“I want to know something else—do you think I’m an Alpha Queen?” She looked at Tina. “I want you to be honest.”

“Yes, you are the Alpha Queen. You always have to make sure everything is going right, if it’s not going your way then everything is ruined. You thought that everything had to be perfect.” Bette sighed, and Tina felt bad. “Was I being too honest?”

“No,” Bette smiled. “Actually, that’s what I wanted to hear. I needed to know. I don’t know why I act the way I do—I guess it comes naturally. I’ll try my best not to be so much of an Alpha Queen.” She looked at Tina. “I don’t want my Type A personality to ruin our relationship once more.”

“It wasn’t your Type A personality that ruined our relationship. It was your wondering—,”Bette put her index finger on Tina’s lips.

“Please don’t finish that sentence.” Tina smiled, and Bette rolled over on her side.

“You remember that argument that we had about Angelica’s schooling,” Bette smiled and sighed.

“How can I forget it? What about it?”

“I really don’t care where our daughter goes—as long as our daughter gets the best education I’m happy.” Tina rolled over on her side. “I really don’t think she needs to go to a private preschool either.”

“Well she really doesn’t have to go to preschool. She can wait til kindergarten.” Bette closed her eyes and moaned. “We can finish this later, but back to you and me.” She looked at Tina.

“Is there anything that you need to tell me?” Bette sighed.

“After Angelica was born, we were lost. I mean—we were together, but not together. I felt like you were shutting me out. You were ignoring me when I would talk to you, or you would blow me off. You were really short with me.” Bette looked down and looked back up.

“I know that I was shutting you out and that was my fault. I knew that I should have been talking to you, but I never knew how to come to you.”

“It’s kind of easy, Bette—can we talk?” Tina smiled and shook her head. “I understand why you couldn’t come to me because I was still moping around from Franklin firing me from the CAC, but I was also happy because we had our baby girl.”