“That looks like it hurts. Does it hurt?”

“It kinda stings, but it’s nothing serious. I swear. Don’t worry about it; if it doesn’t start feeling better in a few days I’ll have it looked at. But I’m sure it’s just superficial, so please don’t worry about it. It’s fine.”

Alice nodded, but she didn’t seem to believe it. I was going to say something to further reassure her when we heard knocking on the front door.

“That’s probably Bette and Tina. Or Helena. Or Kit. Or somebody, I don’t know,” I said. “Jenny, would you mind getting it?” I asked. She smiled at me and kissed one of the parts of Shane’s hand that wasn’t red, and headed for the door without a word.

“The chain for the deadbolt sticks! You really have to jiggle it,” Alice called after her. Jenny just waved backwards at us and continued down the hall. I looked at Shane, and she was trying just as hard as I was to keep herself from laughing.

“Oh my God, what the hell happened in here?” Tina asked, immediately running over and rubbing Alice’s back.

“Bomb scare,” I told her. She gave me what I think had to be the blankest look in all creation, and it made me laugh. Like, really laugh….so hard that I shook Alice, who was still burrowed into me.

“Don’t be like that, Dana!” she mumbled into my shoulder. I just kissed her forehead when I realized that she was laughing too. It was a hell of a lot better than the crying she’d been doing a little bit ago, so I just held her tighter against me.

“We were gonna redecorate in here anyway,” I told Bette, who after inspecting Shane’s hand with an empathetic grimace was now looking at the damage to the floor and cabinets.

“If you need a recommendation for someone who can put that together, let me know. I still have the number for the lady that did our kitchen,” she said after she’d inspected things.

“Nah, I think we can handle it. Right, Al?”

“It’s too yellow in here now. I don’t want a yellow kitchen,” she said, moving back a little from my shoulder so the others could hear her.