“You know I will” Alice replied to the question once again “We would have lost both of you” She sighed sadly

She suddenly found herself drained of the adrenalin which had kept her moving at a feverish pace for the last few hours. Sitting down on the sofa in the silence was both comforting and frightening. There wasn’t time to think about what had happened and what it meant, Tina was the main concern right now. Reaching into her jacket pocket Alice retrieved her cell phone and called Dana again.

“Hey Al it’s Shane”

“Hi” Alice sighed “So you’re with Dana?”

“Yeah, we’re at your place. Dana’s not really able to speak right now” Alice understood what Shane wasn’t saying.

“How are you doing?”

“Hangin’ in there” Shane replied quietly “Where are you?”

“I’m at their place”

“Is Tina with you?”

“No, I don’t know where she is. I’m just about to go look for her”

“Where Alice?”

“I don’t know…wherever”

“She’s one person in the whole of Los Angeles and she could be anywhere” Shane was obviously still thinking clearly despite all that was happening

“I need to find her Shane, I promised Bette that I would look after her”

“She’s taken off because she needs some space to deal. She’ll come back” Shane assured her “Stay there Alice, she needs you there when she comes home”

“You think?”

“I know” The reply was decisive “Now, has anyone called the airline and checked the passenger list, just in case Bette missed the flight?”

“Bette doesn’t miss flights Shane” Alice replied flatly “But I’ll call and check”

“It’s OK Al, I’ll do it. Just sit tight and wait for Tina. Has anyone called Kit?”

“Not yet unless Tina did” Alice thought about this “She’s out of town on some AA retreat thing up near Tahoe. I doubt she’s going to have cell coverage up there”

“OK, I’ll find Kit. Don’t move from there Alice, alright?”

“Yeah” Alice didn’t have the heart to argue and was relieved that Shane was stepping up to take control of the chaos

“I’m going to call the airline now and I’ll call you right back”

Alice heard the line go dead and dropped the phone on the sofa. She collapsed back into the cushions frustrated that her only option was to sit, wait and pray. It was an hour before Shane called back. It had taken her over 45 minutes just to get through. The staff member reluctantly confirmed that Bette’s name was on the passenger list for flight eighty-five.

It was almost 5:30pm when Alice heard a car pull into the drive. She got up to see who it was, grateful for the distraction from the news coverage which she had been unable to look away from all afternoon. There was a huge sense of relief when she saw that it was Tina’s car. Alice opened the door and walked out to the driver’s side door of the car and opened it. Tina sat with her hands in her lap, just staring blankly in front.

“Tina?” Alice tried to capture her friend’s attention. Tina didn’t respond. Alice reached in an released the seatbelt before taking a firm grip of her arm “Come on, let’s get you inside.”