A half hour after Carol left Bette went into the living room, she sat down on the couch with the phone cradled in her lap. It was evening but Bette hoped Angel wasnt in bed yet. She dialed Tinas home phone number. RING RING RING RING….Hello? As always when she heard Henrys voice Bette flinched…Hey its Bette, is Tina there?

Yes but its late, Angelica is in bed….you should have called earlier

Can you just give me to Tina

Oh for sure…sorry, here she is

Hey Bette

Is Angelica still up?

Yes but she is in bed, I can bring the phone to her

Im sorry I called late

Its ok, you dont usually do that often

Ha

What?

Nothing

Ok here she is

K

Mommy!

Oh my baby Hi…How was school?

It was good, we did gym and I finally did seven laps

Youre so strong, see I told you that you could do it

Yea

Tomorrow is our outing remember? Every last Tuesday of the month

Yea..Where are we going?

We are going to the park, there is some childrens festival

Is there food there

There is tons of food

I want a hot dog but mom wont let me eat too much  meat

Why?

Shes a veggie head

Oh (Bette flinched inside, so Tina turned into a vegetarian. Another thing on an endless list of things Bette missed. Missed out on.)

Can you get me some though?

Honey Ill get you whatever you want

Ok…well im tired

Have a great sleep, give me back to mom ok?

Ok

Hi Bette

Hi

So tomorrow at the park right? Im parking in the same place

Yea I know where it is

Are you doing well?

Fine

O come on Bette stop sounding so glum and sullen

Im not

Yes you are, you should get out more

Shut up Tina, stop projecting your little orb of suburban happiness onto me

Im going now

Im sorry…im sorry, it was just a rough day

At work?

Yea I had a load of students having panic attacks over exams

Well im sorry about that

Yea..Well I gotta go, Ill see you tomorrow

Ok…bye

Bye

            Bette hung up, she felt strangely better…and worse. Better because she and Tina had a decent conversation and she talked to Angel. Worse because of hearing the devil talk that is Henry. Bette was forever grateful to Tina for standing up for him during their custody compromises. Henry wanted to cut Bette right off, he wanted to be Angels full parent. He wanted to have Tina, Mikey, Angel and him. Their happy family, all four have them. But Tina didnt do that. She kept Angelica in Bettes life. Even though they could barely talk to each other, they kept it real for Angelica. So many betrayals, so many hurts between them. But Bette sighed and felt even better. That phase of her life was over, she was still feeling the repercussions. Whats wrong with her? Bette didnt know, but life went on. Tomorrow was the monthly meeting, Angel…..Tina, ugh. She was strong at least.

TBC