“Any time,” Shane smiled.

“No problem,” Alice winked, and she took a drink of her coffee.

“So where is Miss Papi?” Carmen shook her head.

“I haven’t seen her in a few days. I talked to her a couple of days ago.”

“Wasn’t she seeing some chick named Diana?” Alice rested her elbow on the table.

‘Yeah, but she lied to Eva and come to find out that Diana is married with kids.” Carmen took a drink of her coffee.

“Who’s Eva?” Helena asked.

“That is Papi’s real name, Eva Torres.” Shane nodded.

“Are ya‘ll talking about me?” Papi approached the table. She shoved her hand on her pocket and sighed.

“Hey,” Carmen smiled softly. “Where have you been?”

“I’ve been around.”

“Well ladies—I’m heading back to work.” Kit got up from the table and walked away. Papi took a seat and relaxed. Carmen’s phone went off and answered it.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Paige,” she smiled softly.

“Hey, where were you last night?”

“That’s why I called. Jared got sick last night, so I had to stay home. I’m sorry that I didn’t call you sooner.” Shane looked at Carmen while she was on the phone.

“It’s okay; you had more important things to take care of.”

“Well I would like to see you again, I mean—if that’s not a problem.”

“No, that’s not a problem at all.”

“All right—I’ll give you a call later.”

“All right—,” Carmen chuckled softly. “Bye.”

“Bye,” Carmen hung up her phone and cleared her throat.

“Who was that?”

“A friend of mine.”

“Do I know this friend?” Carmen looked at Shane.

“No, but you’ll meet her soon enough.”

////

                Jenny helped her mother cleaned up the table after breakfast and was now cleaning the dishes with Sloane. She looked at Sloane and smiled. Sloane returned the smile and continued to clean up.

“You are so beautiful—,” Jenny rested her hand on the back of Sloane’s waist.

“So I’ve been told,” Jenny tapped her butt. “I was joking.” Jenny leaned against her.

“Kiss me,” Sloane looked at Jenny and smiled. “I’m being serious, kiss me.”

“What about your mom and dad?”

“I don’t care, and Warren is not my father.” She leaned forward and kissed Sloane softly. Sloane kissed her back and pulled away. They smiled at each other, and Jenny went back to cleaning the dishes.