Dalton, Stacy, and Heddy are finishing the baskets when Lauren picks up the cardboard box from beneath the table. She needs to drop these things off for Gloria before her meeting with Mary Richards, her meeting with Laura, and then rehearsal with the kids. “Don’t let Larry talk your ear off,” Gloria says, after giving Lauren his address. “If you don’t have one foot in the car he can take you all the way back to 1953 and you’ll be stuck there for an hour listening to stories about the first black walnut tree he cut down or the first canoe he made. He’s very interesting, especially if you’re not in a hurry!”
Lauren gets behind the wheel of her car and types the address into her map app: 115 High Smith Street. The location is found and it looks like it’s five miles from Glory’s Place. She’ll have just enough time to get there and back to Betty’s Bakery for coffee. She follows the directions down one street and up another and becomes puzzled when she finds herself in somewhat of an industrial area. Assuming that Larry’s workshop is among these buildings she continues to drive. When she runs out of directions she cranes her neck to see the street signs: Poplar and Lafayette Street.
She stops her car and zooms in on High Smith Street. Smith Road appears to be one mile from here and she puts the car in drive again and heads in that direction. Smith Road turns to the right and she follows it. This is a country road with lots of bends and turns and she drives for several minutes before seeing the first house number: 705. She looks at the clock in her car dash and realizes it might take a while before she reaches number 115.
House number 521 has a long driveway and Lauren turns into it, studying the map again. She has to be at Betty’s Bakery in ten minutes and calls the restaurant. “Is Holly there?” she asks, remembering her waitress. She’s grateful when Holly picks up the phone. “Hi, Holly! This is Lauren Gabriel. You sat down and talked with me about a week and a half ago. I was sitting—”
“I totally remember you,” Holly says. “How are you? What’s up?”
“I’m supposed to be there in ten minutes to meet Mary Richards but I’m way out on some country road and will be late. Do you know her?” Lauren strains to hear over the noise of the restaurant.
“Hmm. Mary Richards? No. But hold on.” Lauren hears her cover the mouthpiece of the phone as she shouts, “Hey, Betty! Do you know Mary Richards?” The faint sound of someone answering in the distance is heard. Holly uncovers the mouthpiece and says, “We don’t know her. When are you supposed to meet her?”
“In about ten minutes.”
“Okay. I’ll keep my eyes open for a woman sitting alone who I don’t know. When I see her I’ll tell her that you’re running late. How’s that?”
“Perfect! Thanks so much, Holly! I’ll get there as fast as I can.” She pulls back onto the road in hopes she will arrive at Larry’s house soon, but the homes are getting even farther apart now. After ten more minutes of driving she groans when she discovers that the numbers are now only in the four hundreds. She calls the restaurant again and asks for Holly. “Is she there yet?” she asks when Holly picks up.
“Nope. Just the regular crew. Same people who’ve been coming in for years.”
Lauren sighs. “That’s great! I’m still out on this never-ending road.”
“What are you doing?”
“Delivering stuff to Larry Maccabee. Do you know where he lives?”
“The wood guy?”
Lauren slows down to see the worn-out numbers on a mailbox. “Yeah.”
“I thought he lived somewhere closer to town but I’m not sure. His workshop may be out in the country.”
The number on the box has a 7 in it so Lauren knows this isn’t the house. “Thanks. If you see Mary, please tell her I’m coming. I really am!” She begins driving again but after another ten minutes she pulls into the end of a driveway and calls Miss Glory’s cell phone.
“Hello!”
Lauren is so glad she answered. “Miss Glory, it’s Lauren. I can’t find Larry’s house.”
“You can’t miss it, babe. It’s got a great big wood carving of a bear in the front yard. I should’ve told you that.”
Lauren backs onto the road and heads the way she was going, looking. “Do you know what color his house is?”
“Blue.”
“Well, do you know how many miles he lives out on this road?” She groans before Gloria can answer.
“What’s wrong, lamb?”
Lauren stops, putting her head on the steering wheel. “This road just ended! There wasn’t a number 115 anywhere on this road.”
Gloria puts her hand over her other ear so she can hear. “Which road are you on?”
“Well, High Smith showed up on the map but when I got to where it took me there wasn’t a High Smith, so I looked on the map again and a mile away there was a Smith so I took that road.”
“Are you on Smith Road? A country road?”
“Yes!”
“I am so sorry, babe! Larry only lives about a mile from Glory’s Place. High Smith Street is right in town.”
Lauren looks in her rearview mirror to make sure no one is behind her. There isn’t. Of course there isn’t because no one has been on this road in miles! “Okay. I’ll turn around and head back toward town. What road does High Smith run off? I’ll look that one up since High Smith doesn’t show up on my map.”
“He lives two houses down from the corner of High Smith and Bagley.”
There is so much noise in the background that Lauren struggles to hear. “Bagley. Got it. Thanks, Miss Glory.”
“I’m so sorry for your trouble. I should have asked Larry to pick up the box. He could have easily walked to Glory’s Place. He could use the exercise.”
Lauren turns the car around to head back toward town. “No big deal. Thanks, Miss Glory!” She taps the phone number for Betty’s Bakery and this time Holly answers. “Holly! It’s Lauren again.”
“Mary Richards is a no-show,” she says.
Lauren is relieved yet a bit hurt. “Okay. Maybe something came up. We were only going to meet for thirty minutes so I assume she’s not coming. I’m also supposed to meet a woman named Laura. She should be there by now.” There is a pause and Lauren pictures Holly looking across the restaurant at faces.
“Would she have anyone with her?”
“I don’t think so.”
“There’s only one woman that I don’t know and she’s wearing a business suit but she’s with a man and another woman. Could that be her?”
Lauren glances at the cardboard box on the seat next to her and feels doubt, frustration, and anger bubble up in her mind. “It doesn’t sound like her.”
“Hold on. I’ll ask her.” The line goes silent but before Holly can return Lauren already knows the answer. “She says her name is Audrey.” Lauren feels her heart jerk a bit and lets up on the gas pedal. There is no point in hurrying any longer. “I’ll keep a lookout for someone I don’t know.”
“Thanks, Holly.” She hangs up and feels like a fool.
* * *
Miriam enters Betty’s Bakery and spots Gloria sitting alone. “What are you doing here?” she says, taking a red cashmere scarf from around her neck.
“People commonly come here to eat, Miriam!”
“Especially you!” she says, sitting at the table. “What’s strange is that you don’t have any food in front of you. Nor do you have anything to drink. It appears as if you are waiting for someone. Are you meeting Marshall?”
Gloria is annoyed and crosses her arms. “No, I am not meeting Marshall. I came here for lunch.”
Miriam turns to look behind her. “So your food is coming? What did you order?”
“What’s with all the questions, Nancy Drew?”
Miriam leans onto the table, looking at her. “What are you doing here, Gloria Wilson? Who are you meeting?”
Gloria opens her mouth to answer but looks more like a carp gulping for air. “I think I can ask you that same question. What are you doing here? You told me you had a meeting. I don’t see you meeting with anyone unless your meeting was supposed to be with me.” She picks up her phone. “Let me check my calendar. No. It doesn’t show that I have a meeting with you at this time so who are you meeting here, Miriam?”
Miriam runs her tongue under her upper lip, squinting at Gloria. “I already had my meeting. If you must know I got my brows waxed. I have come in here for a bite to eat.” She glances toward the door and down at her watch.
“Are you expecting someone?”
“I’m not expecting anyone, big mouth! How about you? I saw you look at the door.”
“I looked at the door because you looked at the door. I’m not expecting anyone. I just came here to eat like every other hungry person in here.”
“Then you may as well eat with me,” Miriam says, leaning back in the chair.
“Fine!” Gloria says, also leaning back in her chair. “You may as well eat with me.”
And with that both women bury themselves in the menu.