Sure Tina had some doubts in her mind but she quickly
realized she was too far in to pull away now especially after all those years
of estrangement she had finally gotten her family back and time was beginning
to heal the old wounds in her heart.

In truth she was tired of LA. She was tired of the daily
stress. She was tired of seeing her old friends around town although it didn’t
happen very often since she was living in the valley in suburbia with Henry
now.

It is an awkward feeling when you run into people who you
once had so much in common with and now you had so little that it was difficult
to even keep a conversation going for five minutes. Helena was the only one who
was still her friend and Tina was certain if she was not working for her even
that friendship would be over.

True she had dated Helena and continued their relationship
after it moved into a friendship stage before Henry but she had noticed even
Helena was pulling away from her after Whistler.

So with these thoughts at the forefront of her mind she
agreed to pack up and move back home with Henry.

They ended up buying a house within a 30 mile radius of her
siblings and parents residents. In the beginning after the move Bette hardly
ever crossed her mind. She thought maybe it was just because she was so happy
to be around so many people who seemed to love her.

But as time went on especially late at night when the house
was quiet and everyone was asleep her mind began to drift toward thoughts of
Bette more and more often.

It was ironic that as she seemed to move closer toward Bette
in her mind and Angie seemed to move further away. She asks for Bette less
often and crying for her comfort at night has long since passed.

Over the last year or so her sisters and she had been
meeting up for a standing lunch date twice a month. It was on one of these
afternoons that Tina once again found the bottom of her world dropping out from
underneath her.

Karen and Carol had each called her that morning to make
sure she would be available for their standing lunch date. When Tina arrived at
the little deli she noticed the mood at the table appeared to be somber. When
she sat down her instincts were telling her something bad was coming and she
tried to brace herself as much as possible.