“What happened?”

A silence fell. Bette sensed this was a difficult subject for Tina. She stroked the blonde’s hair and kissed her brow.

“You don’t have to tell me.”

“No, I want to. It’s just… it’s hard. She died in a car accident. I never had the chance to say goodbye. I never had the chance to tell her I love her one last time.” The tears were brimming in Tina’s eyes and Bette hushed her.

“Shh, it’s okay, Tina. It’s okay.”

“I just… the last thing I said to her was ‘don’t forget the milk’. Can you actually believe that? She was spending the night at my house, I was home alone and she was going to the corner shop to get some food. We had run out of milk. I still can’t believe those were my last words. There is so much I wanted to tell her. The driver was drunk and had used drugs. I know the guy, it was Randell. He really felt sorry and as long as I’ve known him he hasn’t forgiven himself, he never drank alcohol or touched drugs after it, but I still hate him. I’m sorry, Bette, I don’t want to bother you.”

“You’re not bothering me. Have you ever talked about this to anyone?”

“Not really.”

“Have you written it down?”

“No. I just… I surpressed it. It’s all coming up again.” Tina’s body was shaking and Bette held her, hushing her. “Don’t get me wrong, Bette, I love you, I do. I just… it still hurts so badly. It feels like I’m not complete. I loved her so much.”

“It’s only normal you feel like this when you weren’t able to say goodbye.”

“We’ve been a couple for a year. It happened on the exact day of our one year anniversary. I still visit her grave every 12th December. I can’t bring myself to do it more. It hurts too much.”

Bette made a mental note to be extra careful the 12th of December.

“You want to stop answering questions?”

“No, just… change the subject, please.”

“Okay, tell me about your family.”

“My dad, Robert, is a carpenter. He’s very traditional. He married my mother when they were 19. My mom, Rosie, became a housewive. I know she wanted to study, but my dad wanted her to stay at home after the birth of my brother, Christopher, we always call him Chris. Four years later, they had me. Christina Jennifer Kennard. My sister, Amber, is two years younger.
Chris married his prom date, Julianna Dayning. They have two children, Timothy and Garret, they’re twins. Chris is an engineer and Julianna teaches part time.
Amber… we lost track of her. She had the wrong friends in high school, started to go the wrong places. She ran away with her boyfriend, Francis. Chris went looking for her and he never gave up. The last track of her is something with prostitutes. It’s very likely she has been murdered or something, but we’re not sure. For all we know she was saved out of that world and is happily married with kids now. She was always the rebel, fighting against everything. She hurt my parents a lot. They believe in God strongly. Amber told them every day she hated them. She had a strong connection with Chris, so we guess that if she was in good hands she would at least have contacted him.
She was jealous of me because I had good grades and my parents were more mad at her than at me. She thought I was perfect and she wanted to be everything that I was not, no matter what. I really care about her, she just never wanted to believe that.
My parents can’t cope with the idea I love women, too. They prefer not to see me very much. They visit me, I visit them, but only on holidays and sometimes on birthdays. My dad can’t look into my eyes. They always ask not to bring my ‘good friend’, either a woman or a man. Well, in fact, a man is always welcome. It’s just that it would give them the idea I turned straight. I don’t want that.
Chris had a really hard time to deal with it, too, but we get along. He’s just very busy, he runs his own company. That’s why we don’t see each other that much.”