Kit stumbled in, holding Bette by the wrist and dragging her behind her. Bette took a seat next to me, folded her arms again and pouted.

Oh, great. This wasn’t awkward at all. Nope.

Bette and I looked around while Kit kicked the band out, told them to go get some coffee so that one of them would be able to drive when she was done with this “hard-hittin’ interview I’m getting into here”. She winked at me and I couldn’t help but grin. Kit Porter was a cool lady.

Not that Bette seemed to think so, nor did she seem to think much of the dcor of Kit’s van, which I’ll admit even put me off a bit in its seemingly over-exuberant homage to 1970s decadence. I mean, shag carpeting is one thing. Shag carpeting in lime is another. You get the picture.

“You know, I never see you anymore.” Kit stuffed herself right in between Bette and me. We shifted a little to make room. “When’s the last time I saw you?”

“I don’t know,” Bette said tightly. “I wasn’t sure if you had a permanent address or anything.”

“I do!” cried Kit. “I do, and I’ll give you my phone number and everything.”

“Really?” Bette asked. I craned my neck around Kit to get a good look at the sardonic smile now gracing Bette’s features. “How long before your phone’s disconnected and you just run away again?” Kit frowned. Bette’s smile intensified. “I mean, that’s what you do, right?”

I settled back against the couch. Awkward. The silence fell over the three of us like a wet blanket, cold and sticking to us, uncomfortable as *****. I cleared my throat.

Finally, Kit chuckled. There was no mirth in her eyes, but she chuckled all the same. She turned to me. “You see, there’s one thing you gotta know about my baby sister-it’s that she never forgets anything, and she makes her own decisions about people, even if they’re wrong.”

Bette looked annoyed. “That’s not true.”

“Who cares if it was Daddy that drove me away?” Kit went on, looking at neither Bette nor me. She appeared to just be reciting some sort of monologue to herself and an unseen audience. “Who cares if I was trying to get my ***** together and no one was paying attention? No… What Bette sees is someone ran away from her, someone wasn’t there for her-”