The B Girls - By Cari Cole Page 0,16

her right hand on her ass and solemnly put her left hand on top of Mae's.

With a put upon sigh, Jane joined in.

"Okay, repeat after me," Mae said. "I swear on the sacred mark of the B Girls to leave this mountain retreat with a concrete, measurable plan to live my best life."

Lucy and Jane repeated the oath and they all threw their left hands into the air.

"Now, let's snack," Lucy said. "I wish Belle would hurry up and get back, I'm curious about the mystery but I'm more anxious to get her input on our plans."

Mid-afternoon wore on into late afternoon.

And still Belle didn't appear.

Talk turned back to their pact and they tossed out wild possibilities for their futures.

"No idea is too crazy at this point," Jane said after Mae let out an appalled gasp at her suggestion that Lucy consider opening a strip club. "There's good money to be made from randy men."

"I don't think supervising naked women is in my future," Lucy said. "But maybe I'll shave my head and join a Buddhist monastery for a while."

"I'd be happy with finding the nerve to tell Chip he has to cook once a week so I can go out with you two without having to worry over supper first."

"You have to want more than that," Lucy said.

"Yes but that would do for a start. If I could find the courage to demand more of Chip, I think the rest would fall into place."

Lucy turned to Jane "What about you? You've been quick to make suggestions for me but I haven't heard you come up with any wild plans for yourself."

"I'm thinking of becoming a starving artist. I was once told I had the potential to be a successful painter."

"Really?" Mae said. "I don't have an artistic bone in my body. Do you still paint? Have we seen anything you did?"

"No, I haven't picked up a brush in years. My lovely ex ruined it for me with his snide comments and criticisms. All my old paintings are boxed up in a rented storage building."

"Well, just as soon as we get back to town we're going to get them. Even if you decide to do something else with the rest of your life, I want to check them out for myself," Lucy said.

"Believe me, they're competent but not all that fascinating," Jane said.

"All the same, I think you should let us be the judge of that," Mae said.

"Fine. What do you suppose is keeping Belle?"

"I don't know but I'm starting to get a little worried. I'm going to try her cell again." Lucy had already tried two or three times and been routed to Belle's voice mail. She left brief messages that she didn't expect to have answered. Belle rarely answered her cell, she considered it a convenience in case of emergency rather than a means of making herself available to her friends and relatives.

"And I'd better check in with my family," Mae said.

Jane shrugged. "Go ahead, I think I can manage to entertain myself for a few minutes since my fish don't currently have phone skills. Maybe I should look into a hands free model for them."

The clock ticked its way to dinner time and Belle was still gone. And she hadn't called.

Lucy went through Belle's address book. There were only four local numbers among the hundred or so entries. The housekeeper and the yard man hadn't seen Belle since their own respective work days at the house. Louisa Dent didn't even know Belle was in town and Vernon Taper hadn't spoken with her in two days. No one was alarmed that Belle was a few hours overdue and they all promised to call if they heard anything.

Lucy wouldn't have been alarmed either if Belle hadn't been aware of the crisis in her marriage. That one fact changed everything.

Lucy made another futile call to Belle's cell phone and paced around the kitchen while Mae performed some magic with red leaf lettuce, radicchio, baby spinach, button mushrooms, pomegranate, fresh shrimp and a loaf of crusty French bread.

They went out to the deck to take advantage of the view.

The sun dipped lower on the horizon.

Lucy stirred her lettuce around, picked at the shrimp and watched Mae and Jane crunch through their salads.

"You're not eating," Mae said.

"I'm not hungry." Lucy put her fork down and stood. She knew better than anyone that Belle wasn't a woman to be ruled by clocks and calendars but she was a woman concerned with the feelings