Dana sat back in her chair as an indication for her to continue.

“I want to let you know that I will leave you alone.  I know you made your choice and I just need to deal with it.  I hope that someday we can be in the same room together without the tension.”

Alice then addressed the group again.  “Thank you all so much for coming today.  It means a lot to me to be able to try to explain myself and to let you know I will do everything I can to make sure I don’t cause any further problems in your lives.”

At this point, Alice was near tears and knew she had to get out of there quickly.  She took one last look around at her friends and saw that most of the distrustful looks were gone.  It looks like she did what she came to do.

Alice quickly stood up.  “I have to run now.  I’m making baby steps and this was one of them.  Hopefully they will take me back to where and who I was someday soon.”

Shane and Dana both quickly stood to try and stop the writer from leaving but she had planned her exit well and was gone almost before they knew it.  The girls sat back down and just looked at each other trying to absorb everything they just heard.

This would be the last time the girls would see Alice at The Planet for the next three months.

Alice would not respond to any phone calls and would not answer the door when people would try to visit.  She had gotten into the habit of parking her car away from her home and walking to her house so her friends would not know when she was home.  She did respond to e-mails.  It was infrequent, easy to do and kept the distance Alice felt she needed and deserved after the way she acted.  She knew that they were just acting interested due to some sort of residual loyalty.  They would eventually give up.  Everyone does.  Until then, Alice would just lay low.

There was a chance encounter at Milk.  Shane saw her there and watched her leave with Gabby.  Shane tried to talk to her, but, Alice just said that she knew what she was getting with this relationship.  It was “safe.”  Shane did not have a chance to talk to Alice more before she was whisked out of the club by a gloating Gabby.  The gang heard through the grapevine that the affair went its normal course with lots of sex and then Gabby cheating on Alice.  Only the ending of the story was different.  Those that saw the “breakup” said that Alice did not seem upset.  She just seemed resigned.  Even Gabby was surprised — and elated to know that she could still have mind-blowing sex with Alice when she wanted without all the drama.

Life went on for everyone.  The girls really didn’t feel the big hole that was in their lives until Alice walked into The Planet one morning those months later.  They had assumed that Alice would always be there and would eventually come back to them.

It was a much different Alice.