“That’s all that Tina heard from Kit’s message—that I left holding hands with Candace.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, exactly.  I mean that was really the last thing Tina needed to hear.”

“How did you explain yourself?”

“Well, I told her it wasn’t true, that Kit was mistaken.”

“And?”

“That was a lie.  I lied.  I did.  I had to.  Tina would never have understood what was going on in my mind.  She would have seen that as my ongoing betrayal when it really wasn’t.”  Bette explained that evening.  She told Suzanne that she thought about what she had learned in therapy, realized that she was trying to re-channel her stress, was on the road to another error in judgment, and stopped it.  “When Candace started kissing me, I knew it wasn’t what I wanted.  I told her to leave.”

“The two of you kissed?”

“She was kissing me.  I told her it was wrong and I wasn’t interested.  That was it.  There is absolutely nothing else to that story.  I haven’t seen or heard from Candace since and don’t plan to.”

“So you told Tina that…?”

“That I left with Candace, we talked for a little while, then she left.”

“Okay.”

Bette exhaled deeply causing the wisps of hair on her forehead to waft around her head.  “See, you don’t get it.  I momentarily let my anger get the best of me, then I checked it.  That is all there is to it.  Tina isn’t even speaking to me because of Kit.”

“Because of Kit?”

“Absolutely because of her.  I’m so angry with my sister.  I mean, her mouth has created something where there is nothing.  She’s caused this rift between Tina and me.”

“Kit did this?”

“You can think what you want, Suzanne, but yeah, Kit is to blame for this.  I’ll take responsibility for my actions, I’ve done that all along, but if Kit hadn’t left that sort of message on my voicemail…On my voicemail, who does that…? Tina and I would be together.  I wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”

“Do you think that’s true?”

“That we’d be together?”  Bette glared at her.