“The demon spawn is in the same situation I am with regards to the baby. Neither of us have a say without Tina.”

“But wouldn’t Eric, also?” Alice came back into the living room. “I mean, there’s no special rights conferred by gonads, are there?”

“There are if he married Tina.”

“Surely that’s not what he was thinking.”

Bette shrugged. “Who knows. I have a feeling he’ll always have a thing for her.”

“Must be catching,” Alice mumbled.

“What?”

“He’s a catch,” Alice stated, louder.

“Well, it’s not the gender. But, if by some weird confluence, they did marry, that means when the child’s born, unless he takes steps to prevent it, the child is considered his.”

“But you”

“Me,” Bette pointed to herself. “I would maybe have a say if Tina and I were registered domestic partners and still together, but registering is something we didn’t do before,” Bette gestured, “everything.”

“So, since you’re not.”

“Since we’re not, anything that I might get has to come through Tina.”

“And Tina?”

Bette again broke into her thousand-watt smile. “Tina called the baby ‘our baby.’ We’ve got an appointment to talk about her.”

“That’s amazing. Really. I’m happy for you.”

The conversation paused. Alice rolled the bottle between her hands, and watched the bubbles within.

All this talk about Tina made Alice think back to when Bette and Tina first started dating. The fact that they continued dating was a testament to how much they felt for each other. Alice, for one, did not make things easy.

It was at least two weeks of hanging out before Alice even considered calling Tina by name. Before that, ‘straight girl’ seemed like such a better nickname. Not only was it more accurate, but it was supposed to serve to remind Bette Porter how short-term this relationship would be.

One night she met the two of them at one of the trendy dance places that was trying to establish itself, running a twice-monthly women’s night. She wasn’t sure of the name of the place, but she thought it was now a Pottery Barn or something.

Anyway, she had hoped that when she invited Bette, that it would be just Bette. Instead, it was another night of Bette and the straight girl.