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It was the second day of the road trip. In the town where they had slept, they had bought the kids some stuff to play with in the car. The hotel where they had stayed was small but clean and that was all they needed. Now it was 11AM and they were driving for about 3 hours. Tina wanted to ask Bette about her family but she was not sure if that was such a good idea. She knew Kit was her half-sister so it would probably be complicated. Bette never talked about her father or mother. What was up with that? The only thing she knew was that her father’s name was Melvin and her mother was Maxine. Bette had told her that the first date but after that her partner never shared anything about them. Tina decided she would just try to see what happened.

“Bette? Can I ask you something?” She asked.

Bette briefly looked at her.

“Sure.”

“What… hum… what about your family?” She asked quietly. She saw Bette looking a little sad.

“Nothing to be told about them.”

“Bette? Don’t you trust me?”

“Baby, I do trust you it’s just… a long story.”

Tina laid her hand over Bette’s.

“We have time enough…”

Bette sighed.

“My father left Kit’s Mom for my Mom. He cheated on her with a few other women and my Mom found out. She left us and I never heard from her again… I was never enough for my father. I had to have an A+ on every test. When I did not he said he was disappointed in me and sometimes he even said I was dumb. When I told him I wanted to study Art History he was not enthusiastic, he said I would never find work and stuff, just total B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T. He always wanted me to be a lawyer and take over his law firm. I was never interested. He came around and was very proud of me because I always had good grades… until I came out as a lesbian. First, he was angry but after a while, he just ignored that part of my life. When I told that Adella was pregnant with Fabian, he told me he would never accept him as his grandson. It was so painful. Kit is 12 years older than I am and was not always the sunshine she is now. She began drinking at the age of 14, taking drugs when she was 17. She never showed up at my birthday parties or let me be around her when she had friends over. I know that was because she was a teenager but I always looked for love. My Father never gave that to me, material I had everything but emotional was another story. Kit was nice to me when we were alone but just when I thought she loved me she did something mean… My Father is still alive but I do not see him very often. He lives in Chicago and does not want anything to do with my life. That is okay for me. I don’t need him to come and tell me that I’m a walking sin. I rather have him out of my life than in it.” Bette’s hands where tight around the steering wheel and she was holding back tears. Tina laid her hand on Bette’s knee.