“Don’t you think it could be healing for you to come to terms with your mother and her abandonment?”

“There’s nothing to heal.  She wasn’t missed in my life.  Believe me.  I wanted for nothing.”  Bette wiped her mouth with the napkin, folded it, and placed it back in her lap.  She stared at Tina. 

“I know what it’s like to have an absent parent.  As you know, my father wasn’t around much and that was hard, but mothers and daughters, Bette–that relationship is intense.  She abandoned you.  Mothers don’t normally do that.”

Bette’s lip quivered.  “I’ve had nearly thirty years to deal with it, Tina.  I have.  If not for what I did in our marriage, I wouldn’t have thought of her.”

“You’re telling me that you don’t ever think about your mother?”

“No, never.”

“Bette,” she paused, looking for a delicate response.  “I can’t believe that’s true.  In all of these years, you haven’t given your mother a thought?  Not when you graduated high school or college, not when you received your MBA?  When we had our ceremony, you never thought, I wonder what my mother would think?  I wonder if my mom would like Tina?”

Bette was steadily shaking her head as Tina ran off her list.  “No, Tina.  My mother is a non-issue.  Can we please drop it?”

“And you haven’t mentioned Melvin, either.”

 “We’ve discussed Melvin in individual.  I don’t need nor have any desire to waste our time on him during our sessions  I’ve dealt with him,” Bette said bitterly.

This concerned Tina.  Her partner was dedicated to her father, yet she hadn’t spoken his name, hadn’t mentioned calling him.  “Are you not talking to him?”

Bette stared at her before answering.  “What does that matter?”

“Well, you love him.  If you’re not talking to him, I’m curious as to why.”

“I don’t want to talk about Melvin or my mother, Tina.  Let’s keep that off limits for now.  Please?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I know you don’t and maybe it isn’t.  It’s not that I’m not willing to ever talk to you about this, I promise, I will.  Frankly, I can only handle so much.  My plate is full right now—tackling my parents and their failures are not topics I’m prepared to take on.  Please understand, Tee.  It’s too much.”