“That’s not fair. Why can’t I just live in one house so my dog can stay with me all the time?”

Angie is sporting Bette’s pout. This breaks Tina’s heart. She’s been noticing more comments about living in one house now that Angie was getting older. Before she can address it, Angie suddenly changes the subject from getting a dog to asking about Bette.

“Mommy, when is Momma coming home? We were supposed to have movie night on Sunday and she is going to miss it.”

Tina trying to console her daughter answers the question as honestly as she can. The fact is she doesn’t know when Bette is going to return. It all depended on how things turned out with Jodi.

“I’m sure she will be home as soon as she can sweetie. She had to go to New York to talk to Jodi. I don’t know if she’ll be back by Sunday, but you and I can still have movie night. We’ll have popcorn and drinks and maybe even ice cream. How does that sound?”

“You never let me have ice cream at night.”

“I know but this is a special occasion and we will only have a small scoop OK?”

“OK, but why did she have to go to New York to talk to Jodi? Couldn’t she just send her an email or a text message? Or couldn’t she tell Tom so he could tell Jodi?”

“I think this time she had to see Jodi because she had to give her something.”

“She had to give her that big sign right?”

“What do you know about the sign?”

“I heard Auntie Shane and Auntie Alice talking about how Momma stole a big sign for Jodi. I thought you and Momma always said stealing was bad?”

“Stealing is bad. I think you might have misunderstood what Alice and Shane said. I’m sure Momma didn’t actually steal the sign. I think the owners were going to throw it away and she decided to take it for Jodi’s art project.”

“Is Jodi coming back? Momma was very sad when Jodi left. I heard her crying. Why did Jodi make her cry?”

“Sweetie, sometimes grownups make each other sad and we cry. I don’t know if Jodi is coming back, but your Momma wants her to. That’s why she went to New York. She wanted to give her the sign and to talk to her about coming back. Don’t you want Jodi to come back?”