CHAPTER THREE

Tina's POV -

It isn't as I imagined it would be. I thought I would come home and prepare a speech in my head, I would wait for him to walk through the front door and then I'd just throw it at him. If I didn't think I could do it, I would summon the image of the beautiful and strong Bette Porter.

I was so sure that he once again would be home late and I would confront him when it was already dark outside, late into the night. I look up in wonderment when I hear the sound of keys and the door opening when it's only 5 pm. I almost get angry at him for coming home early, for the one time I wish he didn't.

He peeks around the wall and gives me his most charming smile - the one that would make me swoon at any other time, the one that would make me forgive him anything. But not now.

"Eric, could you sit down, please?"

He frowns his eyebrows in confusion and shrugs her shoulders. "Sure; let me just bring this to my office."

He walks towards the room only he uses, I don't even know why he spends all his time in there when he is already at the office for so long. You can be busy, but nobody has to his job literally non-stop. He comes back without his suitcase. He's loosened his tie and slumps down in the sofa in front of me. Why does even this minor detail bother me? The fact he rarely sits [I]next [/I] to me?

I take a deep breath and decide not to stick to the little words I already had in my head. I didn't have the chance to prepare a full speech, and frankly, I don't think he deserves an entire explanation. He chooses to do everything behind my back, but I'm going to be up front with him.

"Eric Myers, are you cheating on me?" I say in one breath. I can't believe the words actually left my mouth, they're out there now, somewhere in between us. He looks truly perplexed and I don't know if I should feel offended because he can't understand how I figured out, or relieved because it means he isn't.

"Tina... what makes you think that?"

Typical. He doesn't admit or deny it, he starts asking questions around the subject. He's such a... lawyer. I give him the brief summary of everything that makes me think he's having an affair, the same one I gave Bette. [I]Bette... [/I] I take another breath, the thought of her making me stronger.

"I... no, Tina, I'm not cheating on you! Why would I? You're so beautiful and kind, so sexy and honest and man, you have fantastic breasts!"

I frown my eyebrows, as if to ask him if that's all there is to me according to him.

"And of course you're intelligent and passionate and amazing..."

"Then why are you cheating on me?" I see he wants to protest, but I don't allow him to. "If you aren't, what is your explanation to all of it?"

"I... I'm sorry, but I can't tell you."

"And why the fucking hell not?" I ask, hot with anger. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's people not being honest with me. I want him to spill it to me already instead of making me feel like a ridiculous child.

He hesitates - probably making up an excuse. For the first time, I'm glad his cellphone rings at the wrong moment. This will probably distract him even more and make it harder for him to find a valuable excuse for not 'being able to tell me'. Just as he is about to pick up, I get another idea.

"Give that to me."

"What?"

"Do you have any secrets for me?"

"N-no." The sweat is running down his temples, he looks panicky. He is such a bad liar when it comes down to it. I've always been able to see through him, but lately he had probably become smoother at it. But now, not having been prepared, he's back to his old self.

"Then give it to me."

He glances at the display and is barely able to suppres something between a moan and a squeek. He gives me the device, his hand shaking. Could it be any clearer?

I press the green phone and hold the thing to my ear. Before I can even say something, a deep voice purrs in my ear. "Hey baby, I've been missing you today... are we still on for tonight or do you have to keep the woman satisfied?"

I feel strangely calm as I answer. "It's the woman speaking and she wants to let you know that you can have his cheating ass." With those words, I end the call and the throw the phone at him.

If I look at myself and how I have behaved in the past, when I think about my mentality in what now seems to be another life, my next step doesn't seem logical at all. The old me would have stayed and would have thrown all ugly words in her vocabulary at Eric, would rage at him and want to slap him and push him, but in the end forgive him because she believed that Eric was all there was in life in the love area.

But since I met Bette Porter... I haven't known her for that long, but she gives me this fundamental trust I thought I had with Eric, but of which I didn't even know what it was before I met her. I feel at ease with her, I know she will understand everything and will be patient with me. She has also filled me with a hunger, a desire to know who she is and what we can become.

That hunger is the reason for my next step. Instead of doing anything the old me would have done, I feel that I couldn't care less whether this relationship strands at this or not. That is why I leave. It's been the greatest part of my life for three years, it's been life-altering. It brought me here, to New York, where I've been isolated ever since my arrival... until I met her.

Her, who I know to be the woman of my life. It doesn't require any rational thought, there's no sense in being sensible here. There's no need. I barely have the sense to take my purse and then I just walk out the door. Closing it makes me feel alive, fresh, a new chapter is ahead of me and I can't wait to read the first words. When I come outside, it feels as if the colours of the world are brighter.

I decide to walk to Bette's place, even though it takes me half an hour. I don't want to take the subway, I don't want to take the bus. I want to spend what feels like a freedom I didn't know I'd last outside, where the city is buzzing, engulfing me, swallowing me. I just follow the stream and let the wind, the sounds of the street, the people around me, faith bring me to the place I belong in, the person I belong to.

I feel my heart beating faster as I come closer to my destination. Doubt momentarily kicks in - what if she decided not to wait for me? What if she decided to move on while she can? What if she doesn't want to let me in. But it's not like I have someplace else to go. It's not like I want to go somewhere else.

I finally reach her building and look up to her floor, blocking the sun that seems to be shining for me, for us. I then proceed to enter it, ring her bell and wait for her beautiful voice.

She doesn't pick up. She doesn't answer.

Fuck it! I knew it, I just knew it was too good to be true. No other choice than to wait for her here, I guess. Might as well take a walk in the park and come back later? No, I want to be here when she arrives. I sit down outside on the step.

Minutes pass. Keep on passing. Accumulating, adding up. Until a small, whiskey-coloured dot comes running to me from a distance. It gets larger and larger and to my delight, I recognise Jack. He jumps at me, nearly pushes me over, enthusiastically licks my face. When he feels that he has shown me his delight sufficiently, he runs back to where he came from, appears back at my side, runs away again, appears back and then runs. He's trying to tell Bette someone's waiting for her.

He's making cute squeeky noises, panting heavily from all the running. Finally, I see Bette appearing.

She looks more than surprised and I'm momentarily scared it's not good, but then she breaks out in a huge smile. "That's why you suddenly ran off like that, Jackie boy."

I stand up, suddenly nervous, still wiping my face with a tissue. "Hi?"

"Hey. Did you talk to him?"

"I did."

"And?"

"We're history."

That's her cue to take me into her arms and kiss me with so much passion, fever, lust, eagerness and most importantly, love, that it makes me dizzy and out of control.

Bettes POV -

Tina and I are watching a movie. She's leaning against me and Jack is leaning against her. I look at the both of them. My perfect, little family. I love them to death, literally. I'd give my life for those two, they're my everything.

I lean down to give her a kiss. If this were any other person, Jack would protest and try to squeeze himself between us. But he accepts Tina, loves her.

She smiles at me. "You know, I ran into Marie last night."

Marie is the girl who moved in next door two months ago, bringing with her a boyfriend and a very cute female dog called Holly. Jack enamoured her in no time. They're as happy a couple as we are.

"Did something happen?"

My favourite blonde has a sparkle in her eyes. A cute, happy one. "Jackie's going to be a daddy."

I pretend to pout. "Great. So now our dog will have children sooner than the two of us?"

Silence.

Oh-oh.

Huge smile.

Ca-ching!

"Our dog? Children?"

"Of course," I mumble, slipping my hand under her shirt and stroking her delicious, soft skin. "Whenever you want."

"I love you."

THE END