The B Girls

Flirting Empty Handed





"Yes!" Lucy said. "Is she hurt? Lost?"

"Not when I watched her drive away from the Ranger station."

"She was at the Ranger station? What did she want?"

"Maps of the area. Said she was looking for an old homestead and needed the most up to date map."

"Homestead? I thought this was all wilderness?" Lucy said.

"Now. Back in the 1800's there were quite a few homesteaders up here. The terrain made it tough going and most folks left for greener pastures. Some of the homesteads are still recognizable. Chimneys, stone walls, the occasional well."

"Do you have any idea where, specifically, she might have been planning to go?"

He shook his head. "Sure don't. I cautioned her about hiking alone. She said she was planning to have company before she went into the backcountry."

Jane made a wry face. "That would probably be us."

"Well, if you ladies come back up here you should check in at the ranger station first."

"I'm more worried about my aunt at the moment," Lucy said. "When did she leave here?"

"About two . . . three o'clock," he said. "I went out to make my afternoon rounds after that."

"Three o'clock and it's ten now," Lucy said. "Something must have happened after she left here."

The ranger shook his head. "I've patrolled all the parking areas in this part of the park. Her car didn't break down anywhere nearby and it's not parked in any of the lots. She probably had plans she didn't tell you about."

Lucy didn't bother to argue with him. "When can I report her missing and expect someone to do something about it?"

"Wednesday morning. Unless there's reason to believe there was foul play or a medical emergency."

"Wednesday!" Mae said. "Anything could happen before then."

"Do you have some reason to think she's been harmed or fallen ill?" Ranger Leonard said.

"You mean besides the fact that she invited me to her home and should have been there hours ago?" Lucy said.

"Besides that, yes."

"No. But I'm telling you something is wrong."

"What time was she supposed to be home?"

Lucy frowned, knowing her answer wasn't going to help her cause. "She didn't say specifically. Just that she had something to do and she'd be home."

To Leonard's credit he didn't state the obvious. "I understand you're concerned. I'll give the county police a heads up. Get them to keep and eye out for Belle's car. But there's really nothing else we can do until Wednesday."

Lucy wasn't happy but it was clear she wasn't going to get anywhere by pleading her case further.

With nowhere else to look, the girls returned to Belle's house to wait.



###



"What if the burglar was a kidnapper?" Mae asked as they began their vigil in Belle's living room.

Jane shook her head. "Timing's wrong. Belle was safe with the ranger about the same time we were chasing off the raccoon."

"Thank goodness," Lucy said. "One less nightmare to have tonight."

"But you think something happened to her?" Mae said.

"I think she would've at least called if she could. My hope is that she's stuck somewhere with a dead cell phone," Lucy said. "I can't think about anything else right now."

Lucy drank her way through two pots of coffee one dollop of half and half and one packet of Splenda at a time, called the county police every hour on the hour and paced until her legs ached.

Mae and Jane tried to keep her spirits up and took turns dozing on the couch.

Mae was on cheering up duty when the clock on the mantel ticked over to two AM. "You know," Mae said, "Belle is--"

Lucy spun away from the fireplace and held up a hand. "Stop!" She was afraid her head was going to explode if she had to listen to one more version of "I'm sure she'll walk in the door any minute".

Mae snapped her mouth closed mid-sentence looking a little wounded.

"I'm sorry," Lucy said. "The coffee's making me jumpy. You and Jane should go to bed. I'll wake you if I hear anything."

"You shouldn't be alone," Mae said.

"Believe me, alone is exactly what I should be."

"If you're sure?"

Lucy nodded. "I need some time."

Mae rousted Jane and they went up to bed.

Lucy breathed a sigh of relief. Giving and receiving feelings wasn't her best thing on a good day. The past couple of days hadn't been good days and she needed to be alone to think without all sorts of messy emotions beating at her.

Maybe that was part of the problem with her marriage. She'd always thought Gary appreciated the fact that she didn't need a lot of cuddling and love talk. But maybe he just thought she'd become cold. And maybe he never thought about it at all.

How could he when he'd obviously been spending a great deal of time thinking about and planning their divorce?

Her heart pounded double-time at the thought of the "D" word.

She tried to push back the natural mental question about what else could go wrong, but with Gary leaving her and Belle disappearing in a single weekend it was hard not to feel a little fatalistic.

She shuddered. God or fate had a way of showing what else could go wrong.

Lucy knew that only too well. A lesson she'd learned when she was ten years old, trapped in an abandoned sewer during a severe summer thunderstorm praying her friends would give away the secret of the "magic maze" and bring help before the water covered her and took her breath.

First she'd fallen in a hole. Next her friends left with the promise they'd bring a rope to get her out. Then the thunder, loud and frightening. Last came the water rising toward her face. She remembered thinking each step of the way "what else could go wrong?" and each time the universe provided a frightening answer.

Of course help had arrived but Lucy and her friends never again enjoyed the same sense of freedom they'd had in those few heady days before the grownups discovered their secret playground.

That was the day Lucy learned dreams could be dangerous. Looking back, she realized she'd begun taking the safe roads in her life after that day.

Spending summer days reading in her room instead of creating her own make-believe with her friends.

Going to yoga class with her mother instead of taking gymnastics lessons.

Staying home instead of traveling to Cancun with her fellow seniors after graduation.

Commuting to college instead of moving into the dorm.

Marrying Gary instead of digging up history.

Even those decisions hadn't kept her safe.

This time Gary had shoved her into a hole and fate seemed to be determined to pour water in after her.

This time she'd have to rescue herself.

This time she'd take some chances.

Lucy finally fell into a fitful, jittery doze in an armchair about four in the morning and dreamed about standing on the balcony of her beach condo watching the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico--alone.