The Ones that Matter (6A/?) Kate x Betty, Gladys/Betty/Kate friendship,
Fandom: Bomb Girls
Pairing: Betty/Kate
rating: G, everything is G
disclaimer: I do not own this show, or these lovely characters, or anything connected to them. I don't make any money from this.
A/N This chapter is on the longer side. It takes a long time to have people work through prejudice based in religion, but I do think Kate can do it, especially because there is a whole lot of stuff about love in the Bible, and because it would be hard for her to ignore Betty's sweet face while she's staring at it. (And because she loves Betty) And clearly, our friend Kate is having some little feelings she doesn't quite understand yet, but hopefully she will figure them out at some point. I think we will be headed back to the Tangiers in the next chapter.
Also, I'm up really late, so please let me know if there are any typos, so I can fix them--I read through it three times, but I may have missed some things.
And thanks for all the feedback over the last couple of days!
Chapter 6A
Gladys ended up being the one to call Betty on Kate’s behalf, because apparently the two of them were both equally terrified of each other by this point. Kate had looked as if she was about to run out of the room when Gladys offered her the phone. It was probably for the best that Gladys did end up making the call, given Betty’s stammering, general incoherence, and (Gladys was pretty sure) tears, on the other end of the line.
Betty had agreed to meet with Kate over at Gladys’ apartment after work a couple of days later. Kate had started right away at the hospital, and got out a little later than they did, so Gladys was presently sitting on her sofa, watching Betty wear a hole in her lovely carpet as she paced back and forth across the room.
“She didn’t seem upset? She doesn’t want to have it out with me?”
“Betty, for what could possibly be the four hundredth time, no. That was not at all the impression I got. She was barely here for five minutes before she mentioned wanting to talk to you, and feeling badly about how she left.”
“Where should I sit? I mean, say she sits where you are, I should sit in the chair over there? I don’t want to sit too close.”
With that, Gladys allowed herself to tilt over sideways until she landed face first in the cushion. “Betty,” her voice was muffled, “It’s going to be fine. She wants to be friends with you. She cares about you enough to want to try to sort things out. But,” she waved her hand vaguely in Betty’s direction as she sat up again, and then stood, “I can’t handle this anymore. The two of you are both strong, driven women, and you need to…handle yourselves!”
“All right, all right, Princess,” Betty smirked and held her hands up in surrender, “ What happened to all that nice sympathy I used to get?”
“When I was afraid you were going to stay curled in a ball in the corner all day? It ran out about as soon as you pulled yourself back together, to be the Betts McRae I knew.” Gladys tilted her head and smiled at her friend, pulling her into a side hug. “You may not need my sympathy anymore, but you’ve always got my support.”
Betty ducked her head for a moment before looking back at Gladys. “Aw, it’s-- I know, you don’t have to say it. And thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Now, with that being said, I hope you know I am most certainly not staying for this conversation. As soon as Kate gets here, I am leaving to meet up with Vera at the Tangiers. Feel free to join later if you’d like.”
Momentarily, Betty panicked, until she realized that, of course Gladys wasn’t going to stay and be their babysitter. Like she said, they were both grown women, who were…what did she say again? Capable? Something like that. “Sure thing, Gladys, I’ll come. I don’t think Kate will, but I’ll be there. I’ll probably need a drink after this,” she said, grinning.
They heard Kate’s key in the lock just then, and Gladys thought Betty was actually going to run and hide for a moment. However, instead, she straightened up, smoothed her shirt, and then leaned her elbow casually on the back of the chair she had been walking past for the last half hour.
As Kate opened the door, he face broke into a smile at the sight of Betty, while tears formed in her eyes. “Betty!” She exclaimed, rushing toward her, as if she was going to give her a hug, but stopping short about three feet away, and standing awkwardly. “I’m so glad to see you.”
Gladys took this as her cue to leave, and gathered up her coat, purse and keys as unobtrusively as she could, yelling, “See you later, girls!” as she walked out the door. Both Kate and Betty stared after her for a moment-a moment too long to be a casual noting of her leaving. Finally, Kate turned back to face Betty, and gave her a shaky smile.
“I’m nervous,” she blurted out, expecting Betty to fall into the role of her protector and comforter once again, but Betty’s deep breath, and reply of, “yeah, me too,” helped her realize that things truly would be different between them this time.
“Will you sit with me?” Kate asked, gesturing to the sofa. They both sat, and faced each other, though Betty was backed up about as far as she could be without actually sitting on the arm rest. She was not going to do anything to make this woman uncomfortable, ever again, and right now she wasn’t sure where the line was, so she planned to give her as wide a berth as possible.
“Betty, I know…I know it’s strange, right now, to be here, after the way things ended before.”
Before Betty could stop herself, words were spilling out, “Kate, I’m so sorry about what I did, and said. I never meant to make you feel uncomfortable, or…upset. I was too forward, and I thought-I was just confused.” Betty looked down, shaking her head, “It will never happen again.”
Kate looked down as well, feeling something that she would almost identify as disappointment at that last sentence, but that couldn’t possibly be what it was. She must just be feeling badly that her friend was so upset. “Betty, I don’t have any hard feelings against you. I know I said some horrible things,” at this point she started to cry, and Betty had to fight the urge to reach out to her. She decided to sit on her hands. “I don’t have any excuse-well, I do, I have many, my father, my background-but none of that is enough to justify how I spoke to you. Betty, I…it was never my place to judge you, and to make your lo-feelings out to be something so horrible. I want to be your friend. I-Gladys told me to just say this directly-I don’t want anything more than that, but I do want that.”
“Kate, I-like I said, you never have to worry about any trouble again.” Did Kate’s face just fall a little? Not possible. Stop confusing things again, Betty. “I know now, I get it, what you want. You were my best friend. Everything I ever said or did, until that last day, was just about being your friend. I know you thought,” Betty shook her head, not being able to continue for a moment, “I know you thought maybe it was all some game, some design, to lead up to what happened, but-“
“Betty I know.” Kate leaned toward her for a moment, with a most earnest look on her face, “I knew as soon as I left you in the hallway. It took me a little while to stop trying to convince myself otherwise, what with my father…well, you know. But, I-I knew it was wrong, what I said, how I left. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s-no hard feelings, Kate, ever. All right?”
Kate smiled widely then, and let out a breath, clearly relieved, “All right. I’m so happy to hear that. And, before I start babbling away about all the things I realized while I was gone, I wanted to thank you for helping me get the job at the hospital. Sheila has been very kind, and they seem to like me so far. And that you did it all without even knowing…without knowing how I’d treat you, and after you know I told Gladys not to tell you I was coming…”
“Kate,” Betty leaned her head down, to catch Kate’s eyes, which she’d dropped to her hands, “A couple little scenes aren’t going to make me forget a great friendship. Plus,” she shrugged, “You needed a job, I knew you’d be good at this one, and our soldiers need some good people taking care of them. Worked out for everybody.”
“Well, it’s appreciated. And I don’t know even why I asked Gladys to keep my letter a secret.” She paused, “ I’ve changed since I went back home, Betty. The first time I left, I was still torn. Half of me was still there, with my family, with everything my father had taught me. And, Pearl Harbor happening, Gladys and the rumor about her being in a family way, hearing that my mother was sick, you getting hurt on the line that day, and then…everything at the club-everything seemed so scary, and so uncertain, and suddenly I just wanted to go back to what I knew. And to my mother. Seems silly, a twenty four year old woman wanted to run back to her mother.”
“Kate, sometimes we all want to run back to our mothers, even me, and mine doesn’t even like me!” Betty smiled crookedly at her, before becoming serious again, “And I’m sorry to hear that she passed away.”
“Thank you. At least I got to see her, and at least now…she can watch over me, here, and see what my life is like. The life she wanted for me.”
Betty just nodded, not really knowing what else to say, and pretty darn certain Kate was just getting started with whatever she wanted to say.
“You know my mother wasn’t raised like me, her father wasn’t a preacher, and her parents weren’t nearly as religious as my father? I didn’t even know anything about them, really, until I went back home, she’d never told me. I’d certainly never met my grandparents, on that side, well, and my father was orphaned at a young age, so that side either. But my mother’s parents were alive, are probably still, but, well, of course my father wouldn’t have allowed their influence. All I’d ever heard about them was that they were sinners, and my mother had come to follow Jesus, but they hadn’t.”
“That’s what your mother used to say, or your father?”
“Oh, my father. My mother never said anything about it! Can you imagine, all these years? Not saying anything about your parents?” Kate looked at her with that genuinely amazed expression she had, and Betty smiled, shaking her head.
“I can’t. Your mom must have been a great secret keeper.”
“I suppose she was. Although it wasn’t as if…she wouldn’t have been able to say very much good about them, if my father thought they weren’t. And maybe she agreed, at one time.” Kate shrugged, looking sad again.
“Maybe, but it sounds like she really wanted you to know more about them before-while she was still there to set the record right.”
“Betty that’s funny, that’s almost exactly what she said to me. She said she wanted me to know where I came from, and that it wasn’t just from Vernon Rowley.”
“Rowley?” Betty repeated, distracted by this piece of information, though it hadn’t remotely been Kate’s point, “So, Marion Rowley,” Betty said softly, realizing this was Kate’s real name.
Kate smiled at her, “Yes, that’s my name. Or was my name. But my mother chose Kate Andrews for me too, so I almost feel like that’s just as legitimate.” Her smile became almost playful in saying this, and Betty let out a small laugh.
“Sure thing, Kate Andrews.”
“I guess she had a sister named Kate. She told me. She’s probably still out there somewhere. But she didn’t give me many details about her family, just that both of her parents were teachers, and then a little bit about herself. That she graduated from high school, and oh! Betty-she’s from Toronto, that’s why she sent me here!”
“Get the heck outta here!”
“Truly! It all makes sense to me now. Though, in hindsight it probably gave my father a better idea of where to start looking for me. But, well, I’m still glad she chose it, because otherwise I never would have met you. And the rest of the girls.” Kate added that last piece quickly, though it was an afterthought. She decided the best way not to draw attention to that fact was to just continue on. “So, she attended Toronto Normal School, and was going to be a teacher. But then she met my father, and I guess she thought he was so moral and confident and committed doing good in the world, that…”
He ‘seduced’ her away from her education and her life? Betty’s brain supplied involuntarily. Lord don’t say that! I am going to hell. Mocking religious people.
“I don’t know, my mother fell in love with him. And all these years, right up until she starting talking to me about leaving the first time, I thought she believed in…what he said, what he did. She seemed to follow along with his preaching. Although, she always had a bit of a different take, and would talk more about Jesus loving people and “Love the Neighbor,” and treating others how we would want to be treated.”
“The golden rule, even I know that one.” Betty gave a crooked smile, to show she wasn’t trying to make light of Kate’s religion. She also wanted Kate to know that she did actually know something about religion, even though she’d grown up to doubt the existence of God.
“I think it’s the most, or one of the most, important things to follow in life. And it’s in the Bible, in some form or another, over and over. And I’m not sure my father follows it. He was always much more focused on sin, and everyone being a sinner, who needed to repent or burn. Do you know that I’d never read the Bible, before I went home again?”
Betty tried not to let her shock show in her face, but clearly failed miserably.
“I know, I’m embarrassed to admit it. I’d read parts, of course, but really just what my father wanted me to. I’d relied on him for my entire understanding of it, and of what God wanted. And I know I keep going on and on, and I know you don’t believe in any of this-“ Kate rushed that sentence out, and seemed on the verge of babbling, so Betty interrupted her before she could get any further.
“Kate. I…you’re right, I don’t, which I know is hard for you to understand too. And maybe sometime we can talk about my reasons. But, you’re my friend, I know how important this is to you, and how so much of the person you’ve become is wrapped up in it. That makes it important to me too. And I like the person you are, so I want to know how you got to be…you. Don’t worry about me, just say what you need to say. I’m here, I’m listening.” And I love you. And I want to bang my head against this wall here, because I love you so much, and seeing you makes it all real again, and I know you will never love me. But I will make myself be happy with your friendship, if that’s all you want.
Kate looked at Betty almost adoringly. If there was one thing Kate had acquired growing up, it was humility, so talking about herself, and about her beliefs, to someone she knew wasn’t quite of the same mind, was strange. It was also strange to have someone who valued what she had to say so much, and wanted to hear her, just because she was worth listening to. Sometimes she didn’t know how she ever could have left this woman sitting before her. Seeing her again brought everything back, everything that their friendship had been based on for all those months-trust, safety, respect, affection. All of the judgment she’d felt toward her after the kiss…she could barely understand it right now, in this moment.
“Thanks Betty. And I hope you know that it’s because you’re my friend, and you are so important to me, that I am trying to explain all of this to you. And I feel like it is taking me a very long time!” She said, laughing, “I’ll try to make the rest quick.”
“Don’t rush this conversation Kate…we need it.”
to be continued, right now!
Pairing: Betty/Kate
rating: G, everything is G
disclaimer: I do not own this show, or these lovely characters, or anything connected to them. I don't make any money from this.
A/N This chapter is on the longer side. It takes a long time to have people work through prejudice based in religion, but I do think Kate can do it, especially because there is a whole lot of stuff about love in the Bible, and because it would be hard for her to ignore Betty's sweet face while she's staring at it. (And because she loves Betty) And clearly, our friend Kate is having some little feelings she doesn't quite understand yet, but hopefully she will figure them out at some point. I think we will be headed back to the Tangiers in the next chapter.
Also, I'm up really late, so please let me know if there are any typos, so I can fix them--I read through it three times, but I may have missed some things.
And thanks for all the feedback over the last couple of days!
Chapter 6A
Gladys ended up being the one to call Betty on Kate’s behalf, because apparently the two of them were both equally terrified of each other by this point. Kate had looked as if she was about to run out of the room when Gladys offered her the phone. It was probably for the best that Gladys did end up making the call, given Betty’s stammering, general incoherence, and (Gladys was pretty sure) tears, on the other end of the line.
Betty had agreed to meet with Kate over at Gladys’ apartment after work a couple of days later. Kate had started right away at the hospital, and got out a little later than they did, so Gladys was presently sitting on her sofa, watching Betty wear a hole in her lovely carpet as she paced back and forth across the room.
“She didn’t seem upset? She doesn’t want to have it out with me?”
“Betty, for what could possibly be the four hundredth time, no. That was not at all the impression I got. She was barely here for five minutes before she mentioned wanting to talk to you, and feeling badly about how she left.”
“Where should I sit? I mean, say she sits where you are, I should sit in the chair over there? I don’t want to sit too close.”
With that, Gladys allowed herself to tilt over sideways until she landed face first in the cushion. “Betty,” her voice was muffled, “It’s going to be fine. She wants to be friends with you. She cares about you enough to want to try to sort things out. But,” she waved her hand vaguely in Betty’s direction as she sat up again, and then stood, “I can’t handle this anymore. The two of you are both strong, driven women, and you need to…handle yourselves!”
“All right, all right, Princess,” Betty smirked and held her hands up in surrender, “ What happened to all that nice sympathy I used to get?”
“When I was afraid you were going to stay curled in a ball in the corner all day? It ran out about as soon as you pulled yourself back together, to be the Betts McRae I knew.” Gladys tilted her head and smiled at her friend, pulling her into a side hug. “You may not need my sympathy anymore, but you’ve always got my support.”
Betty ducked her head for a moment before looking back at Gladys. “Aw, it’s-- I know, you don’t have to say it. And thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Now, with that being said, I hope you know I am most certainly not staying for this conversation. As soon as Kate gets here, I am leaving to meet up with Vera at the Tangiers. Feel free to join later if you’d like.”
Momentarily, Betty panicked, until she realized that, of course Gladys wasn’t going to stay and be their babysitter. Like she said, they were both grown women, who were…what did she say again? Capable? Something like that. “Sure thing, Gladys, I’ll come. I don’t think Kate will, but I’ll be there. I’ll probably need a drink after this,” she said, grinning.
They heard Kate’s key in the lock just then, and Gladys thought Betty was actually going to run and hide for a moment. However, instead, she straightened up, smoothed her shirt, and then leaned her elbow casually on the back of the chair she had been walking past for the last half hour.
As Kate opened the door, he face broke into a smile at the sight of Betty, while tears formed in her eyes. “Betty!” She exclaimed, rushing toward her, as if she was going to give her a hug, but stopping short about three feet away, and standing awkwardly. “I’m so glad to see you.”
Gladys took this as her cue to leave, and gathered up her coat, purse and keys as unobtrusively as she could, yelling, “See you later, girls!” as she walked out the door. Both Kate and Betty stared after her for a moment-a moment too long to be a casual noting of her leaving. Finally, Kate turned back to face Betty, and gave her a shaky smile.
“I’m nervous,” she blurted out, expecting Betty to fall into the role of her protector and comforter once again, but Betty’s deep breath, and reply of, “yeah, me too,” helped her realize that things truly would be different between them this time.
“Will you sit with me?” Kate asked, gesturing to the sofa. They both sat, and faced each other, though Betty was backed up about as far as she could be without actually sitting on the arm rest. She was not going to do anything to make this woman uncomfortable, ever again, and right now she wasn’t sure where the line was, so she planned to give her as wide a berth as possible.
“Betty, I know…I know it’s strange, right now, to be here, after the way things ended before.”
Before Betty could stop herself, words were spilling out, “Kate, I’m so sorry about what I did, and said. I never meant to make you feel uncomfortable, or…upset. I was too forward, and I thought-I was just confused.” Betty looked down, shaking her head, “It will never happen again.”
Kate looked down as well, feeling something that she would almost identify as disappointment at that last sentence, but that couldn’t possibly be what it was. She must just be feeling badly that her friend was so upset. “Betty, I don’t have any hard feelings against you. I know I said some horrible things,” at this point she started to cry, and Betty had to fight the urge to reach out to her. She decided to sit on her hands. “I don’t have any excuse-well, I do, I have many, my father, my background-but none of that is enough to justify how I spoke to you. Betty, I…it was never my place to judge you, and to make your lo-feelings out to be something so horrible. I want to be your friend. I-Gladys told me to just say this directly-I don’t want anything more than that, but I do want that.”
“Kate, I-like I said, you never have to worry about any trouble again.” Did Kate’s face just fall a little? Not possible. Stop confusing things again, Betty. “I know now, I get it, what you want. You were my best friend. Everything I ever said or did, until that last day, was just about being your friend. I know you thought,” Betty shook her head, not being able to continue for a moment, “I know you thought maybe it was all some game, some design, to lead up to what happened, but-“
“Betty I know.” Kate leaned toward her for a moment, with a most earnest look on her face, “I knew as soon as I left you in the hallway. It took me a little while to stop trying to convince myself otherwise, what with my father…well, you know. But, I-I knew it was wrong, what I said, how I left. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s-no hard feelings, Kate, ever. All right?”
Kate smiled widely then, and let out a breath, clearly relieved, “All right. I’m so happy to hear that. And, before I start babbling away about all the things I realized while I was gone, I wanted to thank you for helping me get the job at the hospital. Sheila has been very kind, and they seem to like me so far. And that you did it all without even knowing…without knowing how I’d treat you, and after you know I told Gladys not to tell you I was coming…”
“Kate,” Betty leaned her head down, to catch Kate’s eyes, which she’d dropped to her hands, “A couple little scenes aren’t going to make me forget a great friendship. Plus,” she shrugged, “You needed a job, I knew you’d be good at this one, and our soldiers need some good people taking care of them. Worked out for everybody.”
“Well, it’s appreciated. And I don’t know even why I asked Gladys to keep my letter a secret.” She paused, “ I’ve changed since I went back home, Betty. The first time I left, I was still torn. Half of me was still there, with my family, with everything my father had taught me. And, Pearl Harbor happening, Gladys and the rumor about her being in a family way, hearing that my mother was sick, you getting hurt on the line that day, and then…everything at the club-everything seemed so scary, and so uncertain, and suddenly I just wanted to go back to what I knew. And to my mother. Seems silly, a twenty four year old woman wanted to run back to her mother.”
“Kate, sometimes we all want to run back to our mothers, even me, and mine doesn’t even like me!” Betty smiled crookedly at her, before becoming serious again, “And I’m sorry to hear that she passed away.”
“Thank you. At least I got to see her, and at least now…she can watch over me, here, and see what my life is like. The life she wanted for me.”
Betty just nodded, not really knowing what else to say, and pretty darn certain Kate was just getting started with whatever she wanted to say.
“You know my mother wasn’t raised like me, her father wasn’t a preacher, and her parents weren’t nearly as religious as my father? I didn’t even know anything about them, really, until I went back home, she’d never told me. I’d certainly never met my grandparents, on that side, well, and my father was orphaned at a young age, so that side either. But my mother’s parents were alive, are probably still, but, well, of course my father wouldn’t have allowed their influence. All I’d ever heard about them was that they were sinners, and my mother had come to follow Jesus, but they hadn’t.”
“That’s what your mother used to say, or your father?”
“Oh, my father. My mother never said anything about it! Can you imagine, all these years? Not saying anything about your parents?” Kate looked at her with that genuinely amazed expression she had, and Betty smiled, shaking her head.
“I can’t. Your mom must have been a great secret keeper.”
“I suppose she was. Although it wasn’t as if…she wouldn’t have been able to say very much good about them, if my father thought they weren’t. And maybe she agreed, at one time.” Kate shrugged, looking sad again.
“Maybe, but it sounds like she really wanted you to know more about them before-while she was still there to set the record right.”
“Betty that’s funny, that’s almost exactly what she said to me. She said she wanted me to know where I came from, and that it wasn’t just from Vernon Rowley.”
“Rowley?” Betty repeated, distracted by this piece of information, though it hadn’t remotely been Kate’s point, “So, Marion Rowley,” Betty said softly, realizing this was Kate’s real name.
Kate smiled at her, “Yes, that’s my name. Or was my name. But my mother chose Kate Andrews for me too, so I almost feel like that’s just as legitimate.” Her smile became almost playful in saying this, and Betty let out a small laugh.
“Sure thing, Kate Andrews.”
“I guess she had a sister named Kate. She told me. She’s probably still out there somewhere. But she didn’t give me many details about her family, just that both of her parents were teachers, and then a little bit about herself. That she graduated from high school, and oh! Betty-she’s from Toronto, that’s why she sent me here!”
“Get the heck outta here!”
“Truly! It all makes sense to me now. Though, in hindsight it probably gave my father a better idea of where to start looking for me. But, well, I’m still glad she chose it, because otherwise I never would have met you. And the rest of the girls.” Kate added that last piece quickly, though it was an afterthought. She decided the best way not to draw attention to that fact was to just continue on. “So, she attended Toronto Normal School, and was going to be a teacher. But then she met my father, and I guess she thought he was so moral and confident and committed doing good in the world, that…”
He ‘seduced’ her away from her education and her life? Betty’s brain supplied involuntarily. Lord don’t say that! I am going to hell. Mocking religious people.
“I don’t know, my mother fell in love with him. And all these years, right up until she starting talking to me about leaving the first time, I thought she believed in…what he said, what he did. She seemed to follow along with his preaching. Although, she always had a bit of a different take, and would talk more about Jesus loving people and “Love the Neighbor,” and treating others how we would want to be treated.”
“The golden rule, even I know that one.” Betty gave a crooked smile, to show she wasn’t trying to make light of Kate’s religion. She also wanted Kate to know that she did actually know something about religion, even though she’d grown up to doubt the existence of God.
“I think it’s the most, or one of the most, important things to follow in life. And it’s in the Bible, in some form or another, over and over. And I’m not sure my father follows it. He was always much more focused on sin, and everyone being a sinner, who needed to repent or burn. Do you know that I’d never read the Bible, before I went home again?”
Betty tried not to let her shock show in her face, but clearly failed miserably.
“I know, I’m embarrassed to admit it. I’d read parts, of course, but really just what my father wanted me to. I’d relied on him for my entire understanding of it, and of what God wanted. And I know I keep going on and on, and I know you don’t believe in any of this-“ Kate rushed that sentence out, and seemed on the verge of babbling, so Betty interrupted her before she could get any further.
“Kate. I…you’re right, I don’t, which I know is hard for you to understand too. And maybe sometime we can talk about my reasons. But, you’re my friend, I know how important this is to you, and how so much of the person you’ve become is wrapped up in it. That makes it important to me too. And I like the person you are, so I want to know how you got to be…you. Don’t worry about me, just say what you need to say. I’m here, I’m listening.” And I love you. And I want to bang my head against this wall here, because I love you so much, and seeing you makes it all real again, and I know you will never love me. But I will make myself be happy with your friendship, if that’s all you want.
Kate looked at Betty almost adoringly. If there was one thing Kate had acquired growing up, it was humility, so talking about herself, and about her beliefs, to someone she knew wasn’t quite of the same mind, was strange. It was also strange to have someone who valued what she had to say so much, and wanted to hear her, just because she was worth listening to. Sometimes she didn’t know how she ever could have left this woman sitting before her. Seeing her again brought everything back, everything that their friendship had been based on for all those months-trust, safety, respect, affection. All of the judgment she’d felt toward her after the kiss…she could barely understand it right now, in this moment.
“Thanks Betty. And I hope you know that it’s because you’re my friend, and you are so important to me, that I am trying to explain all of this to you. And I feel like it is taking me a very long time!” She said, laughing, “I’ll try to make the rest quick.”
“Don’t rush this conversation Kate…we need it.”
to be continued, right now!