The click of the keyboard continued without interruption for the better part of two hours. It was clear that the thoughts were flowing. Even the music, a full random playback of Ella, Billie, Louis, Diana Krall and Elvis Costello, made it clear that Alice was in the zone. Though she knew it, and was pleased by it — after all, this is what they’d been trying to work out in the week and a half since the infamous mouse conversation, Dana was quietly going crazy as she ran out of things to do.

Alice was determined to make her deadline, so she forged ahead, even when Dana got home after her workout, still pumped and glistening. She resisted the temptation to surprise her in the shower and managed to stay focused, even as Dana began to grow impatient. The fact that she was just about ready to email this draft to her editor made it easier to ignore Dana’s not-so-subtle sighs for a bit longer. Alice found it absolutely adorable. She finally looked up to find Dana staring at her.

“Okay, what?” Alice asked, adjusting her glasses, knowing it would heighten Dana’s agitation.

“Nothing.” Dana’s face said otherwise.

The song changed from Billie to Elvis. Shabby Doll. It was one of the things Dana was dying to say something about and she was visibly pained as she struggled to keep her thoughts to herself.

“I just need, like twenty minutes, and then we’ll get some lunch,” Alice said with a smile and went back to work. The truth was that she needed thirty seconds to finish her cover note and hit send. She made a bet with herself that Dana wouldn’t last two minutes. Forty five seconds later, Dana broke.

“Al, I gotta know, what’s with the Elvis Costello?” Dana blurted. “I mean, I get the others. Jazz standards, right?”

“Right. Good for the mood for my article.”

“So?”

“So?”

“C’mon, there’s not one standard on Imperial Bedroom,” said Dana.

“You know which album this is? I’m impressed.”

“It’s only one of your top ten favorites of all time.”

“I never said that.”

“You never had to. In all the years we’ve known each other, I’ve heard you play it at least once a week every week. What I don’t get is how it fits into this mix?”