A Turn in the Road (6 page)

Bethanne drove to the office a few minutes later, but for the rest of that day, she couldn't get Grant out of her mind. She had to appreciate the fact that he hadn't joined forces with his sister against them. His concern for Ruth, Annie and her seemed genuine. She'd given him a glimmer of hope that a reconciliation was possible;
the idea didn't seem as repugnant to her as it once had and that, she guessed, was a good sign.

At her desk, she made all the necessary arrangements to leave the office for a few weeks. She went home at five that afternoon, slightly depressed at the prospect of an empty house, and wondered what it would've been like if Grant had been there waiting for her with a glass of wine and a welcoming smile.

“F
inally! We're actually on the road,” Ruth marveled as they reached the summit of Snoqualmie Pass, crossing the Cascade Mountains. They were a little more than an hour outside Seattle, heading due east.

Ruth had the map supplied by AAA spread out on her lap and acted as navigator while Bethanne drove. Annie had claimed the backseat; she'd been suspiciously quiet since they'd left Seattle. Bethanne knew Vance had deeply hurt and disappointed her daughter. The fact that he'd decided to travel in Europe for a year—and hadn't bothered to tell her—could only feel like a betrayal. Bethanne hoped that spending these weeks with her grandmother and with her would help. Annie was still young. In time she'd recognize that Vance's leaving was the best thing that could have happened.

She remembered when she'd told her parents she wanted to marry Grant. Her family, especially her father, had urged Bethanne to complete her education first. With just one semester to go before she obtained her degree, he'd argued that it made sense to put off the wedding. Bethanne, however, had been unwilling to listen,
unwilling to wait a day longer than necessary to be Grant's wife. And she'd refused to be separated from him; the university was in the town of Pullman in eastern Washington, while he was working in Seattle. She'd finish school later—only she never had.

In retrospect, it had all worked out, but if she'd had her teaching degree who knows how different her life might have been. One thing was sure; with a career of her own, or at least the qualifications for one, she wouldn't have felt so completely vulnerable when Grant asked for a divorce.

Annie's situation was different to that extent, anyway. She'd graduate the following year with a business degree. She'd gotten practical experience working at Parties and that would serve her well.

Annie stirred in the backseat, sitting up and yawning. She removed the iPod earbuds and stretched her arms to the side, arching her back. “Where are we?”

“Just over the pass,” Bethanne told her.

“Already?”

“Have you been asleep?”

“I think I was,” Annie murmured sadly. “I haven't had much sleep the past few nights.”

“Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry.”

“Vance, 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.

“Where are we spending the night?” Annie asked, leaning forward and thrusting her head between Bethanne and Ruth in the front seat.

“I have a reservation in Spokane,” Ruth answered.

“Spokane?” 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.”

“We'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.”

“Okay.” Annie slumped back and folded her arms. “Does the hotel have a swimming pool?”

“I don't know.” Ruth flipped open her itinerary.

“Tell me the name of the hotel and I'll look it up on my phone.”

“You can do that?” Ruth sounded impressed.

“As 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.

“We'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.

“I…I suppose we could go a bit farther,” Ruth murmured after a while. “I'm anxious to get to Florida.”

“Have you heard from anyone there?” Bethanne asked.

“Just Jane and Diane.”

“Wow, fifty years,” Annie said. “That's a long time.”

“It is.” Ruth nodded slowly. “The funny thing is, it doesn't seem that long ago—it really doesn't.”

“How many years has it been for you, Mom?”

“Let 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.

“Did 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 of Oregon. Her mother had died a couple of years ago. Bethanne was proud of the way her father coped with being a widower. Despite his grief he hadn't given up on life; in fact, he was currently in England with a group of students on a Shakespearean tour.

They spoke and emailed regularly, and she'd recently learned that he was dating. Her father had a more active social life than she did, which actually made her smile.

“Wasn't Dad born in Oregon?” Annie asked.

“Yes, in Pendleton,” Ruth confirmed. “Richard and I were newlyweds, and he was working on a big engineering project there. I don't remember exactly what it was now. We moved around quite a bit the first few years we were married.”

“How far is Pendleton from here?”

“Oh, dear, I wouldn't know.”

“I'd like to see the town where Dad was born,” Annie said. “Couldn't we spend the night there instead?” She reached for her
phone again. “It would mean we'd need to change our route, but it wouldn't be that much out of our way.”

“We were only in Pendleton for the first year of his life,” Ruth said.

“Do you have any friends living there?” Annie pressed, but before Ruth could answer, she asked another question. “I'll bet it's been ages since you connected with them, isn't it?”

“Well, that was forty-nine years ago. I'm sure they've moved on.”

“What are their names?” Annie's fingers were primed and ready as she held her cell phone. “I'll look them up and find out for you.”

“Annie,” Bethanne warned. Her daughter seemed to be taking control of the trip.

“Okay, okay, I'll shut up and we can spend the night in Spokane and sit around the hotel room all afternoon.”

Bethanne cast Ruth an apologetic look.

“I had a friend by the name of Marie Philips.” Ruth's voice was tentative, uncertain. “She was married and a young mother herself. Her parents owned a small café on the outskirts of town. I'm sure it's long gone by now.”

“We need to eat, don't we?” Annie said triumphantly.

“The café might not even be in business anymore,” Bethanne felt obliged to remind her.

“Is her name listed on that computer phone of yours?” Ruth asked, sounding more interested by the minute.

Bethanne could hear Annie typing away.

“P-h-i-l-i-p-s?” Annie spelled it out. “With one
L?
”

“Yes. The café was where the bus stopped, too. They served the most wonderful home cooking. Marie was a real friend to me, but we lost contact after Richard and I moved.”

“What was the name of the café?”

“Oh, dear.” Ruth shook her head. “I don't remember, but I do know where it is…or was.”

“So, can I see the town where Dad was born?” Annie asked
eagerly. “Even if we spend the night in Spokane, I'd still like to visit Pendleton.”

“I don't see why we couldn't,” Ruth said, apparently catching Annie's enthusiasm. “My goodness, I haven't thought of Marie in years. She had a son around the same age as Grant. I wonder what became of him. Marie had an older boy, as well. Like I said, she was so helpful to me. She's one of those salt-of-the-earth people.” Ruth seemed immersed in her memories.

Bethanne continued driving in silence. They passed Ellensburg and were headed toward the bridge that spanned the mighty Columbia River, on the way to Moses Lake. All of this was familiar territory. If they made the decision to go to Pendleton, they'd need to change course after crossing the bridge.

Annie was still typing. “The Pendleton directory lists a Marie Philips.”

“It does?” Ruth's voice rose excitedly. “Let's call her.”

Annie called and left a message on the woman's voice mail. When she'd finished, she asked, “Do you want me to see about changing our hotel reservations?”

“I've already made a deposit at the hotel in Spokane,” Ruth lamented.

Bethanne hated to admit it, but even she was disappointed. She was enjoying the drive and it did seem a waste of time to arrive in Spokane for lunch and call it a day.

“It's a chain hotel,” Annie said. “If there's one in Pendleton, I bet they can switch reservations without a penalty.”

Ruth was quiet for a moment. “Okay, call and see if the hotel is willing to do that.”

“When you're ready, give me the phone number.”

Ruth rattled it off. Annie got through right away and made the arrangements. She disconnected, saying, “Done. The manager told me it wasn't a problem.”

“That's great,” Bethanne said, pleased her daughter was so technologically savvy. She had the same phone as Annie and Grant but couldn't do nearly as much with it. The problem was that she
hadn't made the effort to learn. It seemed that whenever she got comfortable with her phone, it was time to upgrade and she'd have to learn a whole new process.

“I wonder what Marie's doing these days,” Ruth said thoughtfully.

“Well, we'll find out,” Annie responded.

“We can have a light lunch when we hit the Tri-cities,” Bethanne suggested, “and once we reach Pendleton we can look for the café your friend's family owned.”

“I'd like that,” Ruth said, “but we all know there's no guarantee the café will still be there.”

“Right, but we can look, can't we?” Annie said. “Then, after we eat, can you show me the house you lived in when Dad was born?”

“Sure thing,” Ruth said, “but again you have to remember that was a long time ago.”

Bethanne didn't understand Annie's sudden interest in her father's birthplace. Ruth, however, seemed happy to stroll down memory lane. Annie was encouraging her, and this exchange of questions and anecdotes was probably good for both of them.

Annie's cell phone rang when they stopped for lunch in Richland. They found a chain restaurant off the freeway and each ordered soup.

“Oh, hi, Dad,” Annie said, and her gaze immediately went to Bethanne. “Yeah, we're in Richland.” She smiled and added, “We made good time. Mom's driving—and guess what?”

Bethanne was determined not to listen, but she couldn't avoid hearing Annie's side of the conversation.

“Mom's right here. Do you want to talk to her?”

Bethanne shook her head vigorously. Annie ignored her reaction and handed over the cell.

Reluctantly, Bethanne accepted it. “Hello, Grant,” she said without enthusiasm.

“You turned your cell phone off,” he said, although his words lacked any real censure.

“I'm driving,” she pointed out. The rental car didn't have a Bluetooth connection.

“That's what Annie said.”

Silence.

“How's it going so far?”

“Fine.” She resisted telling him that they'd left just that morning and were only about two hundred miles from Seattle.

“What's this I hear about you spending the night in Pendleton? Did you know I was born there?”

If she'd forgotten, she'd received plenty of reminders in the past few hours. “Annie mentioned it.” Bethanne wondered if Grant had put their daughter up to this. She was well aware that Annie had her own agenda. But then, perhaps she was becoming paranoid.

“I hoped you'd call and check in every now and then,” he said in a hurt-little-boy voice that was meant to elicit sympathy.

“You should talk to Annie or your mother,” she told him. “If you'd like, I'll remind Ruth to check in with you or Robin every day so you can rest assured that all is well.”

“Yes, please do.”

“Here's your mother.” She passed the phone across the booth to her mother-in-law.

Annie waited until their soup arrived before she spoke. “Honestly, Mom, you could be a bit friendlier to Dad.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. You know how he feels.”

Bethanne did. “This is about more than feelings, Annie.”

“At least let him prove himself. You don't need to be so…” She couldn't seem to find the right word. “Unfriendly,” she said, repeating herself.