“So is that how you’re getting your women.  They come into the office and you…”

Bette dropped the chopsticks and stared at Tina, her eyes penetrating her partner’s.  “Tina, I can’t tell you how much I resent that?”  Bette blinked several times while searching for the right words.  “For you… to–to paint me as–as some kind of predator, lying in wait for my prey to arrive in my office just goes beyond the pale.  I really resent it.”  She rifled through her purse for her wallet, pulled it out, and searched for a credit card.  As far as she was concerned lunch was over.

“I’m sorry.”

“I ripped apart the trust you had in me, but I’m trying to make amends.  For us to move forward, you are going to have to meet me halfway.  Doubting me at every turn is not going to get us anywhere.  It’s that simple.”

“I know.  I know.”

* * * * *

The third and final trip between the sublet and their home was completed at midnight.  Now that the clothes and boxes were back in the house, the question was where to put them.  Bette immediately started placing clothes back in Tina’s drawers and in her closet while Tina went through boxes and started unpacking.

When Bette re-entered the living room, Tina was on her knees rummaging through a box.  Dressed in green khaki cargo shorts and a World Wildlife Federation T-shirt, Tina looked at home.  Looking around, Bette noticed that some of Tina’s books were back on shelves, stuck between her art history books and business admin texts.  A prized-possession, a trinket box from her great grandmother was on the endtable next to a porcelain vase of Bette’s. Perhaps it was easier to say that the move was temporary, but Bette could see that Tina was making herself at home once more. 

Over the past months, Bette had experienced the lowest of lows.  She suffered through and survived despair and anger.  She had managed through fierce depression and a disconsolation that made her feel her heart was being held together by two or three thin, sinewy threads.  Now, looking at her partner who was so involved in her task that she didn’t notice she was the object of attention made her warm inside.  She leaned against the wall between the living room and hallway and watched Tina.  Her face was flushed from the move, her hair kind of wild, and she looked absolutely lovely to Bette.  She wanted nothing more than to make love with her.