“Uh, I-uh,”

“She plays tennis mom.” Tina said for Dana. “Professionally.”

A light bulb went off over Mrs. Kennard’s head and her face lit into a smile. “That’s right! Dana Fairbanks. I saw you play last year in New York. I went with a friend of mine. We saw the match that put you into the semi-finals. You really are an excellent player.”

Dana smiled. “Thank you.” She said graciously.

“Well, it was nice meeting you Mrs. Kennard. Make yourselves at home.” Kit tried to call the attention off of Dana as she was blushing a very bright shade of red. She stood and offered her chair to Tina’s mother.

“Oh, no, you go ahead and sit with your friends.”

“I hafta get back to work anyway.” Kit said as she stepped away from the chair and made room for Mrs. Kennard to sit.

“Oh, you work here?”

“Actually, mom, Kit owns this place.”

“Really? Well, it’s very nice.” She said as she sat down next to Bette. Tina sat on the other side of Bette and Jill motioned for Helena to sit down.

“Oh, I don’t want to intrude.”

“Don’t be silly, you guys are all friends aren’t you?” Tina’s mother looked expectantly around the table and when it became apparent that she was more or less asking permission for the other woman to sit down there was a chorus of half-hearted “Yeah’s” that went up around the table. Liz looked around the table and almost laughed at the forced looks on everyone’s faces.

“Really. I must go. But It was a pleasure to spend the day with the both of you. Maybe we can do it again before you leave. A lunch or something of the sort. I just wanted to come in and tell Elizabeth,”

“It’s Liz.” Liz interrupted.

“Forgive me, Liz, how nice it was to meet her. In case we don’t see each other again before she leaves.”

“Nice to meet you too.” Liz said with the same kind of smile that Bette always gave her mother.

“Oh please, join us.” Mrs. Kennard insisted. “Nobody minds.”

“Mom, Helena is very busy. I’m sure she has things that she has to get done. She’s already given up so much of her time today.”