“Nothing, it’s been, what?  Four months?” asked Bette.  Sliding her cup back onto the table.  They were all worried about Shane, having disappeared after breaking Carmen’s heart.  Alice had used very available resource to track her down.  Nothing, no one had seen, heard, or even gotten a hint of where Shane was.  Helena had wanted to beg her mother for use of her resources, but the girls had refused.  Helena was another sad tale around the table.

            “It’s Shane, what more can you say?” said Alice.  Staring at her now silent cell phone, longing to hear Lara’s voice again today.  Two nights before, Alice had found herself flirting, rather relentlessly, with a lovely friend of Carmen’s named Anna.  It had taken all her strength to rebuff the woman’s advances, going home to a cold shower, instead of warm arms.

            “When is Tina coming back from Texas?” asked Jenny, smoothly changing the subject from Shane to Tina.

            “Soon, I can only hope.  I miss Angelica.  But, she’s almost a year old and hasn’t met her grandmother yet.  We both thought it was time,” offered Bette.  

            She and Tina hadn’t reconciled, but they had talked.  Long talks on that snowy evening in Canada.  They’d agreed that the adoption would go through.  They also agreed that Tina needed to move out.  On returning to L.A., Tina had found a small house just two blocks away.  Within a week, the adoption papers had been signed, and legally, Angelica was as much Bette’s daughter as she was Tina’s. 

            Henry had been furious, but somehow, Tina had smoothed things over with him.  Finally making him understand that their relationship didn’t mean he had to adopt Angelica.  Nor did it mean that he always had to make the decisions. 

            “I didn’t know Tina’s mom was sick,” said Jenny.

            “She’s not sick, per say.  She has Multiple Sclerosis, and she’s been wheelchair bound for about two years now,” answered Bette.  Bette had wanted to go with them, but Henry had gotten that honor.  Him and his son, Mikey.  Then again, Bette had just started her new job at the college.  She was getting used to being called Dean Porter.  Several of the older students, and a few teachers, had been very keen on garnishing her attention.  Rebuffing such advance was beginning to be a daily event in her life.