Gwen was still looking at Libby, clearly debating it.
Libby made a sound of exasperation. “Come on, Gwen—what do you think I’m going to do?”
Gwen didn’t answer that exactly; she just shook her head. “Right. Okay. I’ll be back in half an hour.” She grabbed up her purse and hurried out the door.
“Thanks, Dani,” Libby said.
“Think nothing of it. Whole thing is pretty darn silly if you ask me. I know you wouldn’t do anything.”
Libby was not going to be bothered that Dani didn’t sound very certain of that.
They continued working to set up the last item—a sewing machine—which had come with a display of things the owner had made on a similar machine: baby clothes, doll clothes, a work shirt. A quarter of an hour after Gwen had left, Libby heard Max and Alice coming down the hall to the banquet room, both of them running, Max shouting at Alice to slow down.
They burst into the room at once, Alice stopping to look wildly about, and Max running straight to Libby. He threw his arms around her, turned his beaming face up to her and said, “I got a goal!”
“No way!” Libby cried. “High five!”
“Where’s my mom?” Alice asked breathlessly. “I need to talk to her.”
“Alice!” Libby said, holding out a hand to the girl.
Alice ran to her, threw her arms around her waist. “Libby! We have to go! I don’t have my costume! Everyone else has their costume!”
“I’m going to be goalie, Libby!” Max cried, vying for Libby’s attention.
“You are? That’s such an important position,” Libby said.
“Libby!” Alice shrieked. “Mommy forgot my costume! I have to get it because I’m the butterfly!”
“Okay, calm down, sweetie, we’ll figure this out. Where is it? At school?” Libby asked, running her hand over Alice’s head.
“No! It’s at home! Mom forgot!”
“Oh my goodness,” Dani said. “I’m pretty sure the recital begins in about forty-five minutes.”
“You’ll have to take them,” Libby said to Dani. “I shouldn’t.”
“No, you take us Libby!” Alice cried, tugging at her hand. “You know where to go. But we have to go now.”
“Alice, honey, I can’t,” Libby said, wincing at the distress on the girl’s face. “But Dani will.”
“Okay, where do they live?” Dani asked.
“Vista Ridge subdivision, on Canton Way. It’s in the back, up that big hill. You know that hill, right?”
“No,” Dani said, frowning. “I don’t even know that subdivision. I never go out that way.”
“It’s easy,” Libby said as Alice tugged on her hand. “Just enter through the north gate and take your first right. At the stop sign, you’re going to want to go left—”
“I need to write this down,” Dani said, and patted the bun in the back of her head, apparently looking for a pencil. “What did I do with that pencil?”
“Libby, you have to take me. She doesn’t know how to take me,” Alice pleaded.
“Do you have GPS?” Libby asked Dani.
“Lord no! My truck doesn’t have any fancy bells and whistles, but it’s paid for.”
Alice, sensing impending doom, began to cry. “The teacher won’t let me do my dance if I don’t have my costume!”
“Let’s call Mommy,” Dani suggested. She took her phone off the counter and punched in Gwen’s number. A moment later, they all heard Gwen’s phone ringing at the podium, where she had inadvertently left it.
“I guess I can call Ryan,” Dani said. “Do you have his number?”
Libby knew his number, but in that moment, she’d not admit it, not be accused, however thinly, of stalking him.
“Lib-beee,” Alice said tearfully.
It was a dangerous thing to do, but Alice’s distress was unbearable. “Don’t call Ryan,” she said to Dani. “I can take them. It will take us thirty minutes round trip, tops.”
Dani looked at the kids, then at Libby. “I don’t know,” she said uncertainly. “Gwen wouldn’t like that.”
“I know, Dani, but she doesn’t have her phone, and clearly this is an emergency.”
“Well . . .” Dani said, clearly unsettled with Libby’s suggestion.
“I’ll be quick,” Libby said. “I know exactly where they live. I know where Ryan keeps the extra key. Alice can get it; I won’t go in the house—”
“Okay, go,” Dani said with a wave of her hand. “I’ll tell Gwen what has happened. But come right back, Libby. Promise me you’ll come right back.”
“Dani! Of course I will,” Libby said, and turned a bright smile to the children, thrilled to have a few stolen moments with them. “Come on, guys! We have an important mission and we have to hurry!”
Because she had no booster seats for them, Libby put Max in the middle of the back seat. Alice was big enough to ride beside her brother.
Max was concerned. “I’m supposed to have a booster seat,” he insisted.