Tina spit it out quickly, “Helena and Tiffany are engaged. She’s wearing the ring that I found at Helena’s place the day I went there to gather my belongings.”

Bette only heard the last part of what Tina said. “You took all your stuff?”

“Yes Bette.”

“When?”

Tina rolled her eyes. She knew this lifted a thousand pounds off of Bette’s shoulders but it wasn’t what she wanted to talk about. “I had Shane drive me over the day we came home from Paris, but can you please focus? Helena and Tiffany are engaged!”

“That doesn’t surprise me.”

“Could you have a little sympathy for me Bette? She was dating us both at the same time! I feel like such a fool.” Tina sat down and felt very frustrated with herself.

“T, I told you way back when you first started seeing her that she was no good.”

Tina sighed, accepting her ignorance. “Yeah she would eat me alive because she’s a vampire and a dragon, I remember.”

“So now you learned the hard way, twice.” Bette emphasized twice to prove a point.

Tina shot her eyes up to meet Bette’s. She thought that Bette was being a little too apathetic but then she realized that it’s what she needed to hear. “Finish your call; I’m sorry for interrupting you.”

“It’s fine.” Bette went back over to her chair and sat down. She put the receiver up to her ear and heard coughing. Her eyes darted to the phone’s base and saw that she hadn’t actually hit the hold button. ‘*****’ she thought. Mrs. Jones was an important client and she prayed that the old woman hadn’t heard any of the conversation.

“Mrs. Jones, I’m so sorry about that.”

“It’s alright dear. Relationships are a top priority. That’s what I always say. Maybe that’s why I’ve been married four times.”

Bette laughed and felt relieved that it wasn’t going to pose a problem. “So where were we?” They finished up the deal they were making and when Bette hung up she was proud of her work.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to speak to Tina, Franklin came barging in. “Bette, I told you we needed you here this week! You missed the meeting because of your last minute disappearance. What’s your excuse this time?”

“Tina’s father passed away. We needed to go to North Carolina for the ceremony.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Franklin said in a soft tone just because Tina was sitting right there. “I’ll have James fill you in about the meeting, but please try to show up for work sometime.”

“I’m here now aren’t I?” Bette said with a smirk.

“Yeah, let’s see how long that’ll last.” He said as he walked out the door.

Bette stood up and grabbed her pocketbook. “Exactly 2.5 minutes. C’mon T let’s go”

“But Bette I want to talk,” Tina said trying to resist Bette’s pulling on her arm.

“We can talk in the car and over breakfast. Right now I think it’s best if we leave this environment.”

Tina reluctantly followed Bette back to the car.  They were silent on their ride to The Planet. Bette was hoping they could get a table by themselves but when she saw Dana sitting all by herself, they had to join her.

“Hey Dane,” Bette said with a big smile.

“Hey guys. It’s good to see you. I’m so sorry about your dad Tina.” She got up and gave Tina a warm hug. “Did you get my sympathy card? I put it in the mail box yesterday.”

Tina was glad to have friends who cared. “We haven’t even checked the mail yet but thank you so much.”

Bette was looking around for Kit but she was no where to be found. “Where’s Kit?”

 ”She’s been in her office all morning,” Dana said

A waitress came and took Bette and Tina’s orders for that they wanted to eat. Bette then excused herself and made her way to Kit’s office.

Once Bette was behind closed doors, as if on cue, Helena strolled through the front door, immediately settling her eyes on Tina.

TBC