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As the plane descended and Tina re-buckled Angie into her seat, she began to put Angie’s things into her bag and secure her own seatbelt. The changing atmosphere and the sudden nervous silence in the cabin let Tina reflect on the hours that Bette laid in bed with her before they slept for the few hours they had left together.
Tina was cradled into Bette’s body because they both couldn’t sleep. Bette’s hand was stroking Tina’s hair as she let her mind bring together the thoughts that she needed Tina to know before she left.
“I do want to trust you.” Tina’s response was a soft kiss to the center of Bette’s chest. “I want to trust you implicitly. I do, but I’m not over the moon with the idea that there are people fawning all over you all day.”
“It’s just the business, Bette. It means nothing.”
“I know that with your years of experience in that industry you can easily say that, but as someone who’s just now seeing the other side of it, I can honestly say that… that is one aspect of your job that is going to take some time for me to get used to.”
“I thought that by us establishing our friendship first and taking in all circumstances surrounding the potential of this relationship that ‘the trust’ between you and I was absolute. At the very least the base on which our relationship stood upon?”
“It is. But I had no idea that people approached you, their boss, in that way.”
Tina was tired, they could have this discussion all night and she really needed to sleep before she had to take off. She wasn’t going to get through this tonight, she needed sleep, “Can you at least promise me that you’ll try to understand that the difficult personalities and egos that I deal with everyday have nothing to do with our relationship? I need you…”
“…Come on Mommy!” Angie had already unbuckled her seatbelt and was standing in her seat as she began to shake Tina’s head, waiting for her to acknowledge the fact that most people had already started to de-board the plane. As Tina was getting their carry-ons from the overhead compartment she couldn’t stop dwelling on Bette’s chosen words, ‘want to’. Meaning that she couldn’t and doesn’t trust her. They were once again at somewhat of a stalemate on this issue. Aside from being honest in her words and actions there wasn’t much else she could do to ease Bette’s mind about her job, their relationship, and everything that came along with it.