“Damn it, damn it, fuck, shit, son of a bitch,” groaned Tina, snatching up the phone again, dialing Henry’s phone number.

            “Hey,” said Tina, trying to sound happy, but it was forced and she knew it.  Henry was slowly gaining a hold over her, just as Bette had over the years of their relationship.  Tina had bought the house, the house was in her name, as was the mortgage, yet, Henry had installed the phone, the electricity, the cable and internet in his name.  A small fact that hadn’t escaped Bette when she’d seen the name on her ID caller two days before. 

            “Hi yourself, what time will you be home?  I have to go…,” began Henry, papers being shuffled around on a desk.

            “That’s what I was calling you about, I have a meeting tonight, and I don’t know how late I’ll be,” admitted Tina, almost dreading the meeting.

            “Well, I can’t take care of Angelica, I have something planned,” said Henry, his voice cold.

            “What do you have planned?” asked Tina quickly, then closing her eyes and trying to fight off the feeling of foreboding that seemed to envelope her lately.

            “It’s work, I was going to tell you that you had to watch Mikey tonight,” he curtly answered.

            “Well, you have an ex wife for that!” briskly answered Tina, hanging up the phone with more force than she needed.

*****

            “Tina, I didn’t have any plans, it’s ok,” smiled Bette as Tina stood in her living room, apologizing profusely. 

            “I know, but…,” began Tina, after finally getting a footing with her life, here she was, asking Bette Porter for favors, it killed her.

            “She’s our daughter, of course I’ll take her for the night,” insisted Bette.  Angelica was sitting on the floor, playing with blocks that Angus had bought her.  Things had been strained for the last few weeks, the sarcastic side of Bette had been emerging and Tina was trying to spend the least amount of time with her as possible.

            “You might have had plans…,” eluded Tina with a smile.

            “No,” answered Bette.