A local woman missing- Mary Kubica

tries hiding her face behind a dessert menu, which Kate snatches
away. Bea’s not really embarrassed; it’s all for show. Bea isn’t the
type to embarrass easily. When it’s done they kiss.
Kate and Bea are opposites. Kate is conventional. Bea is not. Kate
doesn’t stand out the way that Bea does. Bea is arresting. She’s
indelible, in the way she looks and in the way she carries herself.
Nothing and nobody can touch Bea. Tonight’s outfit of choice: black
tights with short shorts; a faux fur leopard print jacket over a T-shirt;
Doc Martens. Few people could get away with it.
We dance. I’m dancing with Josh. And then I’m dancing with Kate
and Bea.
String lights run across the glass ceiling. It’s ambient. I lose all
track of time. Beneath my feet, the floor moves like the sandy bottom
of the ocean when waves roll in and then out.
Josh is here now and we’re slow dancing. And then Josh is gone
and it’s Kate who dances with me. There’s a tap on my shoulder, and
Josh is back. His face has changed.
“What’s wrong?” I ask. We stand beside the table, the four of us.
Kate polishes off her drink. Bea’s hips still sway.
Josh shouts over the noise. The sitter has called. Delilah had a
nightmare and woke up. She’s inconsolable. The news sobers me.
I’m having too much fun to leave. But Josh says, “I told the sitter
we’d be home in a few.”
Kate leans in to Bea. “We should go, too.” The night is coming to
an end.
Bea is tugging on Kate’s hand, drawing her back to the dance
floor. The look in her eye is pleading. “Just one more song. One
more drink. Please, Kate.”
Kate protests. “It’s getting late. I have to work in the morning.”
Bea is pouting now. “But it’s my birthday.” She dances alone
beside us, hands in the air, eyes closed, the music moving her. She’s
a sight for sore eyes.
Kate is in a bind, torn between wanting to leave, and not wanting
to disappoint Bea on her birthday. She confesses to Josh and me
that she has surgeries to perform in the morning. Today she spent
ten hours on her feet. There was a euthanasia. She’s tired and
emotionally spent.