Lara laid a hand onto Dana’s right breast, kissing her way up the tennis player’s neck.  Her hand paused in its exploration.  “Dana, did you make that appointment?” she asked, voice muffled.

Dana sighed, squirming slightly to get out of the embrace.  “Not yet.”

Sitting up and leaning on one elbow, Lara regarded her critically.  “Honey, you need to make that appointment.  This isn’t something to play around with.”

Two weeks ago, Lara had discovered a lump in Dana’s right breast, and had been bothering her lover nearly every day to get it checked out.

“I will, I will,” Dana reassured her, sitting up and reaching for her shirt.  “I just don’t like doctors.”

Lara pushed up off her elbow, sitting up fully.  “Did you hear something?”

Dana had stopped in the middle of slipping on her shirt.  “Yeah, what was that?”

Lara listened for a moment, and then shrugged.  “It sounded like the garbage cans.  Probably just an animal looking through them.”

Dana nodded, standing up and hunting around for her shorts.  “I keep meaning to get those locking cans that keep animals out.”

Standing up, hands on her hips, Lara said, “You keep meaning to do a lot of things lately, Dana, don’t you?”

“I’ve been busy,” Dana answered, teeth slightly clenched as she recovered her shorts from where they’d been flung behind the dresser.

“What’s wrong, Dane?” Lara asked.

“Nothing,” Dana replied, slipping into her shorts, one hand on the dresser for balance.

“You haven’t been yourself, lately.  Now tell me, what’s going on?”

Dana sighed.  “I’m just stressed, okay?”

Lara stepped toward her, arms crossed over her chest.  “It’s more than that.  You’ve been distant lately, sometimes almost cold.  Half the time you’re not even listening to me when I’m talking to you.  You act like you barely even want to kiss me, and it’s a chore to get you to have *****.  You’ve even been faking orgasms.”

Dana blushed.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Lara frowned.  “Don’t lie to me, Dane.  Your face is like an open book; I know exactly what’s going on in that gorgeous but preoccupied head of yours.”