Alice: “Maybe she had an interviewor something?”

Tina: “Maybe, but if she did, she didn’t mention it to me.  Not that that would surprise me.”

“Ouch, need to get something off your chest?  Anything you want to talk about?”  Tina shrugged and tilting her head to the side, said, “You might as well just tell me.  It’s okay, I really don’t know when she’ll be back, and you came all the way over here”

Alice stared at Tina momentarily before reaching into her bag.  “Okay, but you have to promise me that you’ll tell Bette I wanted both of you here for this.”

Tina quickly switched gears and braced herself for the worst.  Alice was going to need her to be strong; she had to put her worries on the back burner for the time being.  “Okay, now just hear me out before you get all upset.”

Tina reached out and grabbed the side of the table with one hand as she steadied herself with the other.  She was getting ready to grab Alice up in her arms the second she noticed a tear start to form.  Alice reached deep into her bag and pulled out Helena‘s business card.  She held it in front of her and flicked at it with her index finger.  “Okay, let me just say for the record that, well, these last few months have been really hard for me.”

Tina: “I know that, Alice, believe me”

Alice: “And to be honest with you, Tina, I didn’t think I’d ever find a way to get over Dana.”

Tina:  “Yes, yes, I know, it’s been so rough for you”

Alice: “And to be perfectly honest, no one expects these things to happen when they happen”

Tina: “Of course not, how could they”

“Wow,” Alice thought, “She’s really making this easy for me.” 

Alice: “Well, yeah, right, they can’t, it’s not in their control.”

Tina: “No, it’s not in any of our control, Alice.”

Alice: “Right, exactly, which is why I wanted to tell you in person that I’ve been seeing Helena.”

Tina: “You, what?”

Alice: “Well, not seeing, seeing, I mean that we’ve hung out and I really want to continuehanging outwithher.”