Cherry hugged Bambi from behind and rested her chin on top of her shoulder. When she felt tremors going through her best friend's body, her guilt multiplied.

"Bambs," she started, a little hesitant, "do you. . . regret it?"

"No, Cher," Bambi's trembling voice replied. "You're my best friend. It was nothing."

"Then why are you crying?"

"I must be on my period or something," Bambi said with sniff and resumed her scrubbing. "I'm not upset, just an emotional wreck."

"You can fool others but you can't fool me. You weren't an emotional wreck this morning when you cajoled me to do your hair."

"Feelings change."

"This isn't a feeling. It's Charlie."

Bambi swallowed and raised her gaze to the ceiling, hoping gravity would help keep her tears hidden. "I just love him so much, you know? He reminds me of where I'm supposed to be right now."

"He should have been yours," Cherry's grip around Bambi's waist tightened. "You know that I know that right?'

"Don't be silly, Cher."

"No, Bambi. It's okay to feel sad, it's okay to feel jealous. Hell, I feel jealous when I see how natural you are with him. Even though I raised him for three years and carried him for nine-months-seventeen days, I still get jealous because I'm human. Not to talk of you who—"

"Cher, drop it. I'm fine."

"No, you're not," Cherry shook her head, "because even though you keep on saying that it's just an egg that would have died in one of your many menstrual cycles, it's not, is it? It's a little boy you see everyday who calls someone else 'Mama'. How could you not be jealous? How could you not be sad?"

"Bambs, I understand. You don't need to hide your tears from me."