Alice balanced bottled water, juice cartons and her laptop as she
looked for a table away from the noise. Smiling at the unlikelihood of
that, she settled for a booth by the windows, a bit off to the side of
the arcades. Helena’s kids had fleeced her for 40 Chuck E. Cheese
tokens and were nowhere to be seen. She had gotten them to promise to
reappear when their pizza arrived.

The children’s chain restaurant had blissfully flown below Alice’s
radar until being cajoled into this visit. She understood now why
Helena had refused previously to have anything to do with the place.

“Okay, maybe she wasn’t just being snobby,” Alice conceded.

Alice was babysitting her friend’s children this particular afternoon
because Helena was meeting with Winnie and a mediator to hopefully come
to some resolution they both could live with. After a lot of lawyers
and angry confrontations, they had both came to the conclusion that
neither wanted to risk being the ‘loser’ in a custody battle. Helena
was a different person since they’d agreed to look for a compromise
that assured her she wouldn’t lose her kids.

“Excuse me, aren’t you Alice Piezecki of ‘The Chart?” Dana teased
breathlessly, sliding in across the booth from Alice. Alice gaped at
the athlete across from her glistening in a tank top and running
shorts. She was almost as surprised by Dana’s cheery demeanor as she
was by her presence.

 ”How did you find me? What’d you see me thru the window?” Alice
asked. Dana grinned, delighted with the unexpected surprise and also to
have spotted Alice in a Chuck E. Cheese of all places.

“Well Al, you kind of stand out in this crowd,” she pointed out,
arching her eyebrows toward the arcade filled with squawking video
games, and squealing children. Alice in contrast was sitting in a booth
by the window hunched over her laptop, listening to headphones when
Dana jogged by the restaurant. “Come here a lot, Al?” she lowered her
voice, feigning concern.

 Alice smiled faintly, appreciating Dana’s perspective.

“I’m watching Helena’s kids this afternoon,” she explained. Dana
nodded, non-committal. She was still struggling with the fact that
Helena had been the one able to really help Alice when things were
falling apart. She was grateful to the Brit; truly, it would be
impossible not to see how much she’d meant to Alice’s recovery.