”It was great! I got to see Carrie’s house. I think she lives in a rich neighbourhood. Well her house was huge too actually. She has a pool – not as big as our old pool though,” Angie rambled. Bette raised an eyebrow in mock interest. Angie heaved her suitcase on the bench and started to unzip it. Bette internally groaned – Angie must be the only child in the world who loved unpacking as much as packing.

”Did you see anything new in Toronto that you haven’t seen before? Aside from Carrie’s house?” Bette asked, helping Angie lift the suitcase open to reveal a mess of clothes, books and shoes. More laundry, Bette thought, before quickly remembering how sad it was to have so little laundry while Angie was away.

Angie shrugged, her curls bouncing around her shoulders. ”Not really. We just sort of hung out, went to some museums. T said that she wanted to just spend quality time,” Angie said, using air quotes around her last words. Bette chuckled.

”Can you blame her? She misses you,” Bette replied, taking some books from the case.

”I miss her too. But I see her for quality time when she comes here for work every few weeks. We could have gone to a studio or something cool in Toronto. She said maybe next time,”.

As she started sorting through her suitcase, Bette couldn’t help but wonder if there was a time Angie might go and come back feeling more conflicted than she did today. For now, her daughter had a maturity and confidence that hadn’t been shaken by her parents’ separation. Tina had moved to Toronto for work a few months after they had separated two years ago. Hard as it was, Bette was grateful that Tina wasn’t around during that period. She had felt monstrous, inhuman rage and devastation, and seeing Tina would have certainly made that worse. Bette had never thought Tina would fall in love with someone else, let alone leave her for someone else. She was so sure of their love for each other and the life they had created. In retrospect, Bette could see that she had kept Tina small, and probably taken her for granted. It had taken a long time for Bette to accept that about herself, and to be able to move on. Bette’s feelings for Carrie were indifferent – she didn’t particularly like her or what she represented, but she seemed to make Tina happy, and offer Tina a simple and balanced life. The single instance that Bette had met Carrie was not a roaring success – Bette had been gracious, of course, but less warm than she usually would be to someone new. Carrie, on the other hand, had been overly zealous, making everything she said into some kind of joke, and asking far too many questions about Bette’s life for her liking.