Read Online Seven Minutes to Noon by Katia Lief - Free Book Online Page B

that had entered her voice.
    Mike reached out to touch her belly and watched his own large, squarish hand circle their twins. Then after a moment he looked up to face her. Brown eyes, bright with a golden flint.
    “I’ll tell you what I really think.”
    She had seen this troubled mix of regret and resolution in him only once before, nine years ago when she had miscarried their first child. He had refused to let her believe they would never have a family, and had energetically rallied her back to the cause, even though, at the time, having a child was more her wish than his.
    “What do you think, Mike?”
    “I think — I know there’s nothing we can do about this.” His eyes narrowed, darkened. “And worrying won’t help.”
    Alice felt a stab at that; it was one thing to joke about her nervous edge and wholly another thing to identify it as a weak link in their life’s overall perspective.
    “Worry is normal,” Alice countered, “in a situation like this.”
    “Yes, it is.” His lips seemed to stiffen and stretch into a forced, almost professional smile. She didn’t like it. “How much did you sleep last night, Alice?”
    She looked away from him, at the linoleum floor, a sea of off-white squares nearly impossible to keep clean. “Not much.”
    “Did you sleep at all?”
    She shook her head. Counted the squares.
    Mike leaned forward, raising his voice, forcing her eyes to acknowledge him. “You’re pregnant,” he said. “Not that I need to remind you.”
    She smiled a little. “No, you don’t.”
    “Try not to indulge in the anxiety, sweetheart, okay? That’s all I’m saying.”
    Alice nodded.
    “I love you,” he whispered below the loopy refrain of SpongeBob SquarePants that sailed in from the living room. “We don’t want this to become worse than it needs to be.”
    “I wish I knew what it needed to be.”
    “So do I,” he said. “But we can’t know until we know. Even Tim can’t know. I called him this morning after I read that stuff in the newspaper. He’s a total wreck. We’ve got to hold ourselves together for Tim and Austin, okay? We have to keep reminding them that at this very moment we know nothing for sure, that Lauren is probably out there somewhere, that there’s still a good chance she’ll be back.”
    “We don’t know—”
    “It’s all we can know right now, Alice.” He laid hishand over her stomach again. “I’m telling you, don’t go to that other place. Okay?”
    Alice placed her hand over his, stilling the restless babies under the weight of both their hands. This was the real Mike she married, not the comedian, not the hyperactive creative director, not the humble carpenter, but the man who cared and felt deeply, who for better or worse never let her slide.
    “Okay.”
    Mike ran a hand through his hair, dislodging his largest cowlick. “The risotto’s gonna be mush if I keep turning the heat on and off.”
    “Go cook, then.”
    “Are we square?”
    “I don’t know about you,” she said lightly, “but I’m pretty round.”
    “Ha ha ha.” His tone was sarcastic, but his smile was pure love.
    “I’ll try not to worry so much,” she said.
    He nodded. “We should concentrate on finding a house.”
    “Right.”
    “Getting out of here.”
    “Right.”
    “The police will find Lauren,” he said. “That’s their job.” He got up and resumed his place in front of the stove. Relit the flame, knocked the glob off the spoon, gently stirred.
    After a minute, Alice asked, “Do you think a person can be too nice?”
    “You mean Tim?”
    “I was thinking of Frannie. Did I make a mistake going over there this morning?”
    “No. Definitely not. It’s always better to be honest.”
    “Frannie said it wasn’t me who lied.”
    Mike smiled. “That was nice of her!”
    “It made me feel better, you know, less guilty. Because Maggie was the one who spoke the words, told the lie, not me.”
    “Lies of omission,” Mike said, “are probably just as