“Good,” Alice grinned. She leaned in for a short kiss on the cheek
and then waved the striking woman’s car out of sight. Heading for her
Mini Cooper, Alice did not want to examine what had inspired her to
pass up dinner with Alex to go home to what most likely was an empty
apartment.

THREE WEEKS AGO- SHANE and JENNY’S PARTY continues

 ’Alice. Avoiding talking to Dana is not going to move you guys any closer to being friends again,’ Tina reasoned.

‘Oh, and you’re thinking talking to her will?’ Alice joked.

Tina rolled her eyes at her friend. They were playing darts in the
back hall. It was late and the party had dwindled to pretty much the
gang. Alice and Dana were clearly avoiding each other. Less clearly,
they were self medicating on Jack Daniels (Alice) and beer (Dana).

“T, I appreciate your worrying about us. I do. But honestly,
whenever I think about how to fix things I come back to the same core
problem.”

Tina waited expectantly.

 ”Trust, Tina,’ she answered simply. “How can either of us ever trust the other again?”

Tina said nothing, waiting for her friend to finish.

Alice sighed. “I don’t know T. It’s hard to switch gears, ya know? I
know I don’t want to be lovers again. It would be too hard. I can’t go
back there. So, how do you isolate those feelings and keep the
friendship? Tell me. I’d love to do it, I really would. I miss her,”
she admitted softly.

In the living room Shane and Dana were having a similar
conversation. “Dana. Don’t you think you owe it to Al and yourself to
work through a few painful conversations? I’m not saying sleep
together, just have coffee or something.”

Dana laughed bitterly. “I think it would be less complicated to
sleep with her than to have coffee, Shane. There were no problems
there. I still can’t look at her without wanting her,’ she admitted.
She giggled a little, slurring.

Shane smiled indulgently, waiting.

Dana groaned. “Don’t you see, Shane? Alice broke so many rules of
friendship, crossed so many boundaries I don’t know where to begin.
You get that with a lover sometimes but from a friend? From Alice? We
had so much more. It’s hard to move backward,” she added finally.

Shane nodded slowly, offering Dana a sad smile.