CHAPTER 12
Previously…..
Bette and Angie spent some time together setting the table and arranging everything so it looked nice. Angie had brought in some flowers she had cut from the flower garden in the back yard. She put them in a vase and placed it in the middle of the table. She looked at the three dishes on the table and wondered if that is what it would have been like growing up with two Mom’s.
“Mom?”
“Yes honey” I said with my head peaking into the cupboard.
“Is this how it would have been?”
I wasn’t sure what Angie meant. I closed the cupboard door and looked down at her. “What do you mean?”
“The table…..with three dishes…….if Momma T hadn’t have died….would that have been her seat?”
I swallowed hard as I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to forget Tina, hell I spent ten years doing just that, making sure my life stood still in one place. At the same time, it was becoming more and more hard to try to move forward when Angie had questions like this one.
“I’m thinking it would have been…yes”
Angie stared at the empty seat. I started to worry that perhaps it was just too soon. Maybe it wasn’t such a wonderful idea as it first seemed, to have Angie meeting Fran now. If she did in fact see the Death Certificate, maybe having Fran here was just going to be too much. Bette pondered this as she looked over at her daughter who had become a bit mesmerized with the table setting.
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“Angie…..are you sure you are ready to meet Fran? If you changed your mind and it’s too soon, it’s okay”
“No Mom, I want to meet Fran” Angie placed the last piece of silverware on the table.
“Okay”
Before we could continue any further, Angie had grabbed her backpack and went up to her room. About 20 minutes later, the house phone rang. I searched for the phone downstairs as it wasn’t where it normally is kept on the charger. When the phone stopped ringing, I assumed the caller may have had the wrong number, realized it and hung up.
“Hello”
“Hi…..is Bette there?”
“Who’s this calling?” Angie asked.
“It’s …..her friend…..Fran”
“Oh…..” Angie was excited to at least hear Fran’s voice. At the same time, she felt herself go unusually shy, and Fran sensed this.
“Is this Angelica?”
“Yes”
“Hi there. I’ve heard so much about you”
“My Mom told me”
“Good……is Mom available?”
“Sure…hold on”
Angie opened her bedroom door and yelled down the stairs. “Mom it’s for you….it’s Fran”
I walked from the living room to the bottom of the stairs. “Angie, where’s the other portable phone?”
“How do I know?”
I rolled my eyes and met my daughter halfway up the stairs to take the phone. “Thank you”
Angie turned and ran back up the stairs to her room.
“Hello”
“Hey Baby…...I didn’t expect Angie to answer the phone. I tried your cell but you may want to check if it’s on”
“Oh……I’ll have to check. What did she say to you?”
“Not much….very little actually. I sensed she didn’t expect it to be me either”
Bette smiled.
“Does she know I’m coming over for dinner?”
“Yes, and she was very happy about it”
“Oh good…..I was calling to see if you wanted me to pick something up. Some wine…..bread?”
“I got it covered hun. I have all that”
“Okay…..well then….I guess I’ll just bring myself”
“How long until you get here?” I couldn’t wait to see her. It amazed me at how I felt the butterflies grow in my stomach at the thought of seeing her again.
“In about 15 minutes”
“Great….you can park in the driveway behind my car and just come in the side door”
“Will do”
“Drive carefully Fran”
“I will babe”
I shut the phone off and placed it on the charger in the kitchen where the other phone was suppose to have been. As I started to prepare the garlic spread, the phone had rang again. This time, I was fortunate to have it by me.
“Hello”
“Hi Mrs. Porter…..is Angie there?”
“Yes, she’s in her room Kelly. I’ll get her”
I dried my hands on the towel as I brought the phone upstairs. When I opened Angie’s door, she was already on the phone talking.
“I got it Mom”
“Apparently. The other phone was in your room?”
“Yeah…sorry”
“Don’t be too long, Fran is expected any minute okay?”
Angie nodded and I left her alone to talk to her friend Kelly.
“No….Mrs. Thatcher hadn’t called”
“She is going to”
“How do you know Kelly?”
“Because….Jimmy had detention, and he said he overheard her telling another teacher”
“I’ll pass it in tomorrow”
“Angie, she was suppose to call your Mom today”
“Yeah, but its supper time, they don’t call at night”
“How do you know?”
“Because Scotty always get’s in trouble, and he says the teacher calls his Mom when she is at work. He gets in a lot of trouble when he gets home. My Mom didn’t tell me I was in any trouble”
“Okay….maybe Mrs. Thatcher changed her mind”
“Or Maybe Jimmy is making up stories”
“Don’t know. Have you asked your Mom for a cell phone yet?”
“No….not yet.
