Tina nodded before she spoke, “You know Trish never really touched it. It still looks like it did when we were in high school.”

“I know.” Alice smiled because she was having memories of sitting on Rick’s bed talking to him for hours about how she felt and how much she couldn’t wait to get out that town. He’d made her feel so safe and secure in his presence. She knew then and there that her cousin would always protect like her a big brother should. It was also in that room that they came up with the idea to go to school together and start their company together. Alice smiled switching the conversation quickly back to Bette taking charge of Tina.

“So she took the belt to ya, huh?” Tasha burst out laughing and smacked Alice on the butt when she took the salad bowl into the kitchen. Tina shook her head, she was blushing, deeply blushing, and trying to hide her face in her hand.

“There was no belt Alice.” Tina answered with a smile as she placed her chin on her wrist.

“Sounds like there was.” Alice said rinsing out the dishes to put them in the dishwasher. Tina looked over to Tasha for help rescuing her from Alice and she only got a head shake.

“I’m on Bette’s side.” Tina scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Sometimes we need to take that tone to y’all.”

“Y’all? Who is ‘y’all’?” Alice asked standing in the doorway expecting Tasha to duck out of this one. Unfortunately she’d had a bit too much liquid courage and decided that now was a good time to prove her misguided point. Tasha’s tone and point of view after a few too many sometimes became distorted and very 1950’s male, Alice found it to be quite funny from a woman who at times seemed like a radical feminist.

“Y’all being you and Tina. Sometimes I have to take an assertive tone to you just to get you to listen to reason. Both of you are so bull headed sometimes, it takes other means to get your attention where it needs to be.”