“You know me better than that, Tina. I support your independence. I just want you to be with me.”

“Fair enough,” Tina said. “But what makes you think that I want to go back there?”

Bette frowned. “What do you mean? It used to be our home. We lived there for years.”

“Right. And Jodi stayed there, didn’t she? Spent nights? Practically moved in, as I understand it.”

Realization dawned on Bette. “Is that why you–”

“I wouldn’t ask you to move in to the same place where I spent time with Henry.”

“Oh, but you did spend time with Henry in my house, didn’t you?” The words came out more sharply than Bette intended. She saw the effect of the words on Tina’s face as she turned away from Bette and took up a sponge and scrubbed at the counter.

“I’m sorry, T. I didn’t mean that.”

“Funny how it went from being ‘our home’ to ‘your house’, isn’t it?”

“I didn’t mean it. It just slipped out.”

“With you, things like that always do,” Tina muttered, tossing the sponge out of the way.

“I’m sorry,” Bette repeated helplessly, sighing. “Let’s not fight about it. Just tell me what you want from me. Do you want me to buy a new bed? Fine. But every trace from Jodi is gone from that house, I can assure you.”

“Mm,” Tina hummed, going about setting the table.

“I’m telling you the truth. Don’t shut down on me, Tina.”

“I’m not. It’s fine. Would you go get Angie washed up for dinner, please?”

Bette sighed again, shoulders sagging in defeat. “Okay.”

She went into the living room and collected Angie, leading her into the bathroom. Angie couldn’t quite reach the sink, so Bette rubbed Angie’s hands with soap and helped her lean forward to rinse them off. As they completed this task, Bette’s thoughts took a bitter turn. It wasn’t right for Tina to throw Jodi in her face. So Jodi had been to the house a few times. Okay, it was more than a few times. But it was a legitimate relationship – it wasn’t as though it had happened while she and Tina were still together. It wasn’t like when Tina had slept with Henry in Bette’s own bed. And Bette had never brought Candace back to the house. Or maybe Bette was being unfair in that assumption. Yes, she was wrong for retaliating when Tina brought Henry up, but it felt like Tina was using Jodi as more of a convenient excuse than a genuine concern. And Tina hadn’t seemed to mind about Jodi’s lingering presence when they had first rekindled their physical connection at the house.