The twins, busy twining strands of spaghetti into their mouths and hair, stared at the novelty of her. Their faces were splotched with tomato sauce, making them look like disaster victims. Their older sibling
—
Billie could not tell if the androgynous figure with the bangs was female or male
—
stared at the TV and swung its foot, kicking the table with each bump. Cups rattled, but Sunny said only,
“
What would you like to know?
”
And that was directed at Billie.
“
Anything that might help me find her. What she was interested in lately, who she saw, hung around with. Whatever seemed unusual, or that didn
’
t fit what you knew of her.
”
She waited to once again be told that the lady of the house hadn
’
t noticed much of anything, ever, let alone that which might be unusual.
Sunny shrugged.
“
She didn
’
t confide in me much. You know how kids are about anybody with three kids. I
’
m just the old married lady next door.
”
She laughed, showing beautiful even teeth, radiating a joyful self-confidence that came only to those who were adored since birth. Why would she be with Talkman, unless his sexist messages were a lucrative persona, nothing more. And why Billie
’
s lingering sense that she knew this likable woman and didn
’
t like her?
“
I was part of Penny
’
s college fund and not much more,
”
Sunny added,
“
which is how it should be, don
’
t you think? Teenagers can
’
t waste time noticing adults or they
’
d never get there themselves. She was fond of the children, though, and that
’
s what mattered.
”
“
Did you think she
’
d changed lately?
”
“
In what way?
”
“
Did she seem depressed? Withdrawn? Worried about something?
”
Sunny leaned back in her chair and smiled.
“
Not at all.
”
Perky people don
’
t recognize angst when they fall over it. Billie should have known she
’
d answer that way.
“
Penny
’
s an even-tempered girl,
”
Sunny said.
“
That
’
s what makes her wonderful with my boys. I
’
m not saying she doesn
’
t have mood swings. What teenager doesn
’
t? But I actually thought she was happier lately.
”
“
Why
’
s that?
”
“
Well, she didn
’
t tell me this outright, mind you, but I think she had a crush. At long last. She was too much of a loner before, if you ask me. And this one wasn
’
t one of those woe-is-me things.
”
She waved her hand, as if to shoo away the very idea of such negative emotions.
“
This is recently?
”
Sunny nodded.
“
I think one reason she didn
’
t date much was because her parents didn
’
t let her be a kid. Off the record, they behaved as if Wesley were her responsibility. It
’
s to my advantage, because she
’
s so good with kids, but I don
’
t know how good it was for Penny. She
’
s such a serious girl. All she used to think about was her schoolwork, and I
’
m not saying it
’
s good to let your studies slide, but all of a sudden, she didn
’
t seem as intense about it, which seems to me healthier. She stopped arriving here with ten textbooks and lined tablets asking if she could use the computer. After the boys were asleep, she
’
d watch TV, relax a little instead.
”
Billie was less than convinced that Penny
’
s changed interests signaled happiness. Her symptoms sounded more like lethargy, an inability to focus or concentrate, closer to clinical depression than lovesickness. But such interpretations wouldn
’
t be in Sunny
’
s smiley-faced data bank.
“
Love does that to people, you know?
”
Sunny said.
“
Always did it to me at her age! Oh, how Mom complained about that vacant air, the daydreaming.
”
“
Did she talk about the object of her affection? Mention his name?
”
With difficulty, Billie kept her voice low. Otherwise it was apt to escalate into a begging, desperate shriek.
Please,
you
have
to know his
name!
“’
Fraid not. All of this is speculation. It
’
s not as if she said anything. Only one time when she was here, for some reason, I was looking out the front window when she left, and I realized she wasn
’
t walking home. It registered on my memory because it was weird. I mean she lives directly behind that hedge, but there she was, waiting out front, and a car pulled up.
”
She allowed a momentary combination of distaste and confusion to play across her features before she continued.
“
I say a car, but not a normal one. It was grotesquely large and old. And,
”
she tapped a nail against the wall.
“
This color.
”
She shook her head.
“
It
’
s a nice color for a kitchen, I think, but a car?
”
“
Penny ever mention this driver
’
s name? A name?
”
Sunny looked downhearted.
“
I don
’
t think so. As if I of all people would be against romance! And why else not talk about him? Golly, she knew about my whirlwind courtship. I knew Harley for two months
—
ten weeks, to be precise
—
when we married. I happen to think if you know it
’
s right, you know it
’
s right.
”
She poured herself more coffee, looked inquiringly at Billie, then sipped before she spoke.
“
She asked me whether I believed in love at first sight, and I said I did. I
do,
’
cause it happened to me. I was working at the station when Harley came to check it out. One look and I was a goner. He moved here from Vegas six weeks later, and we were married a month after that.
”
She rolled her eyes.
“
My mother nearly had a fit! Making a genuine wedding in that timespan.
”
She smiled at Billie, sharing her happiness.
Billie smiled back.
“
I hope I wasn
’
t a bad influence,
”
Sunny said.
“
Gadzooks, I wasn
’
t giving
advice!
Heaven
’
s sake, I immediately became pregnant, with Jory there. I hope she doesn
’
t adopt that idea, too!
”
Billie wrote out notes while she thought of her ex-husband
’
s immediate, irresistible chemistry, and how wrong that powerful sense of
“
right
”
could be.
“
Then the name Stewart doesn
’
t ring any bells?
”
she asked.
Sunny shook her head. Her smartly cut hair was a strawberry-blonde that did not, but should, exist in nature. It blended with her surroundings, finding its place in her household spectrum between the yellow walls and the polished copper of the hanging pots.
“
I mentioned the mysterious chauffeur when she came to sit the next time.
”
Sunny reached over to one of her sons who was attempting to fill a nostril with compressed bread.
“
And what did she say?
”
“
Not much, but she smiled. That
’
s why I was sure she liked the driver. And then she showed me this heart she was wearing which to me means he gave it to her. Why else would she follow up mention of the driver by showing it to me?
”
All the time she spoke, she fussed with her boys, cleaning the bread-stuffer
’
s face, spooning spaghetti into another
’
s mouth, grabbing a cup of milk before it tipped over.
“
Plus,
”
she continued as she mopped milk droplets that had made it over the rim,
“
another reason I thought she must be in love because the thing she was wearing wasn
’
t really
…
it was sweet, of course. A heart with a design etched in it. But to tell the truth, it was worn. Some of the plating was worn off. Kind of an odd treasure, so I thought it had to have sentimental meaning, because it certainly wasn
’
t valuable. I fussed over it, of course. Wanted her to feel good about it, about this secret love of hers. I told her about a similar heart I had and how I
’
d loved it. Of course, mine was personal
—
it had my initials. Hers just had a design, and that worn spot.
“
Penny
’
s family isn
’
t rich, but she
’
s grown up with nice things so I think its importance to Penny was as a token of somebody
’
s love. The only value it could have would be
emotional
.
”
Finished with the children
’
s toilettes for the moment, Sunny now smoothed the
I.J.
on the table in front of her, pressing it flat as she spoke to and watched Billie and her sons. Billie watched the unconscious motions, wishing she had some of that instinctive tidiness hardwired in her own brain.
“
Do I sound like I
’
m making fun of Penny
’
s charm?
”
Sunny
’
s expression darkened. She looked overly concerned.
“
I don
’
t mean to.
”
“
No,
”
Billie said.
“
I understand what you
’
re trying to say. Not at all.
”
Sunny pursed her lips, still visibly irritated with herself.
“
I was a lucky child. I grew up with more than my share and sometimes I think
—
I
’
ve tried not to be like my mother that way, but I sounded like her just now.
”
So she was a rich girl. Billie could less and less understand the match with Talkman. But Billie completely understood the mother Sunny was trying not to emulate. She
’
d had one, herself, a million years ago when wisdom was confused with knowing the price tag, if not the value, of the world
’
s goods. Of course, with the divorce, her mother
’
s form of intelligence was as worthless as the paste imitations she
’
d scorned. With the divorce, she stopped trying to know much, except where the next comforting drink was.
“
The amount she cared about that thing was all out of proportion to its actual value is my point.
”
Billie nodded.
“
Wait a minute
—
Lucas
,
”
Sunny said.
“
That was it, or Luke. The driver
’
s name. It just came back to me. First name, I think, so not George Lucas, of course.
”
Her rich-girl
’
s silvery laugh filled the room again.
“
And now I remember
—
it was because of the car. Because I
’
d mentioned it. She said Lucas was good with mechanical things. That he
’
d restored it all by himself
—
although why anyone would want to, I surely can
’
t say.
”
Without warning, one of the twins hurled his plate to the floor.
“
Ryan!
”
Sunny said, with reproof but no anger. Life amused her. She stood up, retrieved a sponge and cleaned his mess.
“
Can you believe this is how he signifies being finished? What is our visitor going to think of this family
’
s table manners?
”
she asked the baby.
Lucas somebody. Or somebody Lucas. Good with mechanical things. That narrowed the field to the merely impossible.
Then who was the Stewart she
’
d talked to Wesley about? Were they the same? Lucas Stewart? Stewart Lucas? Or maybe she was involved with several males.
Sunny washed the boys
’
faces, sponged off the high-chair trays and plunked an oatmeal cookie in front of each.
Billie looked at the now-flattened bottom half of the
I.J.
’
s front page.
SUPERVISOR PUSHES DRIVE FOR LIGHT-RAIL SYSTEM. HIGH-TECH ATTEMPT TO SOLVE MYSTERY OF MEADOW MOTHER AND CHILD.
She hated thinking about the people in the meadow. First, the lost child and all the anxiety it provoked, then its presumed mother, and then, awareness that not a squawk or rustle had followed their disappearance. So easy to see just how it could happen that nobody noticed or missed them. Look at what was happening with Penny. People were halfhearted
—
and then, only when prodded.
Sunny resettled in her chair at the table. In the background, the anchor listed this year
’
s Oscar nominations, then listed supposedly surefire nominees who had been slighted
—
just in case they hadn
’
t noticed the slight and didn
’
t already feel sufficiently rotten. Sunny sighed.
“
Where were we?
”