“I told you it was a mistake, Bette.”

“Do you believe that it was a mistake?”

Silence fills between us again and I feel like I can cut it with a knife.

“I needed to know why, Tina.”

“It’s the way you act, Bette. The way you carry yourself when you see me and Carrie. The things you do, the things you say. The small but snarky remarks about Carrie.”

“I have been more than respectful to that woman. Remember you left me for her. How do you expect me to react sometimes?”

“If you are going to hate anyone, hate me Bette.”

“I do, I do hate you Tina. I hate the way that I still have love for you.” I noticed her facial expression stand still.

“I never wanted this, Tina. At least not this way.” Who am I kidding? I hate Carrie. She hits some kind of raw nerve with me whenever she is in my presence. She’s just so vexatious, so gleeful and it’s repulsive. But of course I’ve hated all of Tina’s ex lovers and it’s mainly because they weren’t me. I’m not saying I wanted what happened tonight to go the way that it did but I’m not going to lie to myself and say I can’t wait until the day Carrie exits my life for good. I always want happiness for Tina. But my jealousy has always been my weakness. Even if I tend to come off as heinous.

“Mom’s?”

Angie’s voice snaps me out of my reverie. Both of our bodies turn towards the stairs as Angie stands there looking back and forth between us.

“Hey sweetie.” Tina approaches her first. 

“What’s going on?” Angie asks.

I start to panic and wonder if she had been listening the entire time.

“It’s nothing.” I answer.

“Can you guys stop lying to me? I’m not a kid anymore.”

 “We know you aren’t Angie.” Tina looks back at me.

I cut in. “We are just having a conversation about some stuff.”

“Mama T, where’s Carrie?”

I noticed Tina’s hesitation about her answer, I know she hates lying to our daughter so I decided to cut in.

“I called your Mama T because I needed to speak to her so Carrie decided to stay home.”