In the morning after an oatmeal breakfast, they dress quickly. Bette repacks the car while Tina does the linen and towel laundry. Bette makes a quick run to the bakery to pick up some assorted items for a thank you. The do a final cleaning, remake the bed and place the towels in the dryer. They leave a note indicating the towels are in the dryer. Tina fastens Angelica into her seat and Bette packs doggie into the car. Bette had set up the dvd player for Angelica and Lady and the Tramp was playing for her as they back out of the driveway.

Tina: Well another nice thing about the SUV, the DVD monitors are in the headrests, so you won’t have to do the set up.

Bette: It wasn’t too bad, but that is definitely a nice feature to have with the baby.

Tina: Once we are sure she won’t eat the headphones she can listen to her movie in private too.

Bette: You mean we can talk in private.

Tina: Or listen to our music.

Bette: We can still turn on the music, we’ll just use the front speakers and turn down the volume.

Tina: This area is so beautiful. Thank you for sharing this with me.

Bette: We live in a beautiful country. People out west just don’t comprehend the diversity or the proximity of things on the east coast. Growing up in Philly we were 45 minutes from the Atlantic City and the Jersey shore. Less than two hours from New York or the Pocono Mountains. DC is just over two hours away and Inner Harbor of Baltimore just even closer. Also a bus or train could get you to each of those destinations. We definitely leave some wonderful things behind in California, but the east coast is rich as well.

Tina: I’m beginning to see that. We’re also closer to my family in North Carolina.

Bette: Are you ready to knock on that door again?

Tina: Not quite, but it still gnaws at me, especially now that we have the baby.

Bette: T, I feel the same way about David. He’s my nephew and I love him so much. I just have a hard time getting past what he did and I can’t for the life of me understand how he could be so malicious. Kit says he really wanted to connect with me now that I’m on the east coast. That he feels alone now that Daddy is gone. As much as he hurt me, hurt us I really don’t want him to be lonely T. I felt that when you left me and it is an awful feeling. I need to give it more time, but eventually I’m going to have to find a way to have him in my life. Maybe not yours or Angelica’s but at least in mine.