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Pippa Pascal.
Stone faced, Tina stared at the name on the business card as if it was going to jump off the embossed paper and bite her. Gripped between her index finger and thumb, she flipped it over and read a date and time on the back, clearly an appointment of some sort.
“Hmm,” she grunted.
Hazel eyes narrowed curiously as the tips of Tina’s fingers whitened from how hard she was holding the card.
Behind her, Bette padded into the kitchen carrying a fresh load of cleaned and dried laundry, all softness and domesticity in her yoga pants and a tank top.
“Hey, baby,” she greeted, but Tina remained statue-like, hypnotised by whatever she was looking at.
Bette paused, a confused smile on her face, and placed the laundry basket onto the kitchen counter.
“Baby?” she repeated.
Tina jumped, as if cold water had just been thrown in her face, and spun around to face her wife.
“Sorry, I was a million miles away.”
“Clearly,” Bette chuckled as she stepped closer to where Tina stood. “What’s that?”
Tina looked down at the card still clasped between her fingers, her cheeks burning.
“Oh, um… I was just, um, tidying some of your paperwork, and–”
“ Aha, ” Bette intoned playfully as she came closer and slipped her arms around her wife’s waist. “You found it.”
Tina opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish, wriggling without much conviction in Bette’s embrace.
“I, um, I just, well, I was–”
Bette nodded along with her stammered protests, caught red-handed, or white considering how hard she had clutched the card. Putting her out of her misery, Bette tilted Tina’s chin up and hushed her with a kiss that left the blonde more than a little weak at the knees.
“Yes, Pippa is in town,” Bette confirmed when their lips withdrew.
“I can see that,” Tina pouted.
The brunette bit back a laugh. “We are meeting next week at the Abbozzo for coffee and a catch up about her latest work.”
“It’s fine, honestly–”
“--and she invited you too,” Bette interrupted.
Shock was etched across Tina’s face, her eyebrows snapped together and her mouth slack.
Oh.
“Really?” she questioned, as if it was the most bizarre thing in the world to be asked along.
“Yes, really.”
“I see,” Tina mumbled, feeling a little embarrassed at the strength of her reaction. “That’s… kind of her. And unexpected.”
Bette nodded, unable to stop the Cheshire cat grin growing on her face. Tina responded with a saucy quirk of her eyebrow.
“Something you wanna say, Porter?”
“No, no,” Bette lied, amused. “Not at all. I mean, it’s not like she was at our wedding or anything.”
“Hmm,” was all the blonde could murmur as she squirmed again in her wife’s arms. “I guess.”
“Hey,” Bette started, her tone more serious as she held tighter onto Tina, not letting her run from her discomfort. “What’s this about?”
After a few seconds of silence, a deep sigh left Tina’s lips.
“I was jealous, I guess. Am jealous,” she corrected.
“Okay,” Bette acknowledged, allowing space and time for Tina to open up.
It was wonderfully rare for either woman to feel insecure in their relationship these days, but some triggers were harder to move past. In a soothing gesture, Bette took her hands and cupped the blonde’s face, grounding her and reminding her that she was here and she was listening. “Why’s that?”
Tina’s amber eyes were ablaze, but she glanced away from Bette, fearing that she would see her doubts and how silly they were.
“Baby,” Bette asserted as she gently turned Tina’s face back towards her. “ Tell me. ”
Exhaling noisily through her nose, Tina launched into an uncharacteristic ramble.
“It’s Pippa, Bette. You were with her when we were, y’know… I don’t know what the fuck we were doing, but there was a lot of unfinished business, okay? And you seemed happy with her, and like you’d met your match and–”
Bette let the babbling continue, wanting Tina to feel she could get all of this off her chest. She resisted the temptation to smile as she watched Tina’s hands flail and gesticulate as she ranted on.
“--she’s beautiful, and talented, and you have shared interests, and history, and sometimes it reminds me I can’t compete with h–”
Sensing Tina was going beyond venting and blowing the situation vastly out of proportion, Bette shushed Tina by placing a finger to her lips mid-flow.
“T, I’m going to stop you there,” she said kindly. “Firstly, we dated for a matter of weeks. I don’t think what we had can even be called a relationship. Nothing that can compare to nearly thirty years of me loving you.”
A smile flickered at Tina’s lips.
“Secondly, yes, she’s an artist and I admire her work, and her drive,” Bette explained, “and I’ve been a fan for a long time, but that’s the extent of our relationship. We are friends who share a love of art. You and I share that too and I love hearing your opinions about a work or a collection.”
Tina shrugged. “Okay, well–”
“ And, ” Bette interjected, wanting to really drive her next point home. “You are not competing with anyone. You are without comparison. You always have been and you always will be.”
Tina smiled shyly. “Really?”
Bette nodded, relieved to see Tina more assured. She pulled the blonde close again and dropped a lingering kiss to her forehead.
“I am yours, T,” she reiterated, her eyes locked on Tina’s, which had now melted to the colour of honey. “Irreversibly, forever, yours. ”
Tina leaned further into Bette’s comforting touch.
“And I’m yours.”
“I know,” Bette grinned as she nuzzled her nose to Tina’s. “You can’t get rid of me.”
“As if I’d want to,” Tina replied. “Sorry for being jealous. Not something I’m used to feeling at my age.”
“It’s okay. Remember at the gala last month? When Rick wouldn’t leave you alone? There’s a reason I pulled you to the dancefloor.”
“Oh,” Tina smirked, pleased that at least she wasn’t the only one in this marriage who sometimes let jealousy get the better of them.
“It’s actually very cute,” Bette said, dropping her voice lower, “and pretty sexy.”
“Ugh,” the blonde groaned humorously. “I’m not convinced it is.”
“Well, I think it is,” Bette confirmed, as she leaned forward to kiss each of Tina’s eyes, whose lids fluttered shut at her tender touch. “And you’re my green-eyed monster. I wouldn’t want you any other way. So, are you going to come with me next week?”
Tina bit her tongue between her teeth as she considered her answer.
“Um, no, I’m not. Go, have fun with Pippa, talk about sculpture and… whatever it is you two talk about.”
“You sure?”
The blonde nodded before offering a coy smile.
“Just don’t pose for any of her nude paintings without asking me first, please.”
With eyes wide, Bette’s laugh roared through the kitchen.
“Deal, T.”