“What, what?”

“You were looking at me funny.”

Tina giggled. “Sorry about that. I was just thinking about how fast you’re growing up. It wasn’t that long ago at Christmas that I was watching you crawl around in wrapping paper and play with the box your toys came in instead of the toy itself.”

Angie rolled her eyes. “Mom. You make me sound like the stupidest baby ever. Who would play with a box instead of the toy?”

Tina couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Oh, Ang. It was adorable. You’ll understand one day.”

“You’re always saying that.”

“It’s true. You’ll see.”

“She’ll see what?” Bette asked, coming into the kitchen and kissing the top of Angie’s head.

“What parenting is like,” Tina said. She leaned over the counter and Bette met her half way for a little peck on the lips. “Morning,” Tina said, pulling back. “Want some pancakes?”

“Uhm…” Bette looked doubtfully at the stack of pancakes and the syrup nearby on the counter. “I was thinking I’d just have some coffee.”

Tina raised an eyebrow and glanced at Angie and then back to Bette.

“You know what? Pancakes sound great.”

“Good!” Tina said. She put some on a plate for Bette as she sat next to Angie on the other side of the counter. She rinsed off some strawberries and set them in a bowl near Bette, who smiled gratefully. Tina smiled back a thank you. It was important for Angie to see both of her mothers eating normally, without talking about their weight and worrying about food so much. That was something she and Bette had agreed on when they’d talked about ways to help Angie with her body image and keep issues from taking root. It made Tina sad that it was necessary to worry about such a thing with an eight-year-old, but that was the world they lived in.

“Any coffee?” Bette asked.

“I knew I was forgetting something,” Tina said, smacking her forehead theatrically and making Angie laugh.

Tina checked the cupboards for ground coffee and came up empty.