She couldn’t help but laugh at the advances a woman had made on her in the frozen food section. The woman was pretty, that was no question, but the ‘once a player always a player’ Shane McCutcheon was no more. Also, one look at her ring finger definitely made this woman a no go, ‘been there, done that, no way in ***** I’m doing that again’. She politely told the woman she wasn’t interested, who in turn just shrugged and walked away.

Being so lost in her thoughts she barely heard the phone ring. She walked over to pick it up, stubbing her toe in the process, “***** table”.

“Hello?”

“Hey Shane”

“Jen! Hey girl how are you? How’s everything?”

The doe-eyed girl giggled at her friends concern and enthusiasm “I’m definitely not ok right now but I definitely will be. And everything is going fine so far. Dr. Burkes is great and the staff are really nice too. How are you doing? Tell me everything.”

“Well everything’s great, I just went shopping for some groceries and yeah, everything’s fine” Jenny knew she deliberately didn’t answer the first question but she assumed it was because Shane didn’t want her to worry.

“You didn’t answer my first question” her tone wasn’t condescending, just direct.

Shane sighed. No matter what she was never able to hide anything from Jenny or Carmen. “I’m doing fine. I’ve just been going over everything that’s happened over these past few months and trying to figure out how to cover your half of the rent and…”

“Don’t worry about my rent, my grandparents are going to cover it while I’m gone.”

“Oh, are you sure?”

“Yeah really, they wouldn’t take no for an answer. They’ll wire it to you soon”

“Alright, um, so how long do you think you’ll be there?”

“I really have no idea, I have go on medication and see a psychiatrist and do all these things, but it’s a step forward you know? I’m getting my ***** together and finally dealing with all these pent up frustrations and jumbled memories”.

“Yeah just take it easy, one step at a time”

“I promise I will and I thank you for caring about me” Shane could hear the smile in the girls voice and in turn it made the corners of her mouth turn up slightly. With everything and everyone falling apart, Shane had tried her hardest to keep her own sanity together. While she was doing this she didn’t see someone who’d become so much to her in her life lose her own sanity. Shane would never let her oversight go and she would never let it happen again. Not if she could help it.

“Don’t thank me, ok? So nothing else going on?”

“Nope. Anything with you?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. I’m meeting up with Carmen tonight.” She glanced over at the clock and realized it was 6:15. “And actually I have to get ready and go”.

“Ok, well this conversation isn’t over just so you know” she tried to sound stern but failed miserably.

Shane chuckled at her attempt at seriousness, “Yes ma’am. Love ya Jenny I’ll speak to you later”

“Love you too, bye Shane”

“Bye”

Rushing over to her room, Shane threw on a pair of jeans and a white button-up shirt. She was in the middle of ***** around with her hair when she heard the door open.

“Hey Shane you home?” Mark yelled from the living room.

“Yeah” ‘***** ***** wad’