“Please wait.”

“Ok.” Tina’s response was a throaty hum.

“Well, you better get going before your car turns into a pumpkin.”

Tina reached for Bette’s hands as she pulled them away but Bette opened the door instead. She let the blonde walk out, Tina’s hand grazing Bette’s abs as she walked by.

“Bette? Why haven’t you asked me more questions about tonight?” Tina got lost in the way Bette’s eyes absorbed the moonlight.

Bette shrugged, her voice soft. “I wanted to give you what you wanted for your birthday. And to some extent it’s what I wanted, too.” Bette stepped closer to Tina, taking her hands in hers again. “I know now that I’d give you anything you ever wanted. But I feel like I also need to respect that line.” She twisted Tina’s engagement ring as she said it.

Unable to face the truth in Bette’s words, Tina glanced at her swollen feet, the heels cutting into her lotus tattoo.

“I guess I should go. Thank you, Bette. For everything.” She aimed to kiss her lips but captured the corner of her mouth instead.

“Happy Birthday, beautiful.”

Bette stared at Tina walking away from her, mentally kicking herself as she turned to leave.

Tina opened the card, reading it on the way to her car:

I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz,
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as one loves certain obscure things,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries
the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself,
and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose
from the earth lives dimly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you directly without problems or pride:
I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love,
except in this form in which I am not nor are you,
so close that your hand upon my chest is mine,
so close that your eyes close with my dreams.

Tina started to cry when she read the familiar Pablo Neruda poem.

She took her shoes off and started to run back towards Bette. Bette was just entering the gallery when Tina threw her arms around her neck and kissed her into a deep, passionate embrace. Bette stumbled backwards but caught Tina’s waist to balance them.