She dropped her gym bag by the entrance to the room, walked to where the sound system had been installed and lowered the volume of the music, then pulled one pillow from the stack of cushions neatly piled against one wall. She walked over to Tina and Angelica.

Tina looked up and gave her a rueful smile as she blew on the newly-applied polish. “Yeah I was on my way to the office in mid-town, waiting for William’s call, before scheduling the start time to the VC with the LA people when I got a call from Barrington. He said they hadn’t finished figuring out the marketing cost estimates for the movie we’re rolling out next summer, and that they’d have to meet with several people here in New York this week.   So we cancelled the meeting. They decided to take the red-eye from LA.  Looks like we’re meeting up tomorrow morning instead, likely in the set of the film wrapping up in Tribeca.”

Bette gave Tina a quick kiss, then lay down next to her, resting comfortably on the soft pillow. She smiled fondly at Angelica, who wriggled out of Tina’s grasp, and climbed over the blonde’s legs encircled around her, to clamber on top of Bette’s bent knees. Tina hit the pause button in the sound system’s remote, and selected a new play list Jules had added a few days before. It was filled with relaxing chill music, Jules had explained, “perfect for winding down from a tough day.”

“So you decided to go for a jog?” Bette asked after a few minutes, as she smiled down at Angelica. “Why didn’t you just join us in the Core? We could’ve done a thing with the girls.” Bette lowered her bent legs to allow Angelica to climb over them, and then began to partially lift Angelica off of the floor.

“Yeah, I thought about it,” the blonde responded, smiling fondly at Angelica as their daughter squealed with delight over being lifted up. “But I was thinking also that it was still such a sunny day out, and that the sun wasn’t going to set yet for a few hours. Since I was just a few blocks from here when he’d called, I turned back, slipped my trail shoes on, and run to the reservoir. I called Rose on my way back from the run. She brought Angelica back from that quick playdate with Jason just as I got back.”