On the Road [again]

by Sheila Horgan

  On the Road (Again)

  The Girls Series, Book Two

  Sheila Horgan

  On the Road (Again) — The Girls Series, Book Two — Copyright © 2013 by Sheila Horgan. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, or distributed without the written permission of the author, with the exception of short quotes for purposes of review.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, businesses, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. No reference to any real person is intended or implied.

  Special thanks to Darlene Davis MacLean and Deb for all the help and support.

  Christie Giraud at www.eBookEditingPro.com

  Proofreading by J. Jeffers www.JJeffersEditing.com

  Interior Design by CyberWitch Press LLC CyberWitchPress.com

  Cover art by David Avila

  ONE

  THE PHONE RANG at about five thirty. Adeline’s eyes were too blurry to see the caller ID. “Hello?”

  “Momma?”

  “Genevieve? Where are you, darling?”

  “I’m at the airport. In Paris. I’ve decided to take a few weeks and wander around Europe. Is there anything at all you need? I can come home if you need me to.”

  “Not at all, darling. The girls and I will be on the road for a little bit soon.”

  “On the road? I can’t imagine you on the road.”

  “There have been some distinct changes in my life, my attitude, and my surroundings of late.”

  “You sound good, Mother. This isn’t some sort of theatrics put on for my benefit, is it? Are you sure everything is alright?”

  “Never better, darling. I mean that sincerely. Is there anything I can do to help you with your trip? Shall I make some hotel reservations?”

  “Not necessary. I have a backpack, and I’ll probably be staying in hostels or maybe bunking with friends I’ve met over the years. There are actually a few of us doing this together. For a portion of the trip we will be on bicycles. We really don’t have an itinerary or anything. You have my number should you need me.”

  “Enjoy your trip. I won’t call unless there is an extreme need. You have been in the service of others quite long enough. It is time for you to focus on your needs and desires. Yours alone. Let me know when you are on your way home, and I will have your wing of the house opened.”

  “We can talk about that, Mother. I’m not certain I’ll be staying with you. I’ve been on my own long enough that living with my mother, however generous and lovely she is, and however large the house, might be more of a challenge than either of us needs right now.”

  The chuckle Adeline heard on the phone was a little forced. She understood her daughter’s kindness but also her need for privacy, and she intended not to take advantage of her.

  “I no longer live in the house, darling. I live in a loft nearby. The house was simply too large. Bring all your friends, and make it your home base. Live somewhere else. Whatever your need.”

  “You moved out of the house?”

  “At least temporarily. As you know, we had that horrid problem with mold. I moved out so renovations of the main plant could be accomplished, and I became quite accustomed to living in a smaller space. That behemoth is too much for me. I think it has passed its usefulness. I would sell, but I wanted to talk to you before doing anything of the sort.”

  “We’ll talk when I get home, Mother. Thank you for the offer of the house. I’ll let you know. I love you, Mom.”

  “I love you too, Jenny.”

  “Jenny? You have never called me Jenny.”

  “I’m sorry for that. If that is how you choose to be recognized, I will respect that.”

  “Thanks, Mom, but I would prefer you continue to call me Genevieve. I’ve always kind of liked the fact that you were the only one that was so formal when using my name. It made me feel special.”

  “You are special, darling. Have a wonderful time in Europe. I can have funds available for you immediately.”

  “Mother, I don’t need any, but thank you. I’ve got plenty in savings.”

  “Very well. The offer remains. Text me if you need anything.”

  “Text? Really? Mom, I can’t wait to sit down and talk to you. I just can’t wait.”

  When they’d hung up, Adeline sat on her bed and cried. Her soldier daughter was coming home. Safe. Uninjured. Genevieve sounded well and healthy, and she was excited to see her. Couldn’t wait. Those were the words she had used. Genevieve couldn’t have said anything more beautiful to her.

  Adeline threw her legs over the side of the bed and popped up into a standing position. After a quick trip to the bathroom, she grabbed her resistance bands — a gift from Anna when she’d left her home and moved back to the loft — and went into the office. She tapped a few keys, saw that Anna and Carolyn were not yet online, and went about her routine.

  Anna had added a hula-hoop to her routine, and Carolyn had become involved in some sort of yoga with her granddaughter (Suzi had been sharing the condo while looking for the perfect apartment), but Adeline kept to the resistance bands and was loving the results.

  Anna had gone online and found several sites that gave instruction, but Adeline quickly became bored.

  With the help of Kimberly, a computer whiz employed by her security company, Adeline had purchased a little music device, and Kimberly had uploaded all kinds of music. Everything from big bands to Motown. Each morning Adeline would mix up the playlist and dance around like a fool, stretching the bands in no certain way, simply making sure she kept moving and that she had some resistance during most of the moves.

  Her arms were much firmer. That she enjoyed. But the main thing she had noticed was the strength with which she was able to hold herself erect. If she chose to climb up on a chair to get something from the loft’s rather stupidly built pantry, she was able to do so with confidence.

  That freedom was the single most important part of her new fitness routine. Being able to live alone and to travel with the girls was more important to her every day.

  When the computer chimed to let her know the girls were ready for their morning video chat, she dropped the bands, pulled the earbud from her ear, and sat at the desk, ready to start her day.

  Anna looked terrible.

  “Anna, are you not feeling well?”

  “I think I might have a cold. Or the plague.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. Is there anything you need?”

  Anna shook her head. “No, I have everything. I think I just need to take a good long shower and clear out my sinuses. Then I’ll take some zinc. It always helps with the symptoms. At least it works for me.”

  “Be careful. I read somewhere that too much zinc is not a good approach.”

  Carolyn added, “All things in moderation.”

  Anna let her eyebrows dance. “Well, not all things.”

  The girls laughed.

  Adeline asked. “Do you feel up to discussing the trip?”

  Anna smiled. “I do. I spoke to my niece Morgan last night. She said that adorable son of hers, Jordan, is looking forward to it. I told her we have an approach I think will work. We are going to do a short trip, just a long weekend, and see how that goes. If all goes well, then we will have a longer trip. She thought it was a great idea.”

  “Good.”

  Adeline pointed to a folder on her desk. “Cara has done a great deal of research. We have many different locales we can choose from. There are parks and ghost towns and any number of things a little boy might enjoy. Carolyn
and I don’t really know Jordan, so I think it will be up to you, Anna, to make that choice.”

  “Actually, if it’s okay with the two of you, I thought we might want to let Jordan make that choice. I figure that if we allow him to make the choice for the short trip, we will know his tastes better for the long trip.”

  Adeline smiled. “Agreed.”

  Carolyn clapped. “I just can’t wait until my Suzi’s little one is big enough to do things like this. Anna, your plan sounds perfect. When will you be talking to him?”

  “I’ve invited their whole little family over for dessert tonight. I thought if the two of you weren’t busy, you could join me for dinner. We can look over all the options, make sure we don’t want to veto any before Jordan even sees them, then the family will join us for dessert, and we can all make a decision.”

  “That sounds lovely, but do you really want to go to all that work when you aren’t feeling well?”

  “It’s just a cold. I’ll be fine. But, Adeline, if you’re worried about catching it, I fully understand. I know your lungs probably aren’t back to one hundred percent yet.”

  “I’m not the least bit worried. I refuse to hide like I did in that house. Speaking of which… ”

  The next several minutes were spent sharing with the girls what was said during the call Adeline had received from Genevieve, and Adeline’s decision to stay in the loft a while longer. She had been mulling it over for some time but hadn’t made the final decision until she was actually talking to her daughter about it.

  Carolyn and Adeline arrived together. Anna answered the door in a pretty floral dress with a perfectly coordinated apron atop it.

  Adeline handed Anna a bottle of wine, and Carolyn handed her flowers.

  “Girls, there was no need to do this.”

  Carolyn’s eyes sparkled. “We’re just showing off for your family. Want them to remember how special you are. Start a trend.”

  They laughed their way into the kitchen.

  “How can we help?”

  “If you can put the flowers in a vase, that would be good. They’re over the fridge. And, Adeline, can I impose on you to set the table? Everything but the plates — I’ve already got them in the oven.”

  “Of course.”

  In minutes they were seated. Anna had the dinner complete, plated, and kept warm in the oven.

  “I hope you don’t mind me serving you, but I thought this would be the best way. We long ago agreed that we wouldn’t talk about anything unpleasant at dinner, and I have a few things I’d like to address, so I figured if I had everything all served, we would be done all that much sooner, and we can retire to the den until Morgan, Jordan, and Liam arrive.”

  Adeline’s concern for her friend showed. “Is everything alright?”

  “Everything is just fine. I got bored and did a little snooping on the Internet over the last few days. I’ve found something interesting.”

  Adeline stopped her fork halfway to her mouth. “Now you have me quite curious.”

  “Just wait. It’s about Pickles.”

  “Now I am intrigued. She is our key to keeping Barry locked up. Whatever secrets she knows, we need to know.”

  Anna laughed. “I just love creating a little suspense. Keeps the juices flowing.”

  The girls ate in record time. Each trying and failing to keep her mind on the topic at hand while they chatted away, but not able to completely put aside Pickles.

  Eating, talking, planning the trip with Jordan, and all while trying to figure out the mystery about Pickles didn’t slow the girls down.

  Young people thought they invented multitasking. Ask any woman over the age of sixty about multitasking in its truest form — when there was little technology to help you care for your home and your husband.

  There were no baby monitors or answers at the touch of a button on the Internet. The expectations of you were high, and everything was done in a dress for goodness’ sake.

  When dinner was done, the leftovers stowed, and the dishes washed and put up — none of the girls used a dishwasher for her “good” dishes, and Anna used her good dishes daily — the girls retired to the den.

  Anna tapped some keys and brought a picture up.

  “I think this is Pickles.”

  On the screen was a beautiful young woman, perhaps early- to mid-thirties, and based on her clothing, it was a recent picture, not something from years gone by, so it was to be assumed that Pickles was a contemporary of Barry, not a history lesson.

  Carolyn leaned in to get a better look. “Who in the world? Do we really think this is the woman that my grandson-in-law is so frightened of? A man that would beat poor Cara within an inch of her life is afraid of this pretty little thing? How did you find her? Are you sure?”

  “I decided to go to a few of the social media places and do a simple search. Did you know that there are all kinds of social media pages dedicated to the strangest things? Pickle ice cream. Pickle beauty products. There are others we just won’t talk about.”

  The look on Carolyn’s face was priceless.

  Adeline was much more adept at keeping her thoughts hidden behind a façade of serenity.

  Anna laughed at Carolyn’s reaction and continued. “At any rate, when I didn’t find anything that I could use, it just made me more curious.”

  “One of the traits in you I admire most.” Adeline’s compliments were always so genuine that Anna couldn’t help but beam.

  “So I did more research. It is amazing what you can find online. Some of it I hope I will never see again.”

  “I prefer not to hear about that part of it if it isn’t relevant.” Carolyn tried for a serious tone, but it came off funnier than she intended.

  “Oh, I’m not even talking about that sort of thing. I’m talking about pickle jewelry and bamboo pickles and pickles of every color. Pickle cookies and medicinal pickles. Kitchen magnet pickles and pickle fashion statements, some of which were actually G-rated, but not many, oh, and life lessons inspired by pickles.”

  Carolyn relaxed just a bit. “I’ve heard they have a garlic festival out in California and have everything you can imagine, only centered on garlic.”

  Adeline raised her nose just a bit. She always looked very aristocratic when she did that. “I could have lived the rest of my life without that knowledge.”

  “Be grateful I didn’t make peanut butter and pickle sandwiches for dinner, with pickle ice cream for dessert.”

  Adeline chuckled. “Anna, you are much more sophisticated than that. I would expect nothing less than pickle flambé.”

  Carolyn smiled. “So, tell us, Anna, other than potential heartburn, what did you find about Pickles?”

  “It took a while. I cross-referenced and did a couple of background searches… ”

  Adeline used her warning tone. “I hope that any expense involved… ”

  Anna didn’t even argue the point. “Kimberly took care of all that for me. She called to make sure that an update she did to the computers didn’t cause me any problems, and we got to talking. I wish you would let me reimburse you for all of this equipment, Adeline.”

  “Don’t be silly. We all use it. You do as much research for me as you do for yourself. I should be paying you, not simply supplying the tools for you to do the work.”

  Anna allowed herself to sound just a tad arrogant. “You can’t afford me.”

  “I’m aware of that.” Adeline smiled warmly at the woman who had become her best friend. “You said you did background searches? To what end?”

  “It was a long convoluted process, but I improve with practice, so next time it will be a little faster. Anyway, I was able to get some of Barry’s background stuff — and some background stuff on the other people — through Barry’s emails and his phone. I’m so grateful Suzi gave your security people complete access when she did. Anyway, I stuck all that information in the word processor and then in a spreadsheet after Kimberly walked me through some of it, and I just kept sor
ting and resorting every way I could think of, and eventually something stood out to me. This woman.”

  “How did that happen?”

  “I was actually watching a TV show. One of those ‘who done it’ type shows. The main character kept saying that the two bad guys must have come in contact with each other, that they just had to find out where. They lived completely different lives, in very different areas, they didn’t seem to have anything in common, but they had to have crossed paths. That got me to thinking. Where did Barry and Pickles cross paths?”

  Carolyn leaned in closer. “I don’t know how I would even begin to think of a way to find such a thing. Each of us comes in contact with so many people. We don’t record every meeting. How did you do it?”

  “Well, I figured it was more than just a casual one-time meeting if Molly mentioned it as a motivation for Barry to take full responsibility for what he did.”

  Carolyn shivered. “If I live to be a hundred, and it just might happen, I will not understand how my granddaughter could become involved with a man who turned out to be such a monster.”

  Adeline bristled just a bit. “Having married such a man myself, I can assure you that it is not weakness of character that brings a woman into the world of a monster.”

  “Oh, Adeline, I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant at all. When you married, times were very different. Today there are all kinds of information available. There are public service announcements. You have said your husband gave no indication of his tendencies before you were married, but my Suze married a man that had already abused her. She hasn’t told me that directly, but she has made it clear all the same. And we were close. Very close. I just don’t understand why I didn’t notice that my Suzi was involved with someone who would later beat her and almost beat her best friend to death. And now it looks as though he had a whole other disturbing life while he was dating my Suze. I just can’t imagine how I missed it all.”

  Anna said gently, “If I recall, you had just lost your husband.”

  “Yes, but… ”

  Adeline’s voice was soft. Understanding. “Carolyn, let me say it this way. Your granddaughter looks up to you. She admires you. She will follow you by example more than by words. If you allow yourself to be driven by guilt and find that you are always looking to the past and judging yourself harshly, do you not see that she will do the same? She will be unkind to herself. She will hold herself accountable for things that were not in her control, and she will punish herself for making mistakes that, once rectified, should be allowed to wither.”