“Oh right ok.  See you in a few minutes.”  Bette replied surprised and perhaps a little disappointed Tina didn’t want to talk about this now.  After all, their memories of Dana were something that was a part of their life together.  Maybe Tina would prefer to talk about it with Karen. Bette hadn’t thought things between them were that serious but she hadn’t seen much of Tina the last couple of weeks as they’d both been busy and perhaps things had changed. 

As she drove the short distance to Tina’s house to fetch Angelica Bette was ruminating on the fact that the emotions that were stirred up by Dana’s letter were definitely something that she needed to share with Tina.  She hoped that they were secure enough in the friendship that they had forged to engage in such an emotional conversation with each other.  Bette was pleased that by virtue of the  fact that that package was addressed to both of them she was going to have the opportunity of sorting through this with Tina – even if she was going to have to wait until later in the week.

Having exchanged mere pleasantries Bette quickly left Tina’s with her daughter safely buckled into her seat and headed home.  They entered the house to find Jodie ensconced on the living room floor surrounding by large sheets of paper that were the sketches for her newest piece.  Seeing Jodie, Angie gleefully started to run towards her while waving hello.  Bette saw the momentary discomfort cross the artists face as she anticipated the little girl embellishing her plans with her own small foot-prints.  Bette winced and stretched out to grab Angelica just in time, scooping her up in her arms. She attempted to delicately step around the plans herself but realised that they surrounded Jodie entirely and there was really no way through.  Angie continued to squirm in her arms wanting to have an opportunity to greet Jodie.

“Thanks” Jodie said as she watched Bette trying to work out a path to get to her.  She helped her out by lifting one of the sheets and placing it on top of the adjacent one creating a large opening in the paper fortress which had surrounded her.  They both moved towards each other and Jodie smiled as the small girl reached out to say hello.  Bette passed her daughter over and headed to the kitchen to make coffee.  She often found herself trying to give Jodie moments alone with Angie.  Bette’s concerns about how Jodie’s relationship with Angie would develop were never far from the surface as she could never shake the memory of the artist telling her on their first date that she didn’t like kids.  To an outsider, these moments could be interpreted as an unswerving confidence on Bette’s behalf in the relationship between her daughter and her girl-friend but in truth, they were tests.  Bette was continuously trying to observe the interaction and assess whether the beguiling charm of her darling daughter was changing Jodie’s mind.