I offered them both some coffee, which they readily accepted, and told them a little about what was in the paper. They just gazed at me sleepily and then turned so they could gaze at each other lovingly. I rolled my eyes and told them I was going to shower, and Jenny volunteered to make breakfast. She asked me if I wanted some toast, and I called back my agreement while heading to my bedroom again. I could hear Shane laughing at her as I got my clothes out of the dresser.

Fifteen minutes later I had my hair up in a bun and was back in the kitchen. Jenny had made the toast she’d promised, and she’d also rummaged around in the fridge and come up with some grapefruits that she’d halved and out into bowls. She’d also found the raspberry jam that Alice had made not a month before from the garden, in a jar toward the back of the pantry. Looking at it made me sad, and I remembered how I’d made fun of her by calling her Martha Stewart every time she decided to make jam. She never seemed to mind, and the jam had become a big hit amongst our circle of friends.

We ate quietly, since Jenny and Shane still appeared to be tired. Shane reminded me to take my prescription after we ate, and said that Charlie was supposed to stop by the hospital before going into the studio for the day, so if we wanted to catch him we could leave soon. I agreed, and offered Shane the shower in the master bedroom so we could make the best use of time. Twenty minutes later, after I’d cleared the breakfast dishes and taken my pill, we were all ready to go.

Alice looked better to me, although that might have been because I was feeling a little better myself. The prescription seemed to be killing whatever I’d come down with, and despite my lack of quality sleep I didn’t feel too bad. Shane and Jenny were another story, though. They were both so obviously sleepy that as soon as she could manage it, Alice made the sign for “fuck,” to which I laughed and nodded. She rolled her eyes and gave me one of her smiles, which was almost starting to look like the real thing.