MY PHONE VIBRATES AND my heart starts pounding. I bolt into the kitchen while pulling my cell from my pocket, and there’s Alice’s photo, snapped when we were drinking on Gratzi’s patio last summer on a late Wednesday afternoon. The umbrella cast a shadow that highlighted her smile. My phone is set so that pictures of my friends appear when they call.

It’s not Sky. Not yet.

“We were just talking about you.” I haven’t visited Alice yet, so I don’t have an image of her setting. Her husband, Larry, found the perfect job in San Diego and so for right now Alice is working here and flying to California every other weekend. Some weekends, Larry comes here. They bought a condo a few blocks from the beach and she can see the Pacific when she stands in the corner of her balcony. When we talk, I imagine the sea sparkling behind her.

“How’s the party?”

“Great. But we miss you. Laurie just handed out her cookies. She’s moving to Charlotte, probably early summer.”

“Oh, wow, that’s big news.” Her voice is eager, wanting to capture some of the cookie spirit. “I wish I could be there. Checked to see if there was a cheap flight, but no such luck. Besides, I’ll be there in just a few weeks, in time for the Townie Party, and I’ll see most of you there. Can’t wait.”

“You’ll drop by here and we’ll go together. You and Larry and Jim and me.” That is, if Jim can get away.

“That’s the plan,” Alice says.

“Hey, everyone,” I shout as I return to the living room, passing Vera on the way to the kitchen.

“Alice is on the phone,” I say.

“Hi, Alice.” Juliet is followed by a chorus. I hold the phone to the center of the room so that Alice can hear our love.

“We miss you!”

“We wish you were here.”

Rosie holds out her hand. “Let me talk to her.”

I hand her the phone. Taylor strolls into the kitchen, where Vera, Charlene, and Jeannie are making a second pass at the food. They’re hitting Vera’s salami and cheese. Sissy’s sushi is finished and I remove the plate. Vera ladles some soup. She hasn’t had dinner.

I sense the need to move around and recluster, to eat, pee, talk, and take a break from the cookie routine.

“Next year you’ll be here?” Rosie says into the phone. “Hey, Laurie’s moving. She’s going to start a new branch.”

I move empty plates from the table to the sink, then pull out a bowl of fruit and place it on the table. Then I open another container of chocolate almonds and pour them into a bowl and carry them into the living room.

Rosie hands the phone to Charlene and enters the kitchen.