The doors opened again, and a female rabbi made her way up the aisle, a hush following in her wake. Bette tried to focus on the reason why they were there, and put Niki’s classless behavior out of her mind. The cellist that had been playing finished her piece just as the rabbi made her way to the front. There was no coffin, but there was a large, black and white portrait of Jenny propped up, off to the side. Bette looked away from the picture, which captured Jenny’s beauty and vulnerability, with a twinge in her chest. It was so wrong to be here. She shouldn’t be dead. The picture only served as a devastating reminder of that fact.

Bette was suddenly intensely thankful that Shane had chosen not to have the coffin here for the service. Bette wouldn’t have been able to bear sitting a few feet away from Jenny’s lifeless body. She suspected Shane felt the same.

The rabbi cleared her throat and began to speak. “Friends, loved ones and family, we are here today to remember the beautiful talent and remarkable life of Jennifer Anne Schecter…”

***

When the service was over and they were filtering back out of the funeral home, Tina and Bette wrapped their arms around each other. “You okay?” Bette murmured. Tina had cried a lot during the service and was looking a bit wobbly right now.

“Yeah. I will be,” Tina said. Alice appeared next to them and hugged them both.

“It was beautiful, huh?”

“Yeah,” Bette said, her eyes watering over. The guilt rose within her again, and she forced it away. She couldn’t focus on herself right now. She slipped her sunglasses on.

“Kit left already for The Planet, she’s going to make sure everything is ready and start receiving people for the wake. I’m going to stay here with Shane. See you there later?”

“We will,” Tina said.

Alice turned and walked away.

“We can go home, if you want,” Tina offered, running a hand over Bette’s back as they walked to their car.

“I’m okay, T. Are you okay to drive?”

Tina nodded and they got into the car and drove home in silence. There wasn’t anything appropriate to say. Words weren’t necessary. Bette kept her gaze out of the window, a snippet of the music from the service playing over and over again in her head. It was over. The funeral she had been dreading was over. She thought of her father and the service that she’d gone through. Her relationship with her father, just like her relationship with Jenny, had been complex. The loss of each of them weighed on her differently, of course. Grieving as she did for Jenny surprised her, in a way. Just over a week ago she couldn’t wait to get away from Jenny and the hell she was being put through. She hadn’t wanted it to come to this, of course. She wanted Jenny alive. The lack of resolution was what hurt her the most, she supposed. There never would be any answers, there would be no closure. That was the most difficult thing of all.

Tina stopped the car outside of The Planet. Tina took the keys from the ignition and they sat together in silence for a minute.

“Are you ready?”

Bette nodded, and glanced out of her window at the valet hovering nearby, but neither of them moved.

“We don’t have to stay long,” Tina offered.

“But you know we will,” Bette said. “Until the end.”

They got out of the car and Tina handed the valet the keys. They walked into The Planet arm in arm, facing the remainder of the day as they did everything else. Together.