Los Angeles…

This isn’t where Carmen expected herself to be at today.  Just days ago, she was to wed the unwedable in Shane MacCutcheon.  Just days ago, she was to have the storybook ending that many only dream about.  Carmen’s dream became a nightmare in Canada.  It would only get worse on the ride home as her family listened to a local tejano radio station.  As the song ends, the news report begins and the news is breaking.

San Francisco…

It’s not that she wanted to be here.  It’s just a feeling of it becoming her only choice.  The replay of the argument plays over and over in Lara’s head as she carries her bags to her hotel room for the evening.  It’s a new job, a new life, a chance to start over in a new territory.  So wrapped up in her thoughts about Alice, the conversations of strangers nearby flowed by her without any input going in.  All Lara could hear were the words of a trembling Alice.  A shattered Alice.  An uncomfortable Alice.  They made a brief bond through their grief of a deceased loved one.  Instead of it parlaying into a friendship or something else meaningful, it simply ended.  Alice felt dirty.  This admission made Lara feel sick with each mental playback.  She should have been able to work something out instead of running away again.  She should have been on the Peabody Jet that was to take her home.  Wherever home was now…

The Home of Jenny, Shane, Carmen and Max…

She waits on the front porch.  Carla’s been crying to the point that she can’t feel anymore.  A numbness has now overcome her as she waits on the front porch, be it for Shane or anyone else.  She notices someone pull up in the driveway.  The vehicle parks momentarily and a woman exits, tears in her eyes.  The vehicle backs out and leaves.  Carla sees the lady and notices that it isn’t Shane.  Carmen sees the woman at the front porch of the house and notices it isn’t Shane.

Somewhere on the road…

Bette feels the vibration of her cellphone and answers it.  She automatically hopes that it’s Kit, but instead…

Bette: Hello?

She’s been watching from the break room’s television set.  The coverage has been speculative at this point, but still Joyce knows.  It’s an instinct and making sure her client finds out before the media tells her becomes her goal.