“Hey Al, I’m glad I made you a friend and I never got that intimidating attitude from you.”

Alice smiled faintly and kneeled down to try and get the woman’s attention who covered her face with her hands and couldn’t seem to stop crying.

“Hey….”Alice whispered
  No reply. Just sobs.
Alice tried again
Hey…. I’m Alice and this is Shane ……………………..”
Again no answer.
“Do you want to tell me your name?” Alice was talking the way she would to a crying child.
Again just sobs.
She then tried to add some humour.
“I guess I will just have to call you Hey…” she released a laugh to lighten the mood and make her point that she was just joking.
And then, as if the woman came to life with just some lame humour, she allowed them to hear her voice
“I don’t understand……. I don’t understand what’s wrong with me, with my life…….” She said between sobs. “I don’t understand why everything must be so difficult. Why do I have to defend myself all the time? Why do I have to be careful all the time? Why can’t I be free? Why is it that one moment I feel so confident and sure and the next moment so sad and lost? Why can’t I just be happy all the time? I don’t understand …………….. I just need to find Lighthouse. I need to find him” She got up to leave. “Thank you both.” She then turned to Alice who locked eyes with her and smiled “Thanks for ……….defending me but I have to go. I need to find Lighthouse”

She made a move to walk away but Alice grabbed her arm.

“Everything is difficult if you face it alone. Don’t let you pride or insecurities isolate you from the world. Not everybody is your enemy. You need to trust someone for your sake and I’m not telling you it would be me or Shane but you have to take the risk and talk to a person that you consider trustworthy.”

“I know” the woman said ready to start crying again and secretly wishing this person could be this kind and courageous woman in front of her.

“At least tell us your name …… and we could help with that Lighthouse problem that you face at the moment”
The woman smiled and said “It’s Dana …… Dana Fairbanks”
“Well nice to meet you Dana ….” Alice said giving her one of her biggest grins.
“It’s nice to meet you too. You too Shane.” Dana said smiling shyly.
Shane nodded with a smile and said. “So who is this Lighthouse that gave you so much trouble so early in the morning?”
“It’s my dog. I lost him”
As if on cue Lighthouse made his appearance proudly wearing his rainbow collar. He ran and jumped on Dana who barely managed not to fall down. Alice noticed how Dana’s features were now completely relaxed as she hugged that big hairy dog. The scene was beyond cute.

Shane, who was intrigued by the sight of the rainbow collar on Lighthouse and thought that Alice had become temporarily blind to it, decided that it might be a good idea that the three of them go for a coffee.

“Dana listen. We were thinking of giving up this whole “run” thing since we can’t fool anyone that we are regular runners and go for a coffee …..”
“We were? …. Oh yes we were …. Really ….. we were” Alice finally started catching up.
“So now that you found Lighthouse you can both come with us if you want.”
“Yeah …… you could …. if you want” 
“You won’t have to stay long if you have things to do or anything”
“Yeah you won’t have to …. You could stay as much as you want” Alice started blushing after realising that she was just repeating what Shane said.

Dana could not say no to that blushing. That woman was definitely beautiful. She couldn’t understand how she hadn’t really noticed that up to now. That’s what you get when you drown yourself in self pity she thought.
“Yeah sure …. We can come with you…for a coffee”
“Really?………. Great!” Alice said excitedly.
“Ok then….. I guess you are here with your car. We came with Alice’s. So I’m gonna give you some directions for a place called “The Planet”. Do you know it?”
“No, sorry”
“Don’t worry…” Shane said looking at Alice who couldn’t rip her eyes off of Dana and Lighthouse “I’m sure you’re going to love it”