“Thanks,” she whispered.

“I didn’t do that for you,” Rooster said, fork in hand. “I like my mashed potatoes and gravy hot.”

She was about to turn away when she became aware of Max, the man who sat beside Rooster, watching her. His eyes, dark and sober, met hers for a long moment. His look seemed to go straight through her and Bethanne felt herself flush. Her reaction embarrassed her but she didn’t know how to explain it. She wasn’t seeking any connection, romantic or otherwise. She was there to do a job—help Ruth’s friend—and that was it. Glancing away, Bethanne hurried back to the kitchen.

Eight

“Mom,” Annie said from the backseat of the car. “Have you ever been to Vegas?” This trip was turning out better than she’d hoped. But then, her expectations hadn’t been that high.

When her grandmother announced the day before that they were going to spend the night in Spokane, Annie had wanted to scream with frustration. Spokane? It was an all-right town, but it sure wasn’t exciting.

Well, visiting Pendleton, Oregon, wasn’t exactly like being in Paris. To be fair, they’d had a decent afternoon. She’d actually had fun waiting tables at the café, which wasn’t nearly as easy as it looked. The next time she ate in a restaurant, Annie knew she’d see the waitress in an entirely different light.

She’d suggested Pendleton because of her father. A little while ago, he’d mentioned that he’d been born there, although Annie couldn’t remember why they’d even been talking about it. That part wasn’t important, anyway. The one thing that did matter was getting a feel for what her mother was thinking about her father. Driving to Pendleton was Annie’s way of casually bringing him into the conversation. She wanted her mother to be thinking about him, to miss him and to consider reuniting the family.

Unfortunately, Annie hadn’t been able to figure out how her mother really felt. Of course, they’d been too busy at the café to discuss much of anything. Then, after Marie closed for the night, they’d toured the town. There’d been a lot of talk about her grandparents’ early years. Annie had listened politely and so had her mother. Bethanne seemed interested but Annie noticed she didn’t ask many questions.

The first place Marie took them was the old neighborhood. Annie saw the house where her grandparents had lived when Grant was born. It was small and drab and nothing like she’d expected. True, it was nearly fifty years older now, but she could hardly imagine her father living in such a tiny house. The yard was overrun with grass and thick with weeds. The sidewalk leading to the front porch was cracked. Someone had left a red wagon outside, along with a tricycle, so another young family occupied the house these days.

While Annie loved her grandmother’s stories, her attention was repeatedly drawn back to her cell phone.

Vance had texted her twice. His first message said he’d landed safely in Rome. Well, good for him.

She didn’t text back.

Then, less than three hours later, he sent her another message.

Miss you.

As far as she was concerned, he didn’t miss her nearly enough—or he wouldn’t have left. She didn’t answer that one, either, although it boosted her ego considerably that he’d attempted to contact her.

Nevertheless, Vance was out of her life. He’d taught her a valuable lesson and she was determined to learn from it. She was hurt by what he’d done and embarrassed by how oblivious she’d been. He’d lied to her, keeping his plans a secret. She should’ve known, though. In retrospect, there’d been clues, like his lack of interest in doing anything with her this summer and his frequent visits to Matt’s place—without her. What was that cliché about hindsight being twenty-twenty? She understood it now.

This thing with Vance was kind of eerie because it reminded Annie of when her father moved out. She’d commented on that to her mother, who’d agreed. Bethanne had been shocked when it happened; even Andrew hadn’t seen it coming.

Annie had been shocked at first, too, but when she thought about it, the signs had been there. Just like with Vance, but more obvious. Her father often got home late from the office and always seemed in a hurry to leave again. He’d bought her a new computer, too, for no reason. It wasn’t until much later that she’d realized his gifts were motivated by guilt, which proved he did have a conscience. Later, Annie had purposely ruined the computer, but that was beside the point.

Her mother had been totally blind to what her father was doing. That had infuriated Annie, who thought Bethanne should have recognized that her marriage was in trouble. A woman who’d been married for twenty years, who supposedly knew her husband…

Back then it’d been easy to blame Bethanne. Annie got over that fast enough, but some of her residual anger had lingered.

Until the night Vance dumped her.

Well, he didn’t officially dump her, but that was how it felt. Actually, she almost wished he’d ended the relationship completely. A clean break and all that.

Well, it didn’t matter because she was finished with Vance. He could send her all the text messages he wanted but she had no intention of responding. What she needed now was to have fun.

A lot of fun.

She looked down at the map a second time. Vegas wasn’t that far, but she’d have to convince her mother and grandmother to head toward Nevada instead of South Dakota. Mount Rushmore wasn’t going anywhere. She’d let all her friends know where she was and eventually the news would reach Vance and then he’d regret what he’d done.

The taste of this small revenge was sweet on her tongue. Vance might think Rome was fun, but Annie could guarantee Vegas was a whole lot more exciting than touring some museum.

Annie’s question caught Bethanne by surprise. Vegas?

“Have you ever been to Vegas?” Annie asked again.

Where was this coming from? Bethanne was driving while Ruth napped beside her and her daughter sat in the backseat.

“Well, yes, your father and I were in Vegas years ago.” Grant had taken Bethanne to a Realtors’ convention. They’d stayed at one of the gigantic hotels on the Strip, and she remembered those three days fondly. Because of the divorce it was sometimes difficult to recall the good times she’d had with Grant. Like all married couples, they’d experienced ups and downs through the years. Every marriage did. It was easy to forget the laughter they’d once shared when her memories were tainted by Grant’s betrayal.

“You awake, Grandma?” Annie leaned forward to peer around Ruth’s seat.

“Mmm.”

“Have you been to Vegas?”

“No, never,” Ruth admitted. “Richard went there on business any number of times but I was always busy with the children.”

“We should go to Vegas!” Annie said, as if this was the idea of the century. “The three of us. We’d have a hoot.”

“We can do that one day,” Bethanne agreed. Their second day on the road, and so far, everything had gone well. They’d deviated from their plans once already, but this was Ruth’s trip, not Annie’s. Or Bethanne’s.

“I mean we should go now,” Annie said. “Really, how many road trips do the three of us expect to take together?”

“Now?” Bethanne asked. “You mean today?”

“Not exactly today. It’s a ways yet. I’ve got the map here, and if we head south on Highway 93 at Twin Falls we can reach Vegas tomorrow afternoon.”

“Honey,” Bethanne reminded her daughter for probably the fifth time. “Your grandmother has carefully planned our route and we’re going to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore.”

“I know, but wouldn’t it be more fun in Vegas?”

Ruth didn’t comment one way or the other.

“It’s boring on the freeway,” Annie continued. “If we’re going to drive all the way across the United States, it’d be a lot more interesting on the highways and byways than the interstate.”

“Vegas,” Ruth murmured.

“Remember, you specifically mentioned Mount Rushmore,” Bethanne said mildly, not wanting to put pressure on her former mother-in-law, but not wanting her to be disappointed, either.

“I know I did,” Ruth said. “But that old mountain will be there until the end of time. Annie’s right. It isn’t every day that I have the opportunity to visit Las Vegas—and with two of my favorite people.”

“You mean we can actually go to Vegas?” Annie didn’t seem capable of containing her excitement.

“We’re going to Vegas!” Ruth shouted.

“And what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” Annie returned, laughing.

Bethanne had to smile, too. Vegas did sound like a lot more fun than elbowing her way through the tourist crowds anxious for a better view of Rushmore.

“Just promise me,” Ruth said, “that you won’t say a word about this to Grant or Robin. I promised them we’d stick to the freeway the entire trip, but Annie’s got a point. This is pretty dull driving. If we’re going to see the country, we need to get off the interstate. We should explore a little.”

“Look at the map and tell me where you want me to go,” Bethanne said. This was turning into far more of an adventure than she’d ever anticipated. Her stint as a waitress at Marie’s café yesterday had been quite an experience. Bethanne had nearly forty dollars, her share of the money they’d made in tips. Gambling money. The biggest surprise had been Max, the biker who sat next to the older man who called himself Rooster. It was Max whose eyes had connected with hers, Max who’d looked at her so…knowingly.

After the busload of customers left, Marie had prepared dinner for them all. Ruth said the chicken-fried steak was even better than she remembered. The two older women sat, chatting over coffee, while Annie and Bethanne finished the cleanup. Later that night, after Marie had given them a quick tour of town, Bethanne had crawled into the hotel bed, exhausted and oddly exhilarated as she closed her eyes. As soon as she did, the image of the biker filled her mind. Max. He hadn’t spoken a word to her, other than to place his order. It’d been that brief look they’d exchanged. A couple of times Bethanne had tried to shake the memory and found she couldn’t.

She was getting fanciful, she’d thought. Downright silly. She had absolutely nothing in common with this biker, and it was highly unlikely she’d ever run into him again, which was just as well. She’d mumbled a prayer for him—there was something about the sadness in his eyes—and then she’d fallen almost immediately into a deep and peaceful sleep.

“We’re about an hour away from Twin Falls,” Ruth said, breaking into Bethanne’s musings. She glanced up from the map, which Annie had handed over to her. “I’ll need to cancel my hotel reservation again.”

“We should probably cancel them all,” Annie advised. “I mean, we’ve already changed Grandma’s plans once, and now we’re doing it again. It’s way more fun making plans as we go along, don’t you think?”

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