“I have a lot of things on my mind now, Bette.”

“I understand. But you can’t get here and tell me I’m not one of them.”

I sigh into the phone.

“I told Angie.”

“You what?”

“I couldn’t lie to her anymore.”

“You didn’t think of telling me first so we could have discussed this?”

“Please don’t be upset with me. I’m trying to make this easier for you to deal with, T.”

“I’m not. I just don’t know what to think or do anymore.”

“Please let me make this right. Come by tonight and have dinner with me and Angie. The three of us can talk this through.”

___

After parking the car I approach Bette’s door. My fist hovers inches away for a few seconds before I make the gesture to give a slight knock.

I stand there and await an answer.

When the door swings open I see Bette dressed in a tight black suit that rides her every curve.

“Come in.” She speaks softly.

I take a step inside and rest my handbag on her side table next to her bowl of keys.

“Where’s Angie?”

“She’s upstairs, she’ll be down soon.” Bette smiles at me. “You look very nice.”

“So do you.”

“Can I grab you a glass of wine?” Bette asks me while nodding her head towards the kitchen.

“Sure.” I follow behind her.

“I hope you don’t mind what’s for dinner.”

“Well it smells good so that’s a great sign.”

Bette chuckles at me but in a nervous tone.

“Mama T.” I hear my beautiful daughter’s voice approaching from the corner.

“Hi honey.” I walk towards her and embrace her for a hug.

“So this is awkward.” Angie states leaning back on the counter while looking between her mother and me.

“What’s so awkward?” Bette asks, handing me my glass of wine.

“You two honestly have no idea how incredibly awkward this is now?”

“I asked Mama T over here for dinner so we can discuss this between the three of us.”

“I’m sorry Angie I never told you the truth about this morning-“ I began to apologize. “We got caught up in something that should have never happened.”

“So now it never should have happened?” Angie looks me in the eye.

“Not the way it did, not with Carrie.”

“Have you even talked to her, Mom?”

“She won’t respond to any of my calls or messages.”

“You guys seriously think this dinner is going to make all of this right?”

“Your mama T and I have no intentions of making it about us but about you and how you feel.”

“Well you’ll have to discuss it between yourselves because I’m so out of here until I can clear my own mind.” Angie spits fire at us both and begins to walk away.

“Angelica.” Bette responds back. “Get back here right now.” Bette steps forward.

“No.” Angie yells from the other room.

“Bette-“ I raise my hand to her chest to get her to stop. “We can’t force her to be a part of this. She’s upset at us.”

I see Bette place her hand on her hip and hear her let out a sigh.

“Did you want to just forget this?” She asks me with a messy tone in her voice.

I pause for a few seconds before answering her. “You did all of this Bette to try and fix this for our family but the biggest part of our family just left.” I hang my head low. “But we cannot fix our family until we fix ourselves.” I look up at Bette and see the relief swift across her face. “I’ll stay.”