Alice jumped over the abandoned rake in the walkway before making the gallop up the steps.  As she was about to reach out and give the doorbell a quick slap, she heard Tina say, “Alice, oh my god, how weird, I was just going to call you.”  Alice turned to hear Tina continue on in a voice that was no longer aimed in her direction, “Thomas, I’ll just be inside if you need anything.”

As Tina’s foot hit the top step, Alice whispered, “Tina, It’s not every day your grandfather’s in town and you have him working?”  Tina threw her arm around Alice‘s shoulder and smiling back at Thomas, said, “Oh stop, he’s our new landscaper.  He got a splinter, poor thing.  Come on, come inside, I made lemonade.”

Alice raised her eyebrows and made a face before following quickly behind, “Man, Tina, you’re all domesticated.  I thought it was Bette’s turn to play housewife.”  Smacking Alice playfully with her sleeve, Tina walked straight into the kitchen and went right to the cabinet where the glasses were stored.  Alice dropped her bag and plopped into the first available chair she could find.  “Okay, it’s official; I’m not as young as I used to be.  I am one tired puppy, let me tell ya.” 

Tina quickly glanced over and smiling as she started to pour the lemonade, said, “What’s the matter, late night?”  She turned and handing Alice her glass, pulled up a chair. 

As Alice began fidgeting through the scattered mail on the table, she said, “So, you were going to call mewhat’s up?”   Tina nervously locked her fingers in front of her and thought about how to say it.  She couldn’t just come right out and say, “Here’s some lemonade, oh, and by the way Dana has cancer.  When she realized the severity of it all, she thought she’d buy some time by changing the subject.  “So, what’s going on with you?  No work today?”

“Hmm,” Alice said, dropping the glass from her lips.  “Well, actually, I really wanted to talk to you and Bette both, together, if that’s okay, is she, is she around?  I didn’t see her car.”   “She wants to talk to both of ustogether,” Tina thought.  Could Alice have found out so quickly?  Did Dana call her, or better yet, did she go and tell her in person?  She knew she couldn’t just come right out and ask if it had anything to do with Dana because that would just cause her slip to show, and Tina needed to play these cards close to her chest.  “Um, to tell you the truth, I don’t know where Bette is.  I got up to feed Angelica, and she was already gone.”