Previously:

Bette stands as she speaks. “Thank you guys for coming here tonight rather than meeting at the Planet. I really appreciate it! I think we are going to have a great time on our little junket to Louisiana. I have the flight booked, we will be leaving at 7:30 am on Thursday the 27th. I have a car rented and we will be staying at Agnes’s house.”

Chapter 7

Alice is the first to put in her two cents worth. “Is there staff there or will we be roughing it. I mean is someone cooking? Well, someone other than Bette because, well, we all know  ...”

Incredulous to Alice’s remarks. “Excuse me, I make a mean tomatoes, onion salad with that great vinaigrette and some feta cheese.”

“Yeah, uh huh, ok, like I was saying, who’s cooking? Do we have to trap our dinner or catch what ever is going to be cooked?”

“Fuck Alice, we are not going to the wilds of some foreign country, we are going to Louisiana for God’s sake.” Bette’s ire was building with her funny friend.

Bette regains control of the conversation. “No, there is not staff. And in anticipation of your next question Alice, there is indoor plumbing. Actually, I went through a box of Daddy’s pictures and found a few of the house. There are couple of Kit and I there.”

“Let me see those girl. How funny looking am I?” Kit takes the pictures from Bette. Alice, Tina and Shane move around to see the pictures.

“Girl, look at you on that swing. You loved that big ol’ tree swing. And, you were cute.”

Tina reaches out her hand. “Let me see that.” She takes the pictures of a young Bette. A wall crumbled. “Babe, you are so cute in this picture.” Before she realized what had come out of her mouth, the words escaped. She had called Bette, Babe. It came out so easily, so natural. After all, that is how she had referred to Bette over the past 7 years.

Not wanting to make too much of it Bette came around to stand beside Tina. “Which picture is that? Oh God, I have pig tails. No child should be photographed with pig tails.”

Tina was smiling up at Bette. “I can imagine you in pig tails. I probably have a picture of me with my hair in pig tails somewhere.”

Kit, Alice and Shane are all smiles. This is the Bette and Tina that they know and love. This is the Bette and Tina that everyone wants back.

The evening was much more relaxed now and the small talk ensued as the women planned, plotted and schemed the perfect long weekend.

~~