Tina slowed the car down as she saw the house coming into view.  Her house, their house –  her home…their home.  She let out a long frustrated sigh as she parked the car and banged her fists against the steering wheel.  Her mind had been so unsettled all day.  She felt as though her conversation this morning with Bette was a moment in their relationship that would be defining.  Exactly what it would define she didn’t know and she had no idea how they had ended up here. 

She got out of the car and made her way to the front door.   She noticed the plants in the porch and the colour of the door.  Touches that she had put on this place.  Things that made it hers. Suddenly she was filled once again with the rage that had motivated her to take Angie from Bette this morning.  Who was Bette to tell her to move out?  She knew that what she had told Bette about her feelings for men would have been difficult to hear, it was difficult for her to say but she was only trying to be honest.  She could feel their relationship disintegrating around her and she had no idea what to hold onto anymore.  She set her jaw and tensed her shoulders, entering the house on the defensive, the way in which she felt she was living her whole life at the moment.

There was no noise inside the house,  she headed towards their bedroom remembering as she reached the door Bette’s description of it that morning as her room and so she knocked gently on the door before opening it and peering in.  Angie was in her crib sleeping peacefully and there was no sign of Bette.  A movement through the glass caught her eye and she looked out to see Bette sitting by the pool with Shane next to her.    Something about the way Bette was holding herself, a defeated posture that Tina realised she had only grown to recognise in Bette recently made Tina pause.  She stepped further into the room and strained to hear the conversation between them.  As she neared the door that was slightly ajar their voices reached her.

“It’s not like you to be so open about things Bette”

“I know” came the exasperated reply.  “I haven’t needed to for so long.   Tina has always been there.  I’ve always been able to talk to her.  I could tell her anything, I knew that she would be there for me…but now”  Bette’s voice caught in her throat as her emotions surfaced and she threw her hand up trying to explain in gestures the emptiness she couldn’t express in words. 

Tina gasped at the hopelessness she heard in Bette’s voice.  She felt guilty listening to this private conversation but couldn’t pull herself away. 

“And then this morning, when I woke up I realised my hand was on Tina’s waist and I think what woke me up was the tension coming from her.  Just from having me fucking touch her.  After eight years Shane, eight fucking years and the woman I love is repulsed by me”

“Bette, I’m sure that’s not…”  Shane began but she was soon interrupted.

“Oh no, it was, I was there Shane, she didn’t want me anywhere near her.  I can’t live like that Shane.  I can’t be in the same house with her and feel about her the way I’ve always felt about her, want to touch her, to comfort her, want her to comfort me, when she can’t bare me to be near her.  So I told her she has to move out.”

“What?” exclaimed Shane.

“What the fuck else am I supposed to do Shane?”

“We could try talking, you know really talking.”

Shane and Bette’s heads both whipped around suddenly startled by Tina’s interjection.