Tina looked at her watch nervously.

“So Kennard, got a hot date? You look smashing and you keep looking at your watch.” Alice just does not know when to keep her mouth shut.

Tina glares at Alice. “You asked me that earlier and I didn’t respond. Did you think a second question would get you a better result?”

“Just messing with you Tina.” Alice smiles an awkward smile then turns her attention to Bette.

“OK Bette, so are you thinking about leaving on the 27th, that’s Thursday, right?”

“Yes, I guess. I really need to look at the paperwork and contact this attorney. I will have no compunction at all to tell him that I will not come down there if he cannot give me more information. Anyway, enough of this, lets talk about something else. I’ll get the details and get back with all of you.”

The women ease back into their conversations and drinking except for Tina. She is very quiet and then she abruptly excuses herself and leaves.

Alice gives Bette a glaring stare. “What’s up with that? Tina is just so not acting anything like her old self. Can you give us any insight Porter?”

“Alice, she is still grieving. She just has not found a good way to channel that grief. She told me that she feels a lot of guilt.” Pointing her finger directly at Alice, “You do not repeat this. Do you hear me. If you utter so much as one syllable of this conversation Alice, I promise you, I will ruin your already limited social life!”

As she looks at her friends, her eyes well with tears. “Tina blames herself for losing the baby and she thinks that I hate her. She says her body rejected our baby and she feels incredibly guilty. She has convinced herself that I hated her then and that I still harbor resentment towards her now. I have no idea where this has all come from. I tried to be supportive. I tried to be loving. I have looked back at that time and I cannot think of anything that I said or did to give her that impression. I can be a bitch but, not to her, not at that time.”

Kit puts her hand on Bette’s back and rubs it. “Bette, grief is a process. You know you gotta’ go though it and find a way out the other side. You just need to tell her how you feel. If you still love her, you need to tell her that. She needs to hear only truths from you now. Don’t rehash all the old shit. Talk about your feelings. You got to open this up and talk about it.”