Read Online A Turn in the Road by Debbie Macomber - Free Book Online Page B

I’m sorry.”
    â€œVance, Matt and Jessie got off okay,” she muttered with no degree of pleasure. “They ended up getting a cab. He sent me a text from the airport and said he’d keep in touch.”
    Bethanne suspected Vance’s effort to communicate wouldn’t last long. If the tone of Annie’s voice was any indication, she’d figured that out, too. Vance would stay in touch for the first few weeks, and then all his good intentions and promises would fall by the wayside. Frankly, Bethanne was just as glad, although she’d never tell Annie that.
    â€œWhere are we spending the night?” Annie asked, leaning forward and thrusting her head between Bethanne and Ruth in the front seat.
    â€œI have a reservation in Spokane,” Ruth answered.
    â€œSpokane?” Annie repeated. “That’s only five hours from Seattle. Can’t we drive farther than that?”
    Ruth looked over at Bethanne. “When I made these arrangements I intended to travel alone. I estimated that between four and six hours on the road would be my limit. I wanted to make it a leisurely trip.”
    â€œWe’ve been to Spokane at least a dozen times,” Annie complained. “I’ve seen everything there is to see.”
    Bethanne had, as well. “This is your grandmother’s trip, Annie,” she reminded her daughter. “If Grandma Hamlin wants to spend the night in Spokane, then that’s what we’ll do.”
    â€œOkay.” Annie slumped back and folded her arms. “Does the hotel have a swimming pool?”
    â€œI don’t know.” Ruth flipped open her itinerary.
    â€œTell me the name of the hotel and I’ll look it up on my phone.”
    â€œYou can do that?” Ruth sounded impressed.
    â€œAs long as they have a website I can.”
    Ruth gave Annie the hotel name, and Annie immediately started clicking away. Judging by her sigh, the hotel was pool-less.
    â€œWe’ll have lunch, and then check out the local attractions. There’s a mall close by, isn’t there, and a movie theater? No reason we have to stay in the room.” Bethanne offered what she hoped were helpful suggestions.
    She assumed they’d reach Spokane a little after one. The truth was, Bethanne agreed with Annie. She was certainly willing to drive beyond Spokane. However, this was Ruth’s trip, as she’d pointed out, and she was reluctant to do anything that would diminish her mother-in-law’s enjoyment. Ruth had waited years for this opportunity, so Bethanne refused to cheat her out of even one second of her carefully planned adventure.
    â€œI…I suppose we could go a bit farther,” Ruth murmured after a while. “I’m anxious to get to Florida.”
    â€œHave you heard from anyone there?” Bethanne asked.
    â€œJust Jane and Diane.”
    â€œWow, fifty years,” Annie said. “That’s a long time.”
    â€œIt is.” Ruth nodded slowly. “The funny thing is, it doesn’t seem that long ago—it really doesn’t.”
    â€œHow many years has it been for you, Mom?”
    â€œLet me see. I graduated in…” Bethanne quickly calculated the years, astonished that it’d been twenty-nine years since she’d left high school. “Twenty-nine years,” she whispered, hardly able to believe it.
    â€œDid you ever go to your reunions?”
    Annie certainly seemed to be in an inquisitive mood. “No. Your father—” Bethanne paused, about to lay the blame at Grant’s feet. While it was true that Grant hadn’t been enthusiastic about attending her high school functions—or, for that matter, his own—she’d consented. She could’ve gone by herself, and hadn’t. It wasn’t like Eugene, Oregon, was all that far from Seattle. “No, I never did,” she said.
    Her father, an English professor now retired, had taught at the University