Bette looked at her daughter and smiled softly at her. Opening up her arms, she encouraged Angie to curl up next to her. After they were snuggled in together, Bette slowly began to tell Angie about the house and the idea she had.

“Angie, I’m really sorry about Teri’s Mom. I didn’t realize, her condition was that serious. Is there anything you want to talk about, or know about what they are dealing with?”

“No Mom, I’m good. Teri explained a lot of it to me, and I looked up some other details on the internet. I just feel so bad for Teri because she is so worried about her Mom and there isn’t anything that she can do to help her.”

“I’m sure that Teri appreciates having you to talk to.”

“Yeah, I guess. She just seems so sad all of the time now. I wish I could do more for her.”

“Well, the most important thing is to be there just to listen if she wants to talk, or even if she just does not want to be alone. Just be her friend Boo.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s just hard.” Angie knew that their discussion was not going to just be about Teri’s Mom. There was something else that Bette was not telling her. “So Mom, what was it you wanted to talk about with me?”

Not knowing quite where to begin, Bette hesitated a little before beginning. Angie picked up on this and looked her straight in the eye, and asked again “What is going on Mom?”

Bette, knowing she had to explain the scenario in just the right way, took a minute to gather her thoughts, then began…….”Angie, while I was on my way back to the city yesterday, I stopped in a small town along the way to grab a bite to eat. While I was waiting for my food, I was flipping through the pages of the local newspaper, and came across a picture of a house that had recently been put up for sale. I asked for directions on where it was located, and went to see it.”

“You did what? Why would you go see a house here in New York? We live in LA.”

“Yes I know we live in LA. There was just something about this house, something was telling me I had to go see it.” Bette paused to assess Angie’s reaction. She was not throwing a hissy fit, so that was a good sign, wasn’t it? “Sweetie, I only saw the house from the outside, the real estate agent couldn’t come out to show it to me until today, and I wanted you to see it before I made any decisions anyway. I wouldn’t have made a decision like this without talking to you first.”