Dana finally looked up from her coffee cup and into Alice’s eyes. The pain she saw was crippling, “I’m so sorry, Alice. I never meant for things to turn out this way. I just didn’t know how else to handle them.”

Alice could feel her anger rising, but she reminded herself that holding onto her rage wasn’t good for her. “I’m not asking for you to apologize, and truthfully right now I really don’t want to hear it. I’m doing this because I’m tired of avoiding you, and it’s been to long since are family has felt complete.”

Dana nodded her head, unsure of what to say.

Alice stood up from her chair, “If you want you could join us right now. I’m sure everybody would be happy to see you.”

Dana smiled at the writer, “I would love that”

Alice and Dana made there way back inside and headed towards their friends.

Shane saw the two women coming and quickly grabbed a chair from the next table, and then signaled for Dana to sit down.

Once everyone was seated Alice began to introduce Kerry and Dana, “Um Dana this is my…” The writer wasn’t sure how to refer to Kerry. Friend would be the easiest choice, but they were more then friends, and a small part of Alice desperately wanted Dana to see that she was moving on. “my girlfriend Kerry.” The writer quickly glanced in Kerry’s direction, not knowing how the label would sit with the doctor. Kerry smiled at Alice, reassuring the writer she had done nothing wrong. “And Kerry this is the famous tennis player Dana Fairbanks.”

Kerry and Dana exchanged pleasantries and then grew silent.

The second Alice had referred to Kerry as her girlfriend; Dana felt a painful ripping take place somewhere deep inside her, and then when ‘famous tennis player’ replaced her usual description of ‘best friend’ it was as though someone had torn her into two non-repairable pieces.

The women at the table were casually talking about their everyday lives when Dana looked at Kerry and felt a surge of anger. The doctor had her right arm thrown around Alice’s shoulders and Dana saw it as Kerry’s way of marking her territory. Not being able to take the display of affection, Dana stood up and headed towards the bathroom.

Her abrupt departure grabbed everybody’s attention.

“Maybe somebody should go see if she’s ok,” Jenny said to the group of women.

Shane pushed her chair back and stood up, “I’ll go check on her.”

The hairstylist found Dana hunched over the bathroom sink, “Hey, Dane you feeling ok?”

Dana’s head shot up when she heard Shane’s voice. She turned around to face her friend, “I must be the dumbest person alive. What was I thinking when I walked away from her, Shane? I really thought I was doing what was right for the both of us, but all I was doing was running away and now she’s found somebody else.”

 Shane could hear the desperation in her friend’s voice. “Dana, I’m not sure why you left Alice for Lara, but you have to realize the hell you put Alice through. I’ve known her a long time and before you broke her heart I didn’t think it was possible for her to fall apart like she did.” Shane moved a few steps closer to Dana and put her hands on the tennis players shoulders. “I know you love her, but before you even think of trying to get her back you need to work through whatever sent you running in the first place.”

“I know. I’m just afraid it’ll be to late.”

“It’s a risk you have to take, because Alice deserves somebody who can completely give themselves to her. I know you don’t want to hear this, but if Kerry can do that and you can’t then you need to let Alice go.”

Shane leaned in and gave Dana a tight hug and then walked out of the bathroom; leaving Dana to digest her words.