"I hope she had more sense than that," Janice said. "That's what got her stuck in that nest in the first place."

Linda waited until we settled down. "Then right before I left this morning, one of the babies was sitting out on a curled branch of wisteria. Just sitting there, like, bet you can't make me come back to the nest."

Linda's eyes teared up.

"What?" somebody said.

Linda was sobbing quietly now. Janice handed her a tissue, and Linda dabbed her eyes and blew her nose.

"I know this is totally crazy," Linda said. "But I can't stop thinking that when I get back home, they'll all be gone, and I'll never see them again."

Linda blew her nose once more. Somebody else sniffed.

"Okay, it's a little bit crazy," Cynthia said, "but not too bad."

I tried to catch Cynthia's eye, in case making her shut up was even a remote possibility, but she was too busy picking all the shrimp out of the ceviche.

Cynthia bit a shrimp in half. "Birds will come and birds will go," she said as she reached for her caipirinha. "I mean, what ever. But here's the thing: eventually we all have to learn to friend for ourselves."

34.

"BINGO," JONI SAID. " LOOKS LIKE YOU FOUND IT."

We were standing outside a stall at the outdoor market on the Plaza de la Democracia. I was going with the plaza's theme by electing to keep my distance from Cynthia, so I wouldn't have to kill her.

When I'd awoken this morning, Cynthia's bed was empty and the bathroom door was open. I poked my head into the tiny bathroom, just in time to see Cynthia aiming my toothpaste-laden toothbrush at her mouth.

"Don't even think about it," I said.

Cynthia turned. "What?"

I grabbed my toothbrush out of her hand.

"It wasn't my first choice either, girlfriend," Cynthia said. "But as long as what's mine is missing, I just figured-"

"What's mine is yours?" I said. "I don't think so."

I waited while Cynthia finger-brushed her teeth, then brushed my own. I pocketed my toothbrush and went down to check my e-mail.

A message from Anastasia's e-mail address popped up right away.

Mom, Me and Dad and Cammy are doing awesome.

Take your time.

Love, Asia P.S. Dad said to tell you the e-mail came thrugh.

I'd printed out a copy of Anastasia's e-mail and tucked it into my purse. I'd already taken it out and reread it twice. I resisted the urge to go for a third time. Instead, I held a little hand-painted oxcart outside the stall, so I could see it better in the bright San Jose sunlight.

In the next stall, I heard Vianca's rich, melodic voice. "Artisans in Guanacaste make these pieces, which are re-creations of pre-Columbian Chorotega-style pottery. There are some wonderful examples here, and the prices are good. I can help you arrange for shipping, so you don't have to lug them to Tamarindo, if you're so inclined."

"Anastasia will love that one," Joni said.

I was still looking at the oxcart. "I don't know," I said. "It's almost pink, but I think it's really more of a red."

Joni pointed. "It's close enough, and look, some of the details are painted in a pale pink."

I tilted the oxcart. "I think that's just the red paint showing through the white."

Oxcarts are an important part of Costa Rican history, since they were traditionally used to transport coffee from Costa Rica's Central Valley to the deep-water ports of Puntarenas. We'd pa.s.sed bright hand-painted oxcarts big enough to carry a person, and smaller ones that had been made into napkin holders. I'd never admit it in a million years, but part of the draw of the one I was holding was that it was the perfect size to fit a hamster.

I decided the oxcart was close enough to pink. I also couldn't resist a framed, hand-painted feather, another specialty of Costa Rican artisans. It was signed by a local painter who had managed to fit an amazingly realistic and brightly colored hummingbird, a frog, and flowers on a single feather. Anastasia would love it, and I knew she'd want to paint some of her own as soon as she saw it. I'd have to remember to keep my eye out for feathers while we were here.

I added a hand-painted PURA VIDA T-shirt in Anastasia's size. My shopping bud get was essentially shot for the trip, but I'd have my Costa Rican memories, so it wasn't as if I needed a souvenir for myself.

Some of our group looked on as the stall owner and I bartered away. When we reached the expected 80 percent of the asking price, we both smiled as I handed over my colones.

"If you both know you're supposed to get a discount, why not just lower the price?" one of the women asked as we headed for the next stall.

"It's all part of the game," Joni said. "You don't want to ruin the fun."

"Speaking of fun," I said as Joni and I walked ahead of the others, "don't you think you'll miss all this?"

Joni looked around at the bustling marketplace. "This? I haven't done this in years. It's amazing how even the most creative business idea can turn into nothing but bookkeeping and bill paying before you know it. What I'm trying to dig myself out from under are the mountains of paperwork. Maintenance and paperwork."

"What made you start GGG?" I couldn't believe I'd never asked her before.

"Good Lord, it feels like a million years ago." Joni stopped to look at a display of pre-Columbian reproduction jewelry. I recognized the figures as huacas, images of ancient deities resembling animals. I knew Panama, Mexico, and Costa Rica each had their regional designs.

Joni picked up a silver and jade frog with splayed feet.

"Aww," I said. "It's so cute. You should definitely treat yourself."

"The last thing I need is more stuff," Joni said. She put the frog pin back down and picked up a pair of bird earrings. "What was the question again?"

I opened my mouth.

"Oh, right," Joni said, before I could say anything. "GGG. I was a young widow, my kids were off on their own, or close to it, and suddenly it occurred to me that I'd been taking care of everybody else my whole life, and now they'd all up and left me."

Before I knew it, Anastasia would be gone, too. My eyes teared up. "Oh, that's so sad."

"I survived," Joni said. "And I mean, it's not like I didn't still see my kids. But suddenly I had hours to fill for the first time I could remember. So I picked a destination and phoned some of my friends in similar situations, simply because I didn't want to travel alone."

"Where did you go?" I asked.

Joni laughed. "New York City. It was as far away as I could dream. But we saw the sights, went to a show on Broadway, shopped, and ate at divine restaurants. And as soon as we got back, my phone was ringing off the hook-old friends who couldn't believe I hadn't thought to invite them and wanted to know when the next trip was."

"And presto," I said. "A business was born."

Joni shook her head. "Hardly. I kept my day job for years and took it one trip at a time. At first we were just a group of women traveling together, then I caught on to getting a group discount to cover my own costs, and finally I took a few courses. Travel was my pa.s.sion, and the business grew as a by-product of that, almost without my noticing what was happening."

"Wow," I said. "You've come a long way, baby."

"Ha. Sometimes the trick is knowing when to stop. I had a lot more fun when it was a travel club."

"Did you ever meet another man after your husband died?" I asked. Joni rarely talked about her life beyond GGG.

"Sure," Joni said. "A couple of them. And then one day you realize it's not about the guy. That longing in your heart is always going to be there."

"So you just gave up on men?"

"I didn't say that." Joni picked up the pace and wove her way through the crowded Plaza de la Democracia. I followed her crisp gray hair, sparkling like a beacon in the bright sunshine, until I caught up with her. "I've had a rendezvous or two lately."

"Stop," I said. "Match.com?"

"At my age, it would be more like Rematch.com." She shrugged and looked at her watch. Across from us, a group of GGG women were bartering for bottled water as if their lives depended on it.

"What do you say we round up those wild women and head back to the hotel so we don't miss that plane?" Joni said.

35.

CYNTHIA'S LUGGAGE HAD SHOWN UP AT THE GRAN HOTEL just in the nick of time. It was hard to tell which one of us was more excited. A porter had wheeled her two gargantuan suitcases out to us just as we were climbing into the vans that would take us to the Pavas Airport in San Jose.

"Woo-hoo," I yelled when I saw the suitcases.

"Whew, that was a clothes call," Cynthia said.

Our group had booked every seat on the small Nature Air plane that was flying us directly into Tamarindo. "If you come back here on your own," Vianca said as we lined up to board, "make sure you get the 'locos' rate. All the seats are essentially the same, so it's a waste of money to pay for ' elite' or ' promo' seats."

The pi lot chatted throughout our fifty-minute flight, telling us that the mission of Nature Air, besides being environmentally responsible, was to create memorable experiences for travelers by featuring oversize windows in their fleet of Dash 6 Twin Otters that turned every flight into a sky tour.

It wasn't much of an exaggeration. The pi lot pointed out volcanoes and rain forests and waterfalls below us, and the fifty-minute flight was a great way to get a sense of the incredible natural beauty of the country. It also saved us almost five hours of driving over the potholes of Costa Rica's legendary bad roads.

"It's just so green," somebody said.

"In more ways than one," another woman said. "I loved that even the bath products at the hotel were green. What a great country."

"There's much to admire about Costa Rica's concern for the environment," Vianca said behind me. "But as ecotourism has become more of a draw, greenwashing has also become more of a problem. For instance, hotels can receive government sustainable certificates just by using biodegradable cleaning products, recycling, and not using pesticides, even if they're not actively promoting wider conservation efforts."

"Joni Mitch.e.l.l was so far ahead of her time with those lyrics about paving paradise and putting up a parking lot," I aid.

Cynthia turned around in front of me. "Are you sure? I always thought it was pay paradise to put in a parking lot. You know, like everyone was trying to get into paradise, so they needed more parking."

Once again, Cynthia got a bigger laugh than I thought she deserved, especially since I didn't think she even got her own joke. The other women really seemed to like her, possibly more than they liked me. If we were in high school, she'd probably be a cheerleader or a prom queen or something, and far too cool to hang out with me.

Cynthia had finished unloading one of her suitcases and was now working on putting the contents of the other into the remaining drawers of the small dresser we were supposed to be sharing. It didn't really matter, since most of my clothes were dirty at this point anyway.

I was trying to decide whether to wash up before dinner or check my e-mail first.

I watched Cynthia stack an amazing a.s.sortment of under-garments in the drawer.

"Wow," I said. "Do you really wear all that stuff?"

"Eventually," she said, "if I live long enough." She held up a long beige thing with a high waist and legs. "I even dream in Spanx. Actually, I'm a Spanx carnivore."

"Now there's an appetizing thought," I said.

Cynthia wiggled in between the two suitcases and plopped down on her bed. "I can do the time line of my life in Spanx. It's fascinating."

"I bet," I said as I backed toward the door.

"No, really." Cynthia reached up to yank her bangs across her forehead. "Okay, in 1998, the owner of Spanx cut off the feet of her panty hose to look smashing in her white pants."

I reached one hand out behind me. I turned the doork.n.o.b.

Cynthia jumped up, opened a dresser drawer, and held up a pair of white capris. "I had the exact same idea. And not to be compet.i.tive, but I'm almost positive it was sometime in 1997."

She refolded the capris and leaned over to put them back in the drawer. "In 2001, she invented the control-top fishnet and coined the phrase 'no more grid b.u.t.t.'"

Cynthia spun around and held out both hands, like Vanna White after she'd revealed a particularly good letter. "I'd been wearing bike shorts over my fishnets for at least a year at that point."

The mention of bike shorts made me think of Billy. Maybe I'd finally return one of his calls when I got back. I thought the fresh air in Costa Rica might be helping my head clear. I mean, why couldn't we find a way to stay in each other's lives?

Cynthia started holding up one flesh-colored thing after another. "The Slim Cognito Shaping Cami...the Power Panty...the Hide-and-Sleek Slip-Suit...each one more genius than the one before. They're just so totally brilliant I just can't stop buying them."

She plopped down on the bed again. "It could have been me," she said.

And then she started to cry.

I sighed. I pulled the door shut and put the empty suitcase on the floor. I sat down on the bed next to Cynthia, just close enough to pat her on the back while she sobbed.

Eventually I handed her a tissue. I hoped the heavy tissue use in our group wasn't negatively impacting Costa Rica's green rating.

"If only I'd listened to myself," Cynthia said when she finished blowing her nose. "I could have plummeted to the top of the fashion world."

"So this is about Spanx?"