“Yep.  You can put them in now.”  Alice confirmed.

“Wait…  If we cook this at twice the temperature, would it get done twice as fast?”

At that question, Alice did laugh.  Dana, for her part, realized the idiocy of her question and readily laughed along.  Once Alice was able to speak, she said “Just follow the directions in the recipe, Dana.  That’s the best way to go.”

The cupcakes were in the oven with the timer set.  Then the two women went to check on the boys.  They were being fairly quiet which is either a very bad thing or very good thing with kids this age.  It turned out to be a good thing.  The boys were having a great time in the play room.  They had managed to build quite a large Lego village and were playing together well.  

“Wow.  We’ll help clean that up before we leave.”  Alice said as they moved from the door.

“Don’t bother.”  Dana said with a furrowed brow.  “It is actually cleaner than it was this morning.”

Dana showed Alice to the family room and left to get them both some iced tea.  Alice looked around.  She was again struck by how homey the house was.  She knew Dana must have a lot of trophies, but, they certainly weren’t on display.  There were tons of photos of her and Alex through the years.  Some had Harrison and others had what she assumed was Dana’s family.

“Practice is Wednesday, correct?”  Alice asked after Dana sat down in the comfy looking chair across from the sofa where Alice sat.

“Yep.  I’m glad you will be able to make it.  I’m sure Daniel will have fun.”  Dana fell silent for a second.  “Will your husband be able to attend?”

Alice’s face first showed surprise and then closed off a bit.  Dana wished she could take the question back.  Things had been going so well.  She hoped she hadn’t messed up what seemed to be a good friendship forming.

“My husband… uh… Daniel’s father, died several years ago.”  Alice said softly from her spot on the sofa as she absentmindedly twirled the ring on her finger.  “It’s been just the two of us for a while now.”

It wasn’t her place and maybe was inappropriate, but, something in Alice’s voice made Dana cross the short distance in the room and sit on the sofa.  She put her arms around Alice and engulfed her in a hug.