“Why does everyone keep talking about love?”

“Well isn’t that at the heart of the matter?” asked Kate

“Is it?”

“You know it is. You want to know whether your love for Bette will eventually prove to be stronger and more powerful than everything else that gets in the way, of all the things that got the two of you to the place you’re at right now. Only you can find out the answer to that but I think you’re scared of getting the answer wrong which of course then prevents you from getting to the answer in the first place.”

“I can’t risk getting it wrong. I can’t take her back and then end up getting hurt again. I don’t know if I could survive that.”

“Human beings are resilient by nature Tina. I think you would be surprised by what you can survive, and besides all of that, no regrets. You don’t want to live out the rest of your life with that kind of regret, do you?” challenged Kate.

“But I could regret taking her back.”

“You’ll never know unless you try. What’s happened that you are so worried about this now? I thought the two of you were making progress and now it seems like you are trying to talk yourself out of any kind of reconciliation. What’s going on?”

“Nearly every time that we have spoken she has asked if she can come to visit me and every time I have said no straight out”

“But now you’re thinking that it might actually be good to see her, but you don’t want to admit that.”

“You’re doing it again, seeing right through me” laughed Tina.

“It wasn’t that difficult that time.”

At that point they were interrupted again by their waiter bringing their food. After he left they ate in silence for a few minutes while Tina’s brain went into overdrive as to whether she was going to say yes to Bette’s request. This time it was Kate that broke the silence.

“Would it really be that bad if she were to visit? It could be the thing that puts your mind at rest. I mean it can’t be easy talking on the phone. Wouldn’t it be better to talk face to face?”