Same day, 22:00, Bette’s and Tina’s house 

It had been a long, exhaustive day for both
Bette and Tina. They were sitting side by side on a huge bed, each working on a
laptop.

‘Did you also receive Marina’s message, Tina?’
Bette asked matter-of-factly as she typed a reply to inquiries about her arts
show, "Provocations".

‘Yes, it’s right here. Over a thousant other e-mails
concerning my voluntary work.’ the blonde sighed, rubbed her eyes. ‘It’s
impossible, Bette. We can’t go now.’

‘Are you sure you can’t make ammends?’ The
brunette pressured, face shining with determination. She was willing to argue
the matter until the end of it.

Tina recognized that expression. She was
transfixed at how much energy Bette had, enough to go through the day and still
discuss whatever one could think of during the entire evening.

‘Why do you want to go?’ Tina replied with a
question of her own.

‘Well, why don’t you want to? Despite every
work-related excuse, that is.’ It was Bette’s turn to sigh. She glanced deeply
at her girlfriend’s eyes. ‘Marina is my friend and I miss her a lot. Besides,
we’ve never been to Italy. And it would be fun to spend the holidays with our
no-blood-bound family, don’t you think?’

‘Of course! It’d really be awesome and I do miss
Marina as well. But I have my responsibilities towards my charity work and I
can’t ignore them. Worse, they’ll probably duplicate within the holidays. It’s
a no-go…’

‘Have you thought that maybe Oscar knows a few
places in Florence where you can volunteer? He must have some contacts.’

‘Perhaps. I’ll ask him.’ Tina rapidly typed her
own e-mail, then turned to Bette and queried: ‘What about your work? And CAC?’

‘I told them I’d work in my computer.’ The
brunette said, simply.

Though it sounded easy, it had been nothing of
the sort. She had spent the whole afternoon and a part of evening discussing
and arguing it with the board of directors. Consensus had been difficult,
unstable, volatile. Had it been only for a few days, sure, no problem, she’d
already done it before. A month was another question entirely. But it had been
solved and Bette felt she could breathe more freely.

‘Oh. Maybe they’ll let me do the same.’ Tina
fussed around a bit, thrown off guard. ‘Wow, that was fast.’

‘Nothing that good, old persuasion couldn’t do.’
Bette beamed, winked.