“And so on and so forth…pretty soon we had invited all these various people who said they were going to be alone today, or who said they didn’t have any specific plans for the day,” Tina continued.

“But we didn’t expect everyone to come, actually,” Bette explained.  Tina was shaking her head also.

“Half of them told us, at one point, that they would likely not make it, and were heading out of the city for the long weekend,” Tina added.

“Yet, obviously, here they all are!,” Alice exclaimed, raising her arms looking out at the crowd.

Lara had joined them, “Bette, Tina, I asked your neighbor…Jacques, right?… if we could use his dishwasher.  Both your dishwashers are working non-stop right now, but we still have a lot of dishes, silver, glasses, etc, to clean up to prep for later in the day,” she paused.  “He gave me his keys…”

“Ok…I’ll go on dish duty,” Dana said cheerily, raising her hand and smiling at Lara.   Lara handed her Jacques’ keys, returning Dana’s smile.  Alice looked at Dana in shock.  “I think I’ll join you,” Alice told Dana in clipped tones.

Bette and Tina looked at each other eyebrows raised slightly.  Something going on there that you know about?, they asked each other silently.  They each shook their heads at one another.

“Ok, that’s settled,” Shane said aloud, to no one in particular, clapping her hands together, “I’ll go talk to people to ask them to head upstairs.”

The group broke up as each headed towards their respective tasks.  Bette gave Tina a lingering kiss before heading to the entrance to welcome the lighting designer, whispering, “I love you,” before she walked away.

Tina held onto Bette’s hand as long as she could as the brunette walked away, then let go, her eyes trailing the back of brunette’s retreating sexy figure. Lara was smiling as she observed them.

“I hope I find that one day,” she said wistfully.

“What?,” Tina asked, turning reluctantly from Bette’s direction, as the brunette turned then disappeared around the corner towards the living room area of the open-space plan of their home.

“That…that whole thing…this whole place, filled with love…that kiss…your look as she walked away…,” Lara responded waving her arms around, shaking her head.