Seven Minutes to Noon

an inch without hyperventilating.” Lauren stretched an arm along the bench behind Alice. “I’m so happy we’re doing this together.”
    “It’ll be nice,” Alice said, “to be back at the playground in the mornings with the babies. It’s so much more peaceful here when the big kids are in school.”
    “No offense, ladies,” Maggie said, “but I’m thrilled not to be joining you.” She haughtily swung one of her tanned, waxed legs over the other. Her beaded flip-flop dangled off her foot. Alice and Lauren ignored the remark; it had long been understood that Maggie’s strongest statements tended to be the least true.
    “How about a barbecue at my house tomorrow night?” Alice suggested. “We’ll say good-bye to summer. Six o’clock?”
    “Does the summer really have to end?” Lauren asked sadly.
    “Sooner or later, everything must end,” Maggie said. “Life’s like an orgasm, don’t you think? The good part’s fleeting and the rest is prep or cleanup. Only the perfect shoe can truly elevate the spirit. Right, Alice?”
    Alice’s burst of laughter drew more laughter from Maggie and Lauren.
    Across the playground, Frannie was watching them. Holding her nephew in her lap, she lifted his little hand to make him wave. Alice and Lauren waved back.
    “I like her,” Lauren said. “I don’t know why.”
    “Me too,” Alice said.
    After a few minutes, Maggie went back to Blue Shoes. Alice gathered up Nell and Peter and kissed Lauren good-bye.
    “Want to meet here tomorrow before pickup?” Alice asked in parting. “Say, two thirty? I’ll get us a couple of those yummy iced decafs from the Autumn Café.”
    Lauren smiled. “It’s a date.”
    Alice opened her eyes to now, today, late Friday afternoon. The children were throwing sand at each other. Why wouldn’t the phone ring? She walked over to it and checked again for messages; but there had been nothing before and there was nothing now. She phoned Maggie, who reported no news, saying she was just on her way over to Lauren’s apartment. Alice then called Tim’s secretary, who informed her that Tim had been given the messages, had been quite concerned, and was on his way back from Chicago. Why, Alice wondered, hadn’t he returned her call before heading back? Lauren always said Tim was a poor communicator, and the stab of frustration Alice now felt confirmed it.
    She went to the refrigerator and began to assemble barbecue supplies on the counter. Ground turkey, hot dogs, buns, mustard, ketchup, potato salad, lettuce. Practical details to push against the growing current of worry. She could hear the children’s voices drifting in through the window, open just an inch to let in sound and a ribbon of hot air.
    The phone behind her bleated suddenly into the strange tranquility. She calmed herself with a deep breath, crossed the kitchen, and answered it.

Chapter 3
    Alice heard blaring horns on the other end of the phone, clicking footsteps, the layered chatter of too many voices.
    “I’m at the airport,” Tim said. “Have you heard from her?”
    “Nothing,” Alice answered. “Which airport? New York or Chicago?”
    “LaGuardia.” Behind him she heard an echoing announcement about an outgoing flight. He sounded short of breath, talking on his cell phone and walking at a fast clip. “I’ll be in Brooklyn in twenty minutes. Is Austin with you?”
    “Yes, he’s fine. Listen, Tim, Maggie’s been calling the hospitals.”
    “So has my secretary.”
    “And?”
    “Lauren hasn’t been admitted anywhere,” he said. “Has anyone been to the apartment?”
    “Maggie’s on her way now,” Alice said. “I’m expecting to hear from her any minute.”
    “Okay, Alice, here’s a taxi. I’ll see you very soon.”
    He hung up before she had a chance to ask him if he was coming right over or stopping at home or... where? Where do you go when your wife disappears? What do you do?
    A few minutes later, Maggie arrived, talking before she was even through the front door. “Hasn’t checkedinto any hospitals or been in touch with her doctor. No call back from Pilates. Her apartment’s quiet.”
    Alice shut the front door and followed Maggie through the foyer into her living room. They went straight to the kitchen, where they could keep an eye on the kids. Just now, the boys were revving their toy trucks along the sides of the sandbox. Nell sat on the edge, kicking heaps of sand over her brother’s favorite miniature fire truck,