"Winnie. Bette Potter. Helena is stuck in Detroit airport and she’ll be late. Could you delay Wilson and Jun Ying’s flight to the UK?"

Winnie said bitterly. "What? You’re helping that wretch now?"

Bette’s entire body tensed. "She’s not a wretch,” she said quietly. "Besides, I feel that she’s really grossly misrepresented. She’s tough on the exterior, but means well for the kids. You know that."

"Whatever, I’m not buying any of this. God. I can’t believe she ‘bought’ you over. How much did she pay you? One million?”

 Bette’s mouth went dry and she felt herself backing up. Only the fact that she was sitting on her bed stopped her. She didn’t want to think about the past but the estranged ex-wife was dredging up memories of Helena and Tina that she had tried very hard to bury. She trembled as she fought to keep herself from bolting out the nearest door.

"Shut up Winnie!” Bette screamed.

“Or offer you the cushy new job?” Winnie asked sarcastically. “I don’t need to hear any of this. She couldn’t make it in time, and guess what? It’s her problem.”

“Just shut up.”

 **************************************************************************************************************

“Concierge? I need a car right now.”

Bette tossed one last glare at the hotel phone before moving out of the room.

***************************************************************************************************************

Bette was not doing well. She stepped into the car and pumped the accelerator. Instinctively, what she wanted to do was to race to Detroit to fetch the woman she wanted to protect with all of her heart, and drive back to New York with Helena in her rented blue convertible.

However, as she was about to hit the highway, a thought occurred to her. With the severe thunderstorm and tornado raging in Michigan, it probably wasn’t a good idea.

Love-struck lesbian drives to disaster area to see her girlfriend and ends up under a pile of twisted metal. She shook away the mental image of the headlines from Fox News that popped up into her mind. She didn’t want to end up in a sorry melodramatic plot, lying comatose on a hospital bed with Helena crying herself into a wasted state on her bedside.