Bette’s eyes roamed across the checkout lanes at the front of the store.  She saw Jenny moving people through her lane quickly and noted that the other lanes weren’t moving at all and she muttered a curse to herself about shopping on a Saturday.  As much as she didn’t want to do it, Bette queued up behind the last person in Jenny’s lane.  While standing there, Jenny made eye contact with her twice and smiled.  Bette returned the smile, but after Jenny glanced at her the second time, Bette pulled her sunglasses out of her bag and put them on.  Placing her items on the conveyor belt, she walked parallel to it until she was face-to-face with Jenny.

“Hi, Bette,” Jenny spoke softly and slowly.  “How are you?”

“Fine,” Bette responded brusquely.

“I’m having a get together next weekend.  I found this really… a really nice place on La Jolla near Santa Monica.  It’s a bachelor’s apartment—a room with a hotplate, but that’s all I need.  Anyway, I can’t have a lot of people over at once, but it’ll be kind of…cozy, I guess.  I was going to invite Dana and Alice and a couple of other people.”

Bette glanced away, showing her impatience. “I have plans next weekend.  Thanks.”

As Jenny scanned one item after another, she looked at Bette and bravely opened up a topic that was familiar to both. “You know, I didn’t want to hurt Tim, but I couldn’t deny my feelings.  I needed to have that experience with Marina to know what I really wanted.  I regret, you know, falling in love with her, but I am so glad I did it.”

“Good for you, Jenny.  That’s admirable,” she said sarcastically.  “I’m kind of in a hurry.”

Jenny nodded and finished scanning Bette’s items.  Once the transaction was complete, Bette pushed her cart toward the glass doors and out of the store without hearing Jenny’s shy goodbye.

After the market, Bette returned home.  She parked in the driveway, exited the car, and grabbed the two bags from the passenger’s seat.  Just as Bette slammed the door, she heard Tim’s voice.  He was having a loud conversation and his shouts were hard to ignore.  Ever since Jenny had moved out of the shed, the noise level had decreased, so she was surprised to hear his angry tones.