“Tell Alice I said hello,” she said softly as she gave me a hug. “Make sure you take care of yourself, Dana.” I smiled and nodded, and she turned to Shane, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Come on, honey, let’s go home,” she said, and Shane instantly seemed to calm down a little. For as flighty as Jenny could sometimes be, she had a weirdly calming effect on Shane, and she really always had, even before they’d tried a relationship.

It hadn’t gone so well the first time around. I think they’d always been attracted to each other, but had never pursued anything. Really, I think that by the time Shane had sort of assumed the role of caretaker for Jenny, and nothing ever even came close to happening until well after Jenny had worked a lot of her stuff out. Well, I take that back…there was one kiss at a club, and the aftermath had been awkward as hell. They’d wanted to pursue something, but it had just been too weird.

We’d all thought that the entire idea was put to rest after that. Eventually, though, after Shane had been chasing and utterly failing at a committed relationship for years, and Jenny had been having pretty much the exact same problem, someone (I’m thinking it was Alice, but I can’t be sure…it might even have been Kit) had asked them both why they didn’t just try and have an open relationship with someone. I’m pretty sure the comment wasn’t meant to be about the two of them getting together, but everyone else thought it made sense. I guess the two of them thought that over and talked about it, and when they were both in their early forties they’d given it a shot.

It had never been a lovey dovey relationship; although it was obvious there was love between them. Really deep love, in fact, but it wasn’t really the romantic kind…at least not in front of the rest of us. They’d always been really affectionate with each other, but I don’t think that in all the time they’ve been together I’ve ever seen them kiss. Not that it really makes much difference, I guess, but it’s something I’ve noticed. Anyway, they’ve always had an open relationship and are free to sleep with whoever they want, but they always end up going home to each other.