When Bette returned home after her afternoon spent with Helena, she still felt in a state of shock. She knew she had no rights to be privy to all of Helena’s feelings or thoughts, but why hadn’t she mentioned it before? "I’ve been thinking about it for a while" Helena had said. Bette thought they had become close over the past few months, they would usually end up spending all of their time together when the group of friends met up. They would talk about their children, the arts, movies, Helena’s love for cooking. They’d laugh about their old rivalry, would talk about their dreams and aspirations. After a couple of months of this, they started meeting up without the others.

It started one afternoon in November when Helena called round to Bette’s house to drop off a magazine article about Bette’s latest exhibition as a favour to Alice. Helena didn’t intend to stay, but Bette had offered her a glass of wine and they spent the rest of the day and evening together, relaxed and comfortable in one another’s company. This was followed by another unplanned day together when Wilson and Jun were visiting and Bette offered them the use of her pool. It then became a regular event, once a week, they would meet up over a bottle or two of wine, some good food and talk about the latest events in their lives. Both women started to look forward to their Thursday evenings, Bette would leave work early and Helena would spend the day at home cooking various dishes to take over. Although they never discussed or agreed it, neither woman revealed their Thursday night ritual to their other friends, It wasn’t a secret per se, they just wanted to keep it to themselves.

It was during the first few weeks of their regular meetings that Bette realised she was in trouble. She still couldn’t pinpoint exactly when it happened, but suddenly Helena was constantly in her thoughts. The weekends became a drag, not because she didn’t have friends to see or things to do – but because Thursdays were so far away. She would process every part of their interaction – when they hugged, was it more than a friendly hug? When they bumped into each other at the store, did Helena look pleased to see her? When they inadvertently touched hands, was it deliberate? Bette started getting annoyed with herself, she felt like a teenager going through her first crush. But a phone call or a text or the impending Thursday night meeting would start all her thoughts off again.