Alice laughed but the look on Bette’s face made her stop, “Oh, you are serious.”

She quickly finished her beer and apologized to Rose, “Sorry, have to go. Family emergency.”

They made their way outside and Alice asked with concern, “You look like shit, Bette. What’s happened between you and Tina?”

“Can we go to your place and talk?”

“Sure, sure…Dana is away on another training tour and I’m kinda lonely.”

“Was Rose a distraction?” Bette asked curiously.

“Oh no, I would never cheat on Dana. We were meeting to discuss our collaborative project.”

“Sorry I took you away from your meeting.”

“Oh, Bette, you and Tina are family and it’s my priority.”

Bette followed Alice to her house. Alice poured them some wine and waited for Bette to begin talking as they settled on the sofa. Bette took a sip of Pinot Noir and looked at her friend. “I know that Christina survived the shooting.”

Alice turned pale and spilled the wine all over her shirt.

Tina and Bette’s House – same night

Tina left another message on Bette’s cell and continued pacing the room. After waiting for over an hour for Bette to return, Tina couldn’t stay home any longer. She called all their friends but nobody had seen Bette, and Alice’s cell went straight to her voicemail.

Tina decided to drive around and look for her missing lover. Driving had proven to be difficult because Tina couldn’t stop crying, blaming herself for the way things turned around. She drove by Alice and Dana’s house but it was dark and their driveway was empty.

“I should’ve told her…I should have told her,” Tina shook her head and wiped tears away. She pulled over and tried to compose herself. She tried to call Alice again but got no answer. Tina closed her eyes, thinking about all the places Bette could have gone. A thought occurred to her and she frowned, “Crap…”

Tina started the car and drove to the SheBar. By the time she got to the bar it was so full that Tina had a hard time moving around. Women were dancing, drinking, making out and Tina felt more tears coming. She needed to find Bette to explain, to apologize, to make Bette understand her reasons for hiding the truth about Christina.