“What do you think monkeys think of us humans?” I asked. We were stopped at the chimp cage, and I was holding Angelica up to the glass to watch them. She’d had that same smile plastered on her little face all day. It was quite possibly the cutest thing I’d ever seen.

            “They probably think we’re some weird, hairless, sophisticated primates.” Bette replied, fixing up a bottle for Angelica.

            “Sophisticated? Us?” I laughed out sarcastically. “Have you seen the way most humans act?” She grinned.

            “Yeah, you’re right. I wonder what they think of glass.” I grinned.

            “Probably something like ‘Damned solid stuff! Why can’t I just- oh, look at that handsome chimp on the other side!’ I think monkeys are completely self-enthralled.”

            “Hmm. Like only caring about picking bugs out of their hair and eating bananas all day? I feel my IQ dropping just watching them.” I smiled, happy to be just talking with her, instead of yelling, or sitting through one of our awkward silences. The day had actually turned out pretty nice. I’d expected there to be a lot of tension between us when I got here, or for her to have set up some kind of trap. I was finally getting to spend time with my daughter…and Bette. We moved on from the monkey cage back onto the walkway with all the other mom’s pushing strollers.

            “You know, Tina, I’ve been thinking.” Oh God. That cannot be good, I thought dreadfully.

            “About what?” I asked tentatively.

            “About this whole custody set up. I think…I made a mistake.”

            “What?” I asked in shock.

            “I think that you should have joint custody of Angelica.” No way…

            “Are you fucking serious?”

            “Yes. I think that if the situation were reversed, I’d feel horrible not being able to see my child. It’s wrong to separate a mother from her daughter, especially one we’ve worked so hard to create.” I stared at her, still not believing what I was hearing. “When we get back home, we should work up a schedule, and the times when neither of us are available to watch her, we’ll let Angus baby sit.”

            “Bette, I…thank you. So much. You don’t know how much this means to me. And I…wanted to apologize. For everything I’ve done. I think I need to so that we can both try to move on.” She looked at me, and I was unable to read her expression.