Tina poked her head out. Bette’s eyes got big.

“I’m almost done. Want to order some food?”

“Yeah. I’ll take care of it.” Bette scurried away.

Tina smiled.

Bette was tipping the pizza delivery guy when Tina showed up wearing joggers and a tank top.

“I hope this is okay. I found a menu in the drawer.”

“This is great. You’ll love it. The crust is so good.”

Tina grabbed a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses. Bette grabbed a couple of plates. Tina lifted the wine bottle. Bette nodded. They sat on the floor in the living room. Bette opened the box and the pizza was a work of art. It had pesto sauce, roasted eggplant, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, red onions, Feta, mozzarella, capers, pine nuts and avocado.

Bette closed her eyes as all of the flavors burst in her mouth. Bette opened her eyes to find Tina watching her intently. She took a sip of wine.

“Like it?”

“It’s really good.”

Tina smiled.

“Umm. So, I go home tomorrow and I’d like to get some clarity on a couple of things.”

“Okay,” Tina looked nervous.

”Why did you look so sad this afternoon at lunch?”

Tina blew out all of the air in her lungs.

”Because of the way you were with AJ. It was so natural. I was imagining AJ was our son and I got overwhelmed.”

Bette nodded.

“Why did you leave?” Bette asked jumping right to the core of the issue.

Bette looked at Tina. Tina took a long swig of her wine. She couldn’t hide from this. It was time.

“I lost our son and I thought you were going to leave me. So, I left you first.”

Bette’s eyes were the size of saucers. She was frankly flabbergasted.

“You thought so little of me and my love for you that you created this whole scenario in your head and didn’t give me the opportunity to help us through it…to…to love you through it?”

“No. That’s not it. I…”

“Then I don’t understand, Tina. You knew I loved you with all of me. You knew you had my whole heart. You knew you were my world. Why leave and destroy everything we’d built?”

“I…I had to.”

“So, again, you thought so little of me?”