A Turn in the Road

“Please don’t say anything—it isn’t necessary.”

A chill went through him. “Are you telling me you’ve made a decision and you and Grant are getting back together?” That seemed the only logical explanation.

“Yes…no. I don’t know… He’s been so wonderful and…well, I didn’t think it was possible, but after the past few days I’m wondering if maybe we should give it a shot.”

Max couldn’t blame her, although his disappointment was devastating. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

“No…no. Oh, Max, the minute I heard your voice my heart went crazy. Grant’s here and everything seems idyllic. But I’m afraid this won’t last.” She sighed. “Try as I might, I can’t get you out of my mind.”

He relaxed a little. “I can’t get you out of mine, either.” He couldn’t lose her so soon after he’d found her. “There’s no need to decide anything now,” he said. “You have time.”

“Andrew and Courtney’s wedding. I have to get through my son’s wedding.” Her voice was frantic. “I have to—”

“Bethanne.” He murmured her name. “Stop. Take a deep breath and listen to me.”

“Okay.”

He heard her soft intake of air. “Everything’s going to work out. I’m not going to pressure you one way or the other. This is up to you, and if you want to reconcile with Grant, then I’ll abide by your decision and get out of your life.”

“You’d do that? You’d walk away without a word?”

He would. He hated the thought of it, but he would. “Yes. I’d respect your wishes.”

“But…” She sounded hurt, confused.

“Bethanne,” he said. “That’s what people do when they love the other person. Your happiness is paramount to me.”

“Do you love me, Max? Is it possible to love someone after such a short time?”

These weren’t questions Max felt qualified to answer. “I don’t know.” Anything less than total honesty would be wrong. “What I do know is that I feel alive when I’m with you. You inspire me to open my eyes and accept the past and not worry about the future.”

“Oh, Max.”

“If that’s love, then that’s what I feel. If you think Grant’s the man who’ll make you happy, then I’ll remove myself from the equation.”

“Max, hold on a minute.”

She’d lowered the phone, but Max could still hear. “Tell everyone I’ll be back in a minute.” Someone else spoke, although Max couldn’t tell who it was. “I’m not being rude. I’ll be inside when I’m finished.”

This wasn’t a good time. He shouldn’t have phoned.

“I’m back now. I’m sorry,” Bethanne said.

“It’s all right—I understand. I’ll let you return to your meal.” If he’d been smart enough to remember the three-hour time difference, he would’ve realized it was the dinner hour.

“I…want to see you,” she whispered as though it was a weakness of character. “I know I’m being completely unfair and that you deserve so much more than to be left hanging. I’ll be able to think more clearly once I’m back in Seattle and Andrew and Courtney are married. I…apologize that I can’t be more definite than that.”

At this point Max was willing to take whatever she was willing to offer. “Get through your son’s wedding and then we’ll talk. I’ll fly up to Seattle and we can meet face-to-face.”

“Does this mean we won’t talk until after the wedding?” she asked.

“I’ll leave that up to you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean it would be better if you phoned me instead of the other way around.”

“Okay.” She seemed uncertain. “Do you want to hear from me?”

That was an understatement. “Yes, very much.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll wait for your call.”

“All right.”

“Now go back inside that restaurant and enjoy your dinner.”

“I will. Bye, Max.”

“Bye.” He didn’t want the conversation to end, didn’t want to break the connection. So he continued to hold the cell phone against his ear. He heard the click and knew she’d terminated the call.

He was losing Bethanne. He felt it and was powerless to do anything more than hope.

Twenty-Nine

Annie’s suitcase was packed, and while her mother and grandmother ran a few last-minute errands, she stayed at the hotel. Her father would be picking the three of them up early that afternoon for the evening flight to Seattle.

While she waited, she sat in the restaurant that overlooked the Atlantic and read through her emails. Vance sent her as many as five a day. He said basically the same thing in each one.

He was miserable.

As he should be!

He wanted to come back to Seattle.

He should’ve thought of that before he took off without me.

He wanted her to join him.

Fat chance of that.

Annie wasn’t willing to forgive and forget. Okay, deep down maybe she could be talked into letting bygones be bygones. Eventually. But as her mother had pointed out, she wanted Vance to admit he was wrong, which was something he seemed incapable of doing. That being the case, she ignored his pleas. If she sent him one email a day, he should consider himself lucky. Maybe it was petty and immature, but she made sure he knew she wasn’t sitting around pining for him. In fact, she mentioned Craig’s and Jason’s names at every opportunity.

To be honest, the thought of joining him in Europe did appeal to her, but she’d never let him know that. Besides, she had a year of school left before she got her MBA and she wasn’t going to drop out now just to spend a month or two on vacation. As Vance had so incisively said, she had responsibilities. He would no doubt realize soon enough that everyone had responsibilities.

Annie opened today’s first email from Vance, read it and then settled back to mull over this latest bit of news. Vance was returning home at the end of August. His parents had deposited money in his account so he could get his ticket changed. He was heading home.

Annie’s first reaction was sarcastic. Isn’t that wonderful? At the same time, she couldn’t help feeling kind of good, knowing that Vance would be in Seattle again. However, she was determined that their relationship wasn’t going to slip back to what it had been. For that matter, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be with him at all.

Vance had been secretive, insensitive and a jerk, and that was just the beginning of the list of character defects she’d compiled. If he assumed everything would remain status quo between them, he was in for a shock.

Annie generally waited a day or two before she replied to any of Vance’s emails. She carefully composed a response and then reviewed every word before she pressed the send button.

She decided not to reply yet. Instead, she emailed Jason. She planned to stay in touch with Royce’s grandson, Craig, too; he’d been a lot of fun this past week. They had a great time putting together the prom for their grandparents. She thought it was really cool that Craig’s grandfather and her grandmother had gotten together again after fifty years. Those two were crazy about each other. It reminded her of the way Max looked at her mother—and her mother at him.

She almost felt sorry for Max because after the past week it was pretty obvious that her parents would reunite. The truth was, she actually liked Max. Her problem with him was simple—he stood, or used to stand, between her mother and father.

“I figured I’d find you here.”

Annie looked up to see her father. She checked her watch. “Hi, Dad.”

“Hi,” he said, and slid into the booth across from her.

Annie closed her computer. “I didn’t think we were leaving for another couple of hours.”

“We aren’t. I was hoping you’d be alone so we could chat.”

The waiter approached, and her father waved him off with a grin.

“What’s up?” she asked. Reaching for her glass of iced tea, she sipped through the straw.

Her father crossed his arms on the table and leaned forward. “Did you notice how well things are going between your mother and me?”

Annie nodded.

“I think we might make a go of it.”

“I hope so.” However, Annie didn’t discount her mother’s feelings for Max. “Don’t get overconfident, Dad,” she warned.

“I won’t. All I want is a second chance.” He shifted uncomfortably. “I know I shouldn’t be asking you this.”

“What?”

He shook his head. “Never mind.”

“Dad. Just ask me, okay?”

He didn’t speak right away. “I know your mother got a phone call from Max the other night while we were at dinner,” he finally said.

“Everyone knew about that.”

“You went outside and talked to her.”

It wasn’t one of Annie’s smarter moves. “Yeah, I told her she was being rude, which she didn’t appreciate.”

“Has…” He hesitated. “Has Max called again?” He frowned. “Forget I asked that. I shouldn’t put you in the middle. I apologize.”

“Dad!” She could so understand his wanting to know.

“I shouldn’t have asked.”

“You’re right.”

He exhaled slowly. “The problem is, I feel your mother and I are very close to patching things up, and yet I don’t know exactly where I stand.”

“Because of Max.”

“You saw the two of them together—did you get a feel for what’s going on between them?”

“Yeah, and, Dad, I don’t want this to shake you or anything, but Max is hot.”

“Hot as in…sexy?”

“Yeah. He’s the strong, silent type. The kind of man most women notice.”

“Oh.”

“Not to worry—you are, too. Well, sort of.”

He laughed. “Thanks. That’s encouraging.”

“Oh, Dad, quit worrying. Mom will do what’s best for her, and that’s what we all want, right?” Of course, what she thought was best for her mom was her dad.

“Right,” he echoed. “I wish I knew what your mother was thinking, though.”

Annie did, too. That morning she’d caught her mother staring at her cell phone as though torn by indecision. She’d stared at it for so long that Annie was about to comment. Before she could say anything, Bethanne closed it abruptly, and dropped the cell inside her purse.

Leaning back, her father raked his hands through his hair. “No matter what happens, I’ll always love her. I was an idiot.”

“We all are at one time or another.” Annie wanted to wrap her arms around her father. She wanted to reassure him that life was filled with mistakes and that the key was to learn from our errors in judgment.