking about business and she…uhh…she kissed me."

Tina’s eyes widened and her face reddened. "She, kissed you?" Tina said incredulously, "and…what did you do?"

"I…pushed her away," Bette said.

"How long did you wait before you pushed her away?" Tina said cocking an eyebrow.

Bette recognized it as Tina’s pissed off face. She gulped and said, "only for a moment, I was stunned at first."

"Did you want to kiss her back?"

"No, I…just for a little, but I love you," Bette said, "and I told her that."

Tina scoffed, "so you wanted to kiss her back?"

"Only for a brief moment Tina, I swear I pushed her away and I want nothing to do with her," Bette said. "I just want to get everything out in the open and be honest. I know things have been hard after we lost our son, and I am so sorry that I was too busy with work. I’m sorry that I asked for your support with Faye Buckley and then didn’t support you when you needed me."

Tina looked completely stunned at the revelation and she blinked in surprise. Bette could have smirked, she almost forgot how pompous and inconsiderate she was before. She was a new and different woman, someone that Tina never saw before.

"Um…" Tina said bewildered.

There was a knock on the door. "James no visitors I’m busy," Bette called back.

"Um, it’s me," came Candace’s voice from the other side.

Bette immediately noticed Tina’s body tensing up. She cleared her throat and opened the door, "how can I help you?"

Bette instantly noticed Candace’s mild confusion at the sudden change in demeanor, this was definitely not the Bette she had kissed the day before.

"Um I brought the plans for the exhibition," Candace said, "the lights will emphasize all those pieces you listed."

Bette glanced at Tina for a moment then said to Candace coldly, "leave them with James and I’ll check them out later."

"Uh I would like to expl…"

"Leave them with James," Bette said more firmly, "and from now on anything you need to say can go through him, there’s no reason for you to speak to me directly."

Candace blinked in shock and Bette felt a little bad at the pained expression that crossed her face. She realized then that the first time around Candace got hurt just as bad, Bette led her on then broke her heart when she got tired of her. This change would spare everyone.

Bette slammed the door in Candace’s face then locked it. She glanced at Tina who looked surprisingly proud.

"Wow Bette, I don’t know what’s gotten into you but don’t stop," Tina said.

"Tina I really think we need to sit down and talk," Bette said. She knew that the whole affair with Candace was only the trigger to their breakup but there were serious issues that led them to that point. Bette had to fix them right away, she could not afford to make the same mistake twice.

"You wanna do it here?" Tina said.

"No, I’m leaving now and we’ll talk at home," Bette said.

Tina’s eyes almost bugged out, "you? Leave work before 9pm? You?" Tina stood up and put her hand on Bette’s forehead to check her temperature.

Bette chuckled and said, "actually I think work is one of the issues we’re having, this will be my last exhibition here."

Tina’s jaw dropped. "Okay, let’s go home and talk."

Bette smiled and grabbed all her things. She grabbed Tina’s hand then led her out of the office making sure Candace saw them leave.

She would definitely do things differently this time around.

TBC???