Road Trip

by Jan Fields

  “That would be great,” Annie said. “The more times I see you, the happier I am.”

  “Then I’ll see what we can manage. If it were up to me, you’d be sick of us by the time the weekend was over.”

  “That, I can’t even imagine,” Annie said. “We’ll be together before you know it!”

  Annie’s words certainly felt true as the last days before the convention trip whizzed by. At the Hook and Needle Club meeting, she collected the lovely little baby quilt from Peggy, and then Gwen surprised her with a sweet knitted baby blanket as well.

  “I couldn’t let Peggy have all the fun,” Gwen said. “Besides, it’s like sending a bit of me along with all of you. I really wish I were going.”

  “It’s going to be fun,” Mary Beth said, her eyes twinkling. “You sure you don’t want us to cram you in?”

  “I do,” Gwen said, “but John doesn’t. He went a bit droopy just from my talking about it. We’ve gotten so set in our ways.” She shook her head, but smiled fondly.

  Annie felt a small pang as she listened to Gwen. She knew just what her friend meant. When LeeAnn went into labor, she and Wayne had gone to Dallas to be there when the twins were born, but Annie had stayed an extra two weeks to help out. When she got home, one of the salesmen at the car dealership said Wayne moped around terribly without her.

  “I’m sure we’ll come home with lots of stories,” Annie said.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Mary Beth quipped. “What happens at convention, stays at convention.”

  “Oh, right,” Alice said with a laugh, “because you all are going to be surrounded by wild, handsome men at a needlework convention.”

  “Don’t be so sure we won’t,” Mary Beth said. “Needlework isn’t just for women, you know.”

  “Really?” Alice said. “Name one guy who can do needlework.”

  “Ian Butler,” Mary Beth said.

  All the women in the room looked at Mary Beth in surprise. “You made that up!” Alice exclaimed in accusation.

  Mary Beth shook her head. “No, really. Ian can knit. He told me that his mother taught him and his brother when they were boys because they said they were ‘bored’ one too many times. I don’t think Todd knits anymore, but Ian sometimes does in the winter. You watch this winter when he’s walking Tartan. The sweaters the dog wears—Ian makes those.”

  Annie just shook her head. She thought she knew all about Ian, and here was something she never imagined. She thought about Ian sitting down with some knitting on a cold winter day. She pictured him in one of his thick flannel shirts with the sleeves rolled up, his long legs stretched out in front of him, and Tartan curled up on the floor. It was a nice homey image.

  “Hello! Earth calling Annie,” Alice said.

  Annie looked up, startled. “Sorry, I guess I was woolgathering.”

  “Really?” Alice said. “It wouldn’t have been wool in the hands of our handsome mayor, would it?”

  Annie felt her cheeks warm. Then Stella broke in and gave them all a chiding glance. “How about we move on with other topics?”

  For once, the women gave Annie a break and let Stella distract them from the entertainment of imagining Annie’s romantic life. The rest of the meeting was spent talking about the convention.

  ****

  The morning they were set to leave was overcast, and the alarm clock went off while Annie’s room was still darkly shadowed. Still, Annie resisted the urge to snuggle back down for a few more minutes of sleep. She had so much to do!

  “So, are you ready for the Great Convention Adventure?” Alice asked a few hours later as she walked through the front door of Grey Gables.

  “I think so,” Annie said. “I’ve packed and repacked three times. I couldn’t decide what I should wear for the day of Gram’s ceremony.” She smiled at her friend. “Thanks so much for getting up early and driving me into town.”

  “I’m happy to help,” Alice said. “Besides, I don’t want you guys zipping out of town without saying goodbye.”

  Suddenly a gray blur skittered along the wood floor and slammed into Alice’s leg. “Oh!” Alice gasped. Then she scooped up the cat and looked into her face. “You know, Boots, the vet may have a point about your weight.”

  “Boots has been crazy all morning,” Annie said. “I think it was the sight of the suitcases.”

  “Probably,” Alice said. “Cats are smart, and Boots is practically a person. Aren’t you, fuzzy-face?”

  Boots wriggled in Alice’s arms until she set the cat back down. Then the cat dashed back down the hall. “See?” Annie said. “Crazy. Good luck with checking in on her.”

  “We’ll be fine,” Alice said. “So what did you decide to wear for your speech?”

  “My pale green sundress with that white lace jacket I bought from A Stitch in Time,” Annie said.

  “The one with the little crocheted flowers on the lapel?” Alice asked. “I love that one. Kate is an amazing designer.”

  “She is,” Annie agreed as she led the way to the sofa where she’d piled her bags. “And after this convention, maybe even she will believe that.”

  Despite the overcast skies, the morning was pleasantly cool and not quite windy enough to make a mess of Annie’s hair—at least not until Alice drove down the highway in her peppy little convertible. Annie finally resorted to pulling her hair back in a ponytail with a scrunchie from her purse. Otherwise, she was going to spend the day looking like she just fell out of bed.

  “How come your hair always looks good?” Annie said.

  Alice laughed. “Lots and lots of hair product.”

  Annie looked over at her friend. Actually, she suspected, Alice’s thick auburn hair just pulled off a tousled look better than Annie’s.

  When they finally pulled into the small employee lot behind the Main Street shops, Annie saw Mary Beth and Kate staring into the back of the SUV. “What’s up?” Annie asked as she got out of the convertible.

  “We’re playing car Tetris,” Kate said, “and trying to figure out the best configuration of boxes and luggage.”

  Mary Beth turned to look at Annie. “You didn’t bring a ton of luggage, did you?”

  Annie shook her head and pointed to the small suitcase on wheels. “Just the one and a couple of totes. I can put them at my feet in the car.”

  “We’ll see what we can manage,” Mary Beth said. “Let’s hope Stella packed light too.”

  They didn’t have to wait long to find out. A sparkling clean white Lincoln Continental pulled up, and Stella’s driver quickly hopped out. He nodded to the women standing around the SUV, and then walked around to open the door for Stella. The older woman got slowly out of the car. Annie wasn’t sure if Stella’s slow exit was really from age, or if she just liked making a grand entrance.

  Alice grinned at Jason and Stella as they walked around the car. “Every time I see your car, I’m inspired to go to the car wash and try to make mine look presentable.”

  Stella looked over at Alice’s Mustang. “Your car looks perfectly fine. Though I cannot imagine driving around while being pelted by bugs.”

  “The bugs aren’t a problem,” Alice said. “The windshield blocks them. But don’t get me started on seagulls.”

  Stella raised a hand with a grimace. “I would rather not start a trip with that kind of image in mind, thank you.”

  As the women chatted, Jason walked to the back of the car and pulled out two suitcases, each about the size of Annie’s. Stella gestured toward them as Jason carried them to the SUV. “As you can see, I packed light, just like you requested.”

  Mary Beth sighed, but didn’t mention that Stella’s version of “light” involved twice as much luggage as anyone else. She turned back to the SUV and began trying to shift bags again. She gave everything a mighty heave to one side and a small make-up case fell out. Luckily, it hit one of the suitcases still sitting on the ground, so it didn’t burst open.

  “Excuse me,” Jason said, surveying the pile of luggage
on the ground and the crammed back of the SUV. “Perhaps I could help?”

  “You couldn’t do any worse than Kate and I,” Mary Beth said, backing away to give him room.

  Jason pulled all the bags and boxes from the back of the SUV. Then he stared at the pile for a moment before quickly putting it all back in. The women stared in surprise when he easily fit every bit and even had a small space left.

  “Thank you, Jason,” Stella said.

  “Happy to help,” he said. His eyes sparkled as he backed away to stand beside the Lincoln again.

  “Hey!” Mary Beth interjected. “What are we going to do when we have to pack to leave Texas, and we don’t have Jason?”

  “Each of you should remember where your own suitcases are now,” said Alice. “Or maybe you should just draw a diagram.”

  “I think we’ll manage,” Annie laughed. “If nothing else we can pack some things in a box and mail them home.”

  With everything packed, they all said their goodbyes quickly.

  “Remember,” Annie said to Alice, “don’t fall for the starving act from Boots.”

  “I will be totally unmoved,” Alice promised, but Annie knew better. She just hoped she wouldn’t come home to find Boots even plumper.

  Eventually everyone was sorted out to the correct vehicle. Alice pulled out of the lot first, waving cheerfully as she turned onto the street. Then Jason followed at a more sedate pace. Finally, the adventurers were on the road. Mary Beth took the first shift as driver, and Kate rode beside her. Annie and Stella took seats behind them. Stella immediately pulled out her knitting and settled into her project.

  Annie looked at her project bag, but left it alone. She decided to do a little scenery watching first. She loved spring and looked forward to seeing plenty of flowers along the way. She loved to drive south in the spring and north in the fall—both times of year meant driving into more and more color.

  “Well, we managed to get off smoothly,” she said.

  She heard Kate giggle from the front seat. “That’s because you missed all the action.”

  “Action?” Annie echoed and even Stella looked up with eyebrows raised.

  “Oh, we don’t need to talk about that,” Mary Beth said quickly. “We should talk about the convention. Annie, do you have your speech all ready?”

  Before Annie could answer, Stella cleared her throat and leaned forward in her seat. “Now you must tell us what happened,” Stella said. “You cannot simply drop something like that without an explanation.”

  “Mary Beth set off the car alarm,” Kate said, ducking as Mary Beth playfully reached over to poke her. “I guess she wanted everyone in Stony Point to be aware we were leaving. I’m surprised you didn’t hear it as you were driving in.”

  “It’s not that loud,” Mary Beth said sternly.

  “Right,” Kate said, giggling again. “I’m sure only the folks in a six- or seven-block radius heard it.”

  “The alarm system is new,” Mary Beth said, “and it comes with a crazy keypad next to the front door locks and a remote control. They only finished putting it in yesterday. I’m not really used to it yet.”

  “I imagine those things can be tricky,” Annie offered. Ian had suggested she get a car alarm since her car had been broken into once or twice as a result of some of the mysteries that always seemed to pop up in Stony Point. Still, Annie couldn’t imagine wanting an alarm for her car. She was sure she’d be annoying Alice with it all the time.

  “I find them quite obnoxious,” Stella said. “When we lived in the city, we often had dinners out disturbed by the horrible sound of someone’s car alarm. Though I do have an alarm system for the house. We’d always had one in New York.”

  “It’s probably harder to set one of those off accidentally,” Annie said.

  “Well, not really,” Stella admitted. “But at least it doesn’t bother the neighbors. And it was always gratifying to see how quickly the police responded to the alarm company.”

  “Normally, I wouldn’t want an alarm for the car,” Mary Beth said. “I shipped most of the items for Betsy’s display, but we’re still carrying some of them. And we’ll need to carry almost everything on the way back—or at least as much as we can cram in. We may all be sitting on our luggage on the way back. At any rate, I didn’t want to risk Betsy’s work. As we know, Betsy Originals sell for a lot of money these days. Someone could definitely find them tempting.”

  “That’s very thoughtful of you,” Annie said. “But it’s not like we’re advertising them on the side of the SUV. I expect we’ll be fine. Still, it’s nice that you wanted to keep Gram’s things safe.”

  “You certainly won’t have trouble telling if someone tries to break into the car,” Kate said. “I nearly jumped out of my skin when the alarm went off.”

  Mary Beth just shook her head. “Can we talk about something else?”

  “Perhaps we could listen to some music?” Stella suggested. “I always find that very soothing as I knit.”

  Mary Beth plugged her MP3 player into a dock in the car, and soon they were listening to an interesting mix of music that ranged from Broadway show tunes to classic rock’n’roll. Though Stella sometimes raised an eyebrow, she didn’t comment on any of Mary Beth’s song choices.

  5

  Annie was amazed at how quickly they zipped from state to state through New England. She had noticed it when she was a youngster and her parents first took her from Texas to Maine, but it was much more apparent now as an adult. The states all seemed so tiny as they drove from Maine through New Hampshire and into Massachusetts before they even stopped for breakfast!

  As the hours blurred, Annie tried to decide if she liked driving better or riding. The nice thing about riding was that she didn’t have to watch the road. So if they passed anything interesting, she could look at it without worrying about wrecking the car. She loved the sight of the flowering crab apples and pear trees along the road. She spotted a huge hawk perched in one tree, clearly visible since the spring leaves were only beginning to unfurl.

  Still, a long car ride along interstate highways simply didn’t offer that many opportunities for sightseeing. Mostly she saw trees that began to look alike after a while, and lots and lots of cars. She tried crocheting, but she kept nodding off and losing her place. During one unexpected nap, she even drooled. She looked around in horror as she wiped the corner of the mouth, but no one had noticed—or at least they pretended they hadn’t. After that, she stayed a little more alert just from nervous fear of drooling again.

  She almost cheered when they were driving into Pennsylvania, and Stella finally said, “Will we be stopping for the night soon? I’m feeling a bit stiff.”

  “I was just thinking we should stop somewhere in Pennsylvania,” Mary Beth said. “I’ve stayed in Carlisle before. I seem to remember it having several decent hotels and restaurants. It’s another two or three hours though.”

  “I think I can wait that long,” Kate said as she stretched in her seat, “but I’ll be happy to get out of the car too.”

  “Me too,” Annie admitted. “I think road trips were a little easier when I was about ten years younger.”

  Kate grinned at her. “Well, we could play Truth or Dare. Wouldn’t that be a flashback to high school?”

  “But not a pleasant one,” Annie said shaking her head. “And I don’t even want to think about the dares you and Mary Beth might think up.”

  The resulting laughter and chatter about all the different things they experienced in high school carried them though the next two and a half hours surprisingly well. Still, the laughing changed to cheers when Mary Beth finally turned off onto an exit and left the interstate. They quickly chose a hotel with an attached restaurant. They all liked the idea of a comfortable meal and a chance to unwind before settling into their hotel rooms.

  They each grabbed a bag and headed into the hotel’s small, warmly decorated lobby. The young hotel clerk was friendly and efficient so registering went s
moothly. Mary Beth and Kate were sharing a room to cut costs. Stella definitely wanted a room of her own, so Mary Beth and Kate offered to let Annie bunk in with them.

  “That’s OK,” Annie said. “I’ll sleep better on my own, I think. I’ll splurge.”

  The hotel was able to give them three rooms in a row on the same floor. They went upstairs long enough to freshen up and dump their luggage, and then they met back in the lobby to head into the restaurant as a group.

  The lights in the restaurant were a little dimmer than Annie preferred, so she was glad when she made it to the table without bumping another diner or stumbling. Once they were seated, Stella gave voice to Annie’s own feelings.

  “I don’t understand dark restaurants,” Stella said with a sniff. “Personally, I like to be able to see the menu, see my food, and see if they keep the place decently clean.”

  “Plus, it’s hard to people watch in the dark,” Mary Beth said, peering around the restaurant. “That’s my favorite part of eating out in Stony Point.”

  Annie knew Mary Beth loved keeping up with the Stony Point gossip. Between her and Peggy, the Hook and Needle Club stayed on top of nearly everything that happened. Still, Mary Beth did it with such cheerful good humor, it was hard to get angry with her.

  “Don’t look now, but there’s a man at the little booth near the restrooms who keeps staring at our table,” Mary Beth whispered.

  Naturally, the other three women all turned to look and caught sight of a young man with a three-day growth of beard looking their way. As soon as he caught them looking, he ducked his head. Annie noticed the man wasn’t alone at the table, but they couldn’t see much about the other man because of the high backs on the booth seats. The top of the man’s bald head barely showed over the seat.

  “Maybe one of us reminded him of someone,” Kate said, turning her attention back to her menu.

  “Still,” Stella said, “staring is so rude.”

  Annie smiled. “We did all turn and stare back.”

  Stella glared at her a moment, and then turned her attention to her menu. “That’s not the same thing at all,” she murmured. “We gave them a quick look. But Mary Beth said he was actively staring at us.”