“Good bye!”

Bette closed the door of Tina and Ken Kennard’s apartment and sighed happily. “I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again.. I really like your dad Kennard..” She smiled at the blonde who was leaning her back against the hallway.

“I’m glad you do.” Tina smiled as she began to walk towards the stairway with Bette following closely behind. When Bette drove her home from school, her dad saw them from the living room window and beckoned for the brunette to come up for coffee. Bette more than happily obliged to her dad’s request. What was to be just a few minutes of chatting over a cup of coffee became a four hour thing as Bette and her dad bonded and talked like old friends. Their shared passion for vintage cars and mutual adoration for Tina Kennard became the two main topics of their conversation. Needless to say, Tina was placed on the sidelines as she watched the two talk animatedly with one another. Despite feeling a little left out, she had to smile at the pure bliss on Porter’s face. You could tell that she wasn’t faking it.. she was really having a great time. Plus, her dad was nothing short of smitten too.

“I never knew that a father can be so..” Bette bit her bottom lip in thought as she searched for the right words. “..caring and lovable..” She smiled brightly as they made their journey down the stairs.

Tina furrowed her brows at Bette words. Just how bad was Bette’s father for her to say those things? She was beginning to feel that the brunette was so deprived of love and attention at home. “Isn’t your dad like that?” She asked.

“Melvin Porter?” Bette scoffed. “Daddy isn’t exactly Father of the Year material. He may be a smart guy and an excellent businessman, but he’s completely inept when it comes to parenting a child.” She shrugged her shoulders.

“So I reckon there has been a shortage of father and daughter bonding moments?” Tina raised an eyebrow as they stepped onto the second floor landing.

“Shortage?” Bette laughed. “More like a complete absence of it.” She said with a hint of bitterness in her voice. In Melvin Porter’s warped mind, being a good parent only entailed giving your child a good future. He believed that he was doing his job right as long as he could give his daughter all the material things that she desired. In that way, he would be able to justify all the time he was spending on work and expanding his empire. He literally tried to buy his child’s love with money, all the while thinking that it was more than enough to make up for his absence. But it wasn’t. What his daughter really needed was a true father figure.. not a guy who acted more like a cold, sugar daddy.