Shane stood there. Dumbfounded. She didn’t want to believe it was true but from the state Bette was in, it had to be. Her first priority was to try to calm Bette down the best she could.

Shane walked over to Bette and asked her what she needed. She told her younger friend that Tina was coming by in the morning to get her things. “Stay with me while I pack them up tonight?”

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“No, Shane. I don’t want to do this. I’m not sure of much of anything else but I’m sure of that. I’m also sure that I don’t want her to have to do it alone.” Shane saw that even in the depths of her hurt, Bette wanted to spare Tina as much pain as possible. That made her love her friend even more.

“I’ll order a pizza. You need to eat something.”

Shane made Bette eat a slice of pizza. Then she sat in the chair by the window in their bedroom and watched as Bette cried while she packed Tina’s belongings. She never spoke of that night to anyone. Bette was grateful.

Tina walked through the house feeling the emptiness. She noticed the wine glass, beer bottles and pizza box. Shane had been with her. Tina was glad of that. She entered the bedroom and the tears began to flow. One of the drawers was ajar. The closet door was open. All of her things removed. No longer occupying space. Before she left, she turned back to see if Bette had packed her favorite sweatshirt. Technically, it belonged to Bette but Tina claimed it as her own when they first started dating. She opened the drawer and saw the Yale sweatshirt staring back at her. This made Tina angry. She snatched it up and walked out.

She stopped in the hallway when she saw Shane. Her eyes darted around the room expecting Bette to be there as well.

“She’s not here,” Shane said matter-of-factly. “She asked me to come help you take your stuff to wherever you needed me to take it to.”

“She did?”

“She did.”

“You don’t have to go, Tina. This will kill her. And you.”

“Did she ask you to talk me into staying?”

“You know us both better than that.”

Tina was still too angry about the baby, Candace and the sweatshirt to truly process what Shane was saying.

“Thanks for the offer, but I have a car out front waiting for me. I’ll call when I get settled.”

“Ok.” And with that, Shane plopped down on the couch and watched the driver remove the suitcases from the place Bette and Tina had called home for so long.

“Bye, Shane.”

“Bye, Tina.”

Shane looked around. All signs of Tina gone.