Reaching down and retrieving the stirrer, Alice nervously began to fiddle with it again.  “Okay, but first, you have to promise not to get mad.”

“Mad about what?  About whatever’s going on, or that you didn’t tell me in the first place?” Shane asked, crossing her arms.

“Well, um, both, really,” Alice admitted.  She held up a hand as Shane started to say something.  “Just promise me, okay?”

Shane sighed.  “Okay.  This better be good.”

Looking down at her hands, Alice said quietly, “Me and Dana are engaged.”

“You and Dana are afraid?  What?  I can’t hear you when you whisper,” Shane said.

Clearing her throat and speaking a little louder, Alice repeated, “Me and Dana are engaged.”

Shane nearly dropped her coffee.  “Engaged?  What the *****?  When?  How?”

Alice held up her hands.  “Whoa, whoa.  One question at a time, okay?”

“Fine.  Let’s start with what the *****.  As in, what the ***** is wrong with you?” Shane demanded to know.  “You and Dana barely talk to each other for months, and now suddenly you’re going to get married?  Aren’t you moving a little fast?  Have you thought this through?”

Alice frowned.  Trust Shane to get straight to the point, and manage to voice Alice’s own hidden doubts in the process.  “We’re both grown women, Shane.”

“And that means nothing,” Shane pointed out.  “I hope you at least have talked about what went wrong in the first place before you take any marriage plans any further.”

“Well, not exactly,” Alice said slowly, wincing at how stupid it made her sound.  “We just haven’t had time.”

“And is that why you haven’t told anyone?  Because you don’t have time to?” Shane asked, her tone slightly sarcastic.

“Yes.  I mean no.  It’s both, okay?” Alice replied, growing exasperated.  “Look, after the earthquake we both realized how close we came to losing each other.  We both love each other and I think the quake kinda made us both take a step back and think about what’s important in life.  When you find love, you shouldn’t let it go to waste.  Just because you have it today doesn’t mean something won’t happen tomorrow, and then suddenly poof,” she snapped her fingers, “it’s gone.”

“Look, you know I’m happy for you guys.  I really am.  You’re my two best friends, and I’m thrilled you’ve decided that you really love each other and you want to be together,” Shane said, pushing her now-cold coffee away.  “I just think that you two should make sure you take the time to address the issues that broke you up in the first place.  If you don’t figure out what went wrong and why, it could happen again.”

Alice glanced down at her hand, staring at the diamond on her finger thoughtfully.  She and Dana had just picked out the ring together the week before, and Alice was still trying to get used to wearing it.  She’d had a little practice, so to speak, with her hot pink band-aid that Dana had put on her in the hospital, but Dana had made her take it off after awhile because she said it was getting gross.  Alice still carried the band-aid in a baggie in her purse, because she just couldn’t bear to throw it away.  However, she’d never admit it to anyone and would be mortified if anyone were to find it.  “So,” she began, looking up and eager to change the subject, “whatcha going to do with the money?”

Shane exhaled noisily.  “I have no idea.”

“Go buy a house for you and Carmen or something,” Alice urged, abandoning her destroyed coffee stirrer by throwing it on the table.  “Jenny would want you to do that.  Then go buy something really outrageous, like a three hundred inch TV or something.  Jenny would have probably gotten a kick out of that one.”

“Three hundred inches?  That sounds a little big,” Shane said with a small smile.

“You know what I mean,” Alice said, waving her hand carelessly.  “Anyway, I have to go.  I’m volunteered to go watch Angelica while Bette and Tina are at the doctor.  Kit was gonna do it, but I figured she deserved a break.”

Shane bit her lip.  “Tina’s still not the same, is she?”

Shaking her head, Alice stood.  “I’m not sure she’ll ever be.”