“Yeah” Tina answered, “Sent shivers down my spine.  I wouldn’t know what I’d have done had that happened to you and me, to be honest.  I’d have probably crumbled the way she had.”

Bette gripped Tina’s hand tightly, whispering, “Never, T.  We may fight from time to time, who knows. But we will never be… how did she say it?”

Tina drew a breath, “Now I knew I lost her — not that she was gone.”

She paused.  Bette picked up from her, “But Remoteness travelled on her Face and Tongue.”

They shook their heads, feeling empathy for both Jules and Diane.

Bette pulled Tina’s hand to her lips, “I would rather we argue and bicker over something.  Than have us suffer through that type of coldness between us, T.”

They stopped several feet from Diane, who was standing with her back to them.  The sun was already setting.

It was an exceptionally romantic setting, with twilight gathering, and the buildings beginning to light up in red and blue lights, and everything reflected in the glass-like water mirror facing them. Bette ached to take Tina in her arms and kiss her deeply, but hesitated in case Diane would see them.  In a setting like this, it felt extraordinarily cruel.

Ten minutes later, darkness began to fall, and the spectacle before them assumed a more magical hue, with the glow of the beautiful illuminated buildings enhanced by even more colored lights, all reflected on the smooth water surface.

Diane sighed, Bette and Tina had been so kind to take her with them on this impromptu long weekend trip.  And George had been gallant, taking her into his firm immediately, once she’d left Tom’s hedge fund after breaking things off with Tom.  Although she’d overheard the normally gruff Mark sing her praises to George … still, it had really been a series of extraordinary kind acts that had allowed her to even make her way back to New York, much less restart a career in the financial world, after a very public breakdown like she’d experienced.

But this romantic setting was breaking her heart.  Did this trip mean she should look forward to another chance at love?  Be more open, this time, about who she fell in love with?  Her own parents had been extremely supportive when she’d confessed what had happened to her and Jules. They’d regretted not having met Jules, but were encouraging Diane to “open yourself to love, darling,” as her mother put it.

Diane turned back to look at Bette and Tina, who she knew had been patiently watching her from behind.  Now that, right there, is love, she thought.

A few seconds later, she looked at them curiously as they gave her air kisses goodbye.  Tina motioned to ask Diane to call her in the morning as they walked away, arms encircled around each other, kissing from time to time.  Finally, Bette turned back and pointed to Diane’s right.

Diane wrinkled her eyebrows, looking to her right, trying to pick out what Bette was pointing at amongst the scattered crowd of couples and families who were silently admiring the water mirror spectacle.

Soon enough, she saw a familiar figure wending her way gracefully through the crowd, in the darkness, walking slowly, surely, towards Diane.  Heart filled with trembling, she clenched and unclenched suddenly clammy hands, unable to move, unable to breath.  Jules…

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Part 2 continues here