“Kit,” Carmen uttered through her laughter, “She said, ‘As soon as Alice see me back, she’ll appreciate how good I am as a manager of her favorite café’.”

“You, guys…” Alice laughed, shaking her head and went to Kit’s office to give her a hug and congratulate her again on a full recovery.

“Let me know when my baby sis will get here with that relentless girlfriend of hers, so I can join you all for breakfast,” Kit said with a smile, happy to be back, happy to be alive.

Alice returned to the table and demanded attention again, “Anyway…let’s continue, shall we? Fact number three, by a twist of fate, destiny and my humble efforts, Bette and Tina were brought together in the same time and space. Fact number four, even though it took Bette and Tina forever to admit it and that process turned my butt hair gray, they finally acknowledged their love for each other and began their journey together. Are you with me so far?” Alice asked her friends who were trying hard not to burst into laughter.

“Al, you might consider butt waxing,” Carmen giggled, joined in by Dana.

“Guys, you are killing me…I just spent the last hour giving you my wisdom and knowledge about our friends and all you heard was that I have hair on my butt?”

Alice was genuinely upset and Shane said quickly, “Sorry, Al…we are joking, we heard everything. It’s very important, we know, but what is your point?”

“My point is,” Alice replied, pacified by Shane’s calmness and sincerity, “That they don’t really know each other. Their love is projected on the images that they had in their heads for so long. In Tina’s case, she sees Bette as this gorgeous mysterious beauty that suddenly came into her life. Her obsession with Elizabeth was immediately transferred to Bette the minute she saw her fainting in the bedroom of the Porter mansion. As far as Bette is concerned, when she noticed Tina she thought it was Christina. I think that all the love that Bette had for Christina and was never able to show or even tell about, poured out of her and found Tina as the object of those unrequited and unspent desires and emotions. So, here comes the million-dollar question: does Bette love Tina as Tina or as an image of Christina, her first real love? Does Tina love Bette as Bette or as Elizabeth Porter, the mysterious miniature image?”