Alice’s quick thinking and wit was always a huge turn on for Dana. The intellect hidden behind that was just obvious and Dana just loved to watch the way Alice’s mind worked and how she could navigate that fine line between sarcasm and cynicism or plain cruelty. Right about now though, Dana wasn’t loving it all that much. In all reality, Alice wasn’t doing such a great job of navigating that line.

“Al, would you just chill and sit back down?” Shane asked, hoping to get the blonde to calm down. “Just listen for a few minutes, ok?”

“I just don’t see the point, Shane. I  don’t see how its going to make a difference. And sitting here with her, “Alice said, her eyes moving to Dana with a coldness that was new to her, “isn’t making this any better.”

“You know what?” Shane asked, getting up from the table, “I’m done with this. Both of you need to just get over yourselves. I can’t believe how selfish you two have been about this.”

“After all that happened this week, you’re calling me selfish?” Alice asked incredulously.

“Yeah, I am. Do you really think this is only happening to you? Last I checked here Al, this all started with Dana having a stalker. So I get it, you’re angry. And sure, you should be. But anger shouldn’t be an excuse to forget that you actually love this woman, even if you don’t like her so much right now.”

Alice opened her mouth to speak but thought better of it and quietly sat back down.

—

Julia was walking into her office when her cell phone started ringing.

“Hello?”

“Hey Jules!!”

“Chris! Hey! So how’s New York? Did you talk to your boss yet?”

“New York is good, just like we left it. Yes, I spoke to Matt. It went well actually, much better than I thought.”

“He gave you the leave?”

“Not exactly. But I’ll get to that in a second, how is Cara? How are things with you and Bette?”

“Your daughter is great. She is actually spending the afternoon with Bette. So that should answer your second question. I don’t think she is happy with the idea of going through me to spend time with Cara, but she is putting on a smile and handling it well.”