Tina came home late dragging her body across the threshold dreading the thought of a cold bed, vacant of the warmth that she usually felt in the night. She made a small groan and quietly closed the door hoping not to disturb Carmen and Shane. But to her surprise Shane was sitting on the sun porch leaning back enjoying the cool Georgia night air. Instead of going to her room to force herself to get some sleep, she decided to be around Shane for a little while seemed alright. Hell she wasn’t gonna do anything except lie in bed and hope that sleep would come soon.

Before Tina could reach for the handle she heard Shane say " Hey kiddo. Where you been?"

"Out … wrestling demons. Ya know how that is."

"Oh so you gonna deal with "mom" while Bette’s gone?"

"I’m trying to. I mean it’s only day one and she’s making it real hard for me to even look at her. Just some of the things she says, makes wanna hate her for ever. But another part wants to slow things down and really hear how she feels about me. I wanna listen to her but I don’t want wanna see her face. Ya know?"

"Mmm. I hear you. But what are you doin about it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you gonna think things through thoroughly and let your mind overly process these feelings or are you gonna let your gut lead you?"

" I don’t know yet. I don’t know if I’m a gut leading kinda girl. But I know thinking things through for weeks is something that can and will drive me insane."

"I see. So you haven’t really decided anything yet, except that you’re gonna deal with this while Bette’s gone."

"Exactly. So what do you think?"

"I think you got a lot of thinking to do. Good night." Classic Shane and stoicism. Shane just smiled at Tina and rose heading back inside.

"Night, Shane." it felt good talking to Shane. Unlike most people she didn’t expect a lot from you which was refreshing. Tina had decided that thinking and re-thinking those thoughts all day was long enough. She went inside and surprisingly immediately fell asleep.