She went to her office the next morning and concentrated on her workas much as possible. The phone loomed next to her and she started about a hundred times to pick it up and call Bette. But something kept stopping her.

She couldn't forget Val's words to her. "Bette Porter does not do relationships" and Bette Porter will break your heart." Did she really want to give her body and her heart to this woman. She didn't even know if she would like sex with a woman, but something told her that she would like it with Bette. She liked and trusted Val and knew Val was genuinely worried about her interest in Bette. Maybe she should pay attention.

Tina was very confused about what to do. It was so unlike anything in her experience that she was not secure about her decisions. It wasn't just that Bette was a woman, although that was a factor. It was that she had never before wanted anyone like this in her life. The fantasies she had about Bette embarrassed her. It was pretty bad, she thought, when you made yourself blush. She had never before thought, much less said, that she was in love. When she had revealed this to Val, she was surprised she had said it. But she instantly knew it was the truth.

Tina had never pursued a romantic interest in her life. Romantic interests had always pursued her. and now she didn't know the steps to take. She had initiated a kiss because Bette had said that her girlfriend was coming back to town. Tina wanted Bette to understand her interest but that may have been the wrong thing to do. She told herself that Bette was interested in her, but maybe Bette was just annoyed. She had a really gorgeous girlfriend. And she had said, 'No.'

Tina usually knew exactly how to handle things in her personal life, but not this time.

"I'm leaving if you don't have anything else for me to do," Carolyn said to Bette as she was standing in the door of Bette's office.

Bette looked up, "No, no, go home." But as Carolyn moved away from the door Bette called, "Carolyn," and she stopped and returned to the door. "Did Tina Kennard call?" Bette asked, almost shyly.

"No, we didn't hear from her," Carolyn answered, thinking that Bette was pretty interested in hearing from a woman she didn't want to hear from. The first thing Bette had told her this morning was if a Tina Kennard called, tell her that Bette was out all day.

Carolyn was old enough to be Bette's mother and was coming to think of her like a daughter. She wasn't a part of the gay community so was still a little startled by Bette's lifestyle. She wasn't nave but had never really observed women dating women until coming to work for Bette.

"Dating." When Carolyn was "dating," a date was going to a movie, or dancing, or dinner, or a concert, or ball game. She learned that when Bette or any of her friends said they were "dating," they usually meant they were sleeping with the woman. And Bette "dated" many women.

She told a little of this to her husband, but much she kept private. Carolyn had seen many attractive women with Bette in the year she had worked for her. If she slept with all of them, she was a pretty busy young woman, Carolyn thought

Gillian was Bette's latest and enormously attractive girlfriend. But now Carolyn wondered what this Tina Kennard looked like. She had heard her voice on the phone, and it was a warm voicesweet. There must be something special about her if Bette was interested. And Carolyn knew instinctively that Bette was interested. Like many older women who feel maternal about younger women, she hoped Bette would find someone and settle down.

Bette

She was very disappointed that Tina had not called and was angry at herself that she was disappointed. After Carolyn left her office, she spun her desk around and faced the back wall. She turned back around and decided to take a look at the photographs taken during the exhibit. Some of them might be good for later publicity.

She flipped through the photos and then stopped at one picture and looked at it with surprise. It showed her and Tina, walking down the gallery. Bette was talking to her and Tina was looking at her withwell, adoration. Bette frowned. She pulled it from the batch and walked to the trash basket and started to throw it in. But she looked at it again, thought better of it and put it in her purse.

Both women were in the same type of quandary although they had no idea this was the case.

It didn't occur to Bette that Tina was as shaky about this as she was. All she could think of was 'What is happening to me?' and 'This is not me.'

She was Bette Porter, for god's sake. Bette Porter! She usually pursued women, not the other way around. But when someone did approach her, she knew exactly how to handle it. If she needed sophisticated patter to pick up someone, she clicked it on. If she didn't need something sophisticated, well, she knew what to do there, too.

'Do you wanna dance.' This was a favorite line of Bette's, said in an even, but sultry tone. It was a statement, not a question. Bette usually followed this up by slowly taking the woman in her arms and beginning to dance. It didn't matter if her target said anything or not.

But now. She really didn't know how to handle this. Tina was not like other women, but Bette could not have told you how she was different. She had a beautiful face, hair, eyes, but Bette had dated many women who was just as pretty. Her body was terrific, but Bette had seen and slept with many beautiful bodies. She was coming on to Bette, but she was certainly not the first woman to do this.

Bette took a deep breath and tried to get back to work.

One day down and many to go. Fortunately Gillian was due back tomorrow afternoon and Bette needed some distraction. She hoped Jill would not be too tired from the plane trip.

"This is like that fucking thing you gave me." Bette bit off the statement and pulled out the chair with a scrape..

"What fucking thing, Bette?" Alice said calmly.

Bette had just joined Alice at a table at the Planet and was clearly irritated. Alice stopped writing some notes and looked at Bette.

"You know, that fucking computer thing."

"Oh, Myst?" said Alice innocently. She remembered how Bette had hated the game and had ranted and raved. Bette hadn't suffered in silence on this topic.

"That's it," confirmed Bette. "Myst."

"That was a super popular gamewith great graphics. You said you liked the graphics." Alice loved to fan the flames when Bette was annoyed over something silly.