Clearly there was a joke Jules seemed to be missing as she pulled out the unoccupied chair next to Alice and sat down. "If you say so."

The three women sat there, cloaked in uncomfortable silence for what seemed like an eternity to each of them. Alice looked at Jules, Jules looked to Dana, who in turn nervously glanced down at her watch and prayed for a quick exit.

"Oh man, would you look at the time? I better get going."

"But I thought you had off today?"

Dana laughed anxiously to herself as she stood up, gathering her keys and downing the remaining coffee left consuming her cup. "Oh well you know the world of professional tennis, never really a day off. Never a dull moment, either," she explained quickly as she pretended to hold an invisible racquet in her hand and swing it using her best forehand form. In her haste to get out of there she noticed looks of confusion on both Jules and Alice’s faces, but didn’t stop to worry about the fact that she was surely making a fool of herself. "Anyway, I should go."

"It was nice seeing you again Dana," Jules responded plainly, trying her best to suppress the erratic emotions bubbling under her surface.

"Yeah, you too. Okay, well…bye guys."

Alice just sat there for a moment feeling kind of dumbstruck, attempting to comprehend why Dana had suddenly tensed up again and started acting so strangely. And then she looked down at her wrist, noticing the bracelet wrapped around it and remembered that she completely forgot to talk to her about the birthday gift. Abruptly rising to her feet, she told Jules that she’d be right back and jogged outside to meet up with Dana before she left.

"Hey Dane, wait up."

Dana whirled around at the sound of her name being called to find Alice standing only a few inches away. For the second time that day Dana’s breath caught in her throat as she acknowledged how close in proximity to Alice she now was.

"Hey, I know you have to go, but um…I wanted to talk to you about your gift."

"My gift?"

"I just wanted to say thank you. I love it. But I’m sure you already knew that. Anyway, I uh…about the card…," Alice unconsciously stuck her hands in her back pockets and rocked onto the balls of her feet. She wasn’t sure where to begin, or if she even should.

Dana however, prayed for Alice to continue and hoped that the card somehow showed the writer just how much she cared for her…or at least that Dana was fully cognizant of the fact that she made a terrible mistake by letting her go. So she stared intently into the warm brown eyes before her, hoping to get some sort of feedback from her, when she suddenly felt a pair of watchful eyes burning two enormous holes into her back. She reluctantly tore herself away from Alice to figure out why she felt they were being watched, when who was peering out the large front window of The Planet, but Jules.

She wanted to hear what Alice had to say about the gift, and especially the card, but not like this. Not with Jules watching, or overhearing, or possibly even interrupting.

"Uh, listen Al, can we maybe talk about this later? I’m sort of running late for practice."

"Oh…sure, of course." Alice immediately felt like a fool. Apparently the card meant less to Dana than it did to her. And once again, Alice was left feeling like she cared entirely too much for someone that just wasn’t able to feel the same.

"Okay, great. Have a good day. And um, by the way…that bracelet looks sexy as hell on you."

Alice blushed despite her attempts at not letting the athlete’s words get to her. And even if they did, damned if she was going to show Dana that it meant anything. "Thank you, Dana. But I don’t think a bracelet can really make someone look sexy."

"Well than you must be the exception…Bye Al."

Alice smiled in spite of herself and watched Dana get into her Subaru and drive away.