“So that’s another difference in how the two of you go through life.  We were talking about the differences between you and Tina.”

“She’s much more forgiving of people and accepts them for who they are more than I…”

“Do you resent that she hasn’t forgiven you?”

“No, I don’t.  Frankly, I can’t forgive me.  Why should she?”

“What are your other differences?”

“Many more similarities.  Very few differences.  We both have a head for business.   I’m probably just a bit more focused when performing a task than Tina.  At work, I give all that I have and because of that don’t take care of things at home.  Even when Tina was working, she did both.  She was responsible for the day-to-day at home, spent more time on the relationship.  I guess that’s a big difference.”

“Yes.”

“I want to change.”

“You’ve labeled yourself a Type A personality.  Knowing that, what ideas do you have for making the kind of changes you want?”

“Well, I could put as much energy into what’s going on between us.  I mean, it’s been three weeks since she left and I’ve had to take care of things.  I’ve made dinner.”

“That’s good.  What did you make?”

Bette’s head lowered and she looked up at Suzanne guiltily. “A telephone call one night for delivery and microwave popcorn a few nights.”

“Bette,” she chastised.

“I plan on doing better.  I just haven’t had the interest.”

“We’ll try to take care of that,” Suzanne stated.  “So Tina was the logistics person in the relationship.  Any other differences?”

“No.  That’s it.”

“Bette, what’s your ethnicity?”

“I’m biracial—white and African-American.”

“Oh, and Tina is too, interesting.  Do you think that was an attraction for you?”

“No, Tina’s White.  WASP through and through.”

“Oh, I see.”

“See what?”

“You didn’t mention that difference.  Has the difference in ethnicity played any role in your relationship?  With your parents?  Friends?  The two of you.”

“No,” Bette answered quickly.  “Well, yes.  Recently when we were looking for a sperm donor.  We seemed to only be looking at White men and when I found the perfect donor who was willing to do it, I signed him up.  Tina was surprised to learn that he was African-American and at first didn’t want to use Marcus as the donor.  She changed her mind, though.”