Candace raised an eyebrow. Whoa, drama alert. Now I remember why I left. Candace consciously forced her body to relax. She smiled what she hoped was a friendly smile at the sweating and winded blond woman. "Hi, nice to meet you. I’ll just get going now. Bette, it was nice talking to you." She waved goodbye and walked out the door. Tina had to step back to allow the other woman to pass through the doorway.She couldn’t help wonder if it was a sign of things to come.

When Candace was out of the office, Bette allowed herself to react. She slowly sank back into her chair. Tina strode in and stood in front of her, scrutinizing Bette’s face for any clue of what she was feeling.

Bette took both of Tina’s hands in hers. She tugged gently, and Tina knelt down, resting her elbows on Bette’s knees. "Baby, what happened?"

Bette just shrugged, still too confused to talk about what had happened, and more importantly, how it made her feel. She knew that Tina was really asking about the latter.

"Tina… can you just…" Bette remembered her earlier unwarranted guilt. A new surge of remorse wiped away what she had wanted to say. Hold me. Keep me. Don’t let me go. Instead she said, "Let’s forget about it. Okay?"

Tina cocked her head to the side, trying to read Bette’s eyes. That morning seemed a lifetime ago. Suddenly Tina felt crushed by hopelessness. "Are you sure Bette? Can’t we talk about this?" Tina tried again. One more time.

A sense of overwhelming isolation caused Bette to let go of Tina’s hands. She leaned back on the chair, covering her eyes with one arm. This was what Dr. Morga was talking about, when she told me about how her clients usually started their sessions. This covering up. This pretending. This mask of fine when really I’m breaking apart at suddenly fresh scars, old-made-new lacerations. Bette was too tired to talk. All she wanted was to be alone so she could put herself back together and figure out where certain pieces, dislodged by Candace’s return, were to go. Suddenly she was certain of only one thing. She needed to be alone.

"Tina, I’m fine. Let’s not talk about this to death, okay?"

Tina’s jaw tightened. She got up and dusted off.

Bette noticed the dress and heels her girlfriend was wearing.

"Fine." Tina ground out through gritted teeth. "We don’t have to talk about it."

Why was Tina all dressed up? Were they supposed to go out for lunch? Before Bette could ask, Tina was out the door.

Fuck.

TBC