A local woman missing- Mary Kubica

play with Delilah. She makes fun of the kids. She calls them things
like stupid and dumb.
I watch as Piper and Lily make it inside the building. Their mothers
turn away, stepping past me. I hear the word playdate as they do,
and I stiffen in reply. Piper and Lily are having a playdate without
Delilah. I don’t want to get caught up in kindergarten drama. But
she’s my daughter. If she’s being excluded, she’ll be sad. Delilah’s
happiness means everything to me.
“Hi, Cassandra,” I say. I reach out to touch her arm as she sweeps
by. It’s a reflex.
Cassandra turns to me and says, “Oh, Meredith. I didn’t see you
there.” I find it hard to believe. There are only a dozen parents at the
corner. And even now that she has, she doesn’t stop and talk to me.
She keeps walking, with Lily’s mother. I feel a stab of jealousy, of
resentment. Because Amber used to be the one Cassandra and I
would talk about over coffee. How she’s so overinvolved in the PTO.
How she thinks school bake sales are the end-all and be-all of life.
Her grandiose sense of self-importance.
The tables have turned. I’d bet my life they’re talking about me. I
try not to dwell on it. I have enough friends. I don’t need Cassandra
to be my friend, though I like Cassandra. I like her a lot. I’d be sad to
lose her as a friend.
The only reason Cassandra has for being angry, anyway, is one
too many canceled coffee dates. It’s a hazard of my job. Childbirth
can’t be planned. Cassandra knows this. She’s always been tolerant,
until now. It’s not like she could know about her husband, Marty, and
me. Unless he told her, but he wouldn’t do that. We’d agreed to keep
things secret, for Cassandra’s and Josh’s sake.
Leo and I watch Delilah walk across the street, and then we walk
back to the house. We get in the car. I drive him to the babysitter’s
house. I put Cassandra out of my mind for now.
I park on the street. Leo leaves his blanket in the car, though he
never likes to be apart from it. He does so reluctantly, with the
promise that I’ll keep it safe while he’s gone. I walk him to the front
door. When the sitter Charlotte comes, Leo throws a fit. This
happens, sometimes, though it’s relatively new. Somedays Leo goes