“I found a few other things that are okay, but most of your stuff is-too dressy. All these lawyerly suits in midnight blue and black, gray silk with delicate pinstripes, khaki and cashmere, and white blouses. You must have twenty white blouses and just as many ties. You shouldn’t wear brown, by the way. And I didn’t see much in red, and you’d look good in red, with your blue eyes and grayish blond hair.”

“Ash blond,” I said.

“Ashes are gray or white. Just look in the fire. We don’t wear the same size shoe, not that I’m into ColeHaan or Ferragamo. I did find a black leather jacket that’s really cool. Were you a biker in another life?”

“It’s lambskin and you’re welcome to borrow it.”

“What about your Fendi perfume and pearls? Do you own a pair of jeans?”

“Help yourself.” I started to laugh. “And yes, I have a pair of jeans somewhere. Maybe in the garage.”

“I want to take you shopping, Aunt Kay.”

“I’d have to be crazy.”

“Please?”

“Maybe,” I said.

“If it’s all right, I want to go to your club to work out for a while. I’m stiff from the plane.”

“If you’d like to play tennis while you’re here, I’ll see if Ted has any time to hit with you. My racquets are in the closet to the left. I just switched to a new Wilson. You can hit the ball a hundred miles an hour. You’ll love it.”

“No, thanks. I’d rather use the StairMaster and weights or go running. Why don’t you take a lesson from Ted while I work out, and we can go together?”

Dutifully, I reached for the phone and dialed Westwood’s pro shop. Ted was booked solid until ten o’clock. I gave Lucy directions and my car keys, and after she left, I read in front of the fire and fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes, I heard coals shift and wind gently touching the pewter wind chimes beyond the sliding glass doors. Snow was drifting down in large, slow flakes, the sky the color of a dusty blackboard. Lights in my yard had come on, the house so silent I was conscious of the clock ticking on the wall. It was shortly after four and Lucy had not returned from the club. I dialed the number for my car phone and no one answered. She had never driven in snow before, I thought anxiously: And I needed to go to the store to pick up fish for dinner. I could call the club and have her paged. I told myself that was ridiculous. Lucy had been gone barely two hours. She was not a child anymore. When it got to be four-thirty, I tried my car phone again. At five I called the club and they could not find her. I began to panic.

“Are you sure she’s not on the StairMaster or maybe in the women’s locker room taking a shower? Or maybe she stopped by the mixed grill?” I again asked the young woman in the pro shop.