Paige: This tastes great.  My compliments to the chef.

Lara smiles.

Lara: Thank you.

Shane: See, I told you she was good.

Carmen: She’s the best.

Bette isn’t sure why, but for some unknown reason the exchange prompts a slight upward curl of the right side of her mouth in amusement.

Jared: So, Mom is it still okay to spend the night?

Paige: I don’t see why not.

Shane: Yeah, sure.  No problem.  You remember to bring somethin’ to sleep in?

Paige: Yeah, I have his clothes out in the car.

Lara: The pies should be ready to eat.

Paige: Nice.  I haven’t had a good pie in years.

Lara: Well, hopefully this will be your first good one in years then.

Paige smiles.

Paige: If it’s anything like I’ve already eaten, I’m sure it’ll be the best.

Bette has always noted mentally, Lara’s ability to remain cool for the most part in situations where emotions could develop.  It’s something she had always noticed when Lara was with Dana and even for that brief time with Alice.  She came off as hard to peg at times.  Yet here and now, Bette sees something she’s never seen before…Lara blushing.  She looks over at Shane to see if she notices, but Shane’s focus is on Carmen.

Carmen: Yeah…I’ll uh…go check. Check the pie…

Carmen stands and walks to the kitchen and Shane walks with her.

Shane: Carmen?

Carmen: What?

Shane: You alright?

Carmen: Yeah, why?

Shane: I’m just wonderin’.

They stop at the table, where the pies are ready.

Carmen: Why wouldn’t I be, Shane?

Shane: I dunno…just got that vibe.

Carmen: You’re just imagining things.  Yeah, they look cooled down a little now so we can eat.

Shane: Yeah, I guess so.

Her mansion is big and so empty.  After all the parties, there is only her.  She’s dropped off at her house, her now wrinkled up dress now back on.  Cherie is still adjusting it as she walks to her front door.  She quietly makes her way through the house and to the bathroom.  There’s a coldness inside of her.  Inside the bathroom, she looks in the mirror, her arms crossed and her eyes lost.  Her thoughts are filled momentarily with Clea, her daughter.  With her eyes closed, Cherie ponders if what little love her daughter has for her is anything genuine or just that of materialism.  She thinks of the parties and she thinks of Shane and her still fresh romp with the limo driver and now everything comes crashing down in Cherie’s mind as her body begins to shake, as she tries to ask herself where everything suddenly went wrong.  She has no answer and it frustrates her.  Her only refuge, she feels lay within bottles of pills in her medicine cabinet.  For the moment, Cherie’s sorrow mixes with fear of not being able to stop once she starts with the dosages.  With no one there to stop her, she’s frightened of the damage she can do to herself.  She’s frightened.