“Gert?!” I said. “Why would you call her?”
“Oh, I guess she’s changed her tune a little about my ‘quack’ of a dermatologist,’” Gram said. “She left me a message saying my doctor saved her life, because one of the skin samples he took at her appointment turned out to be cancer. She called me to thank me. Can you believe it?”
Gram said she was surprised that Gert had stayed in the doctor’s office long enough to even have a skin sample taken.
“Only reason she called me back is to alleviate her guilt for the way she acted. I should teach her a lesson by not calling her back.”
“Madge,” Mimi scolded. “Be the bigger person.”
Gram huffed some more, so Mimi changed the subject.
She told us she was going to give Harold a call, just to check in with him to see how his toe was doing as well as to let him know they’d be home later tonight or sometime tomorrow.
“I’m sure he’ll be waiting with bated breath,” Gram said smirking and raising her eyebrows. “Just tell him we don’t want any more of those darned directions.”
To which Mimi said, “Madge, really!”
And it occurred to me for the first time that Mimi and toe-fungus, driving-directions Harold might actually like each other.
I didn’t know whether that was cringey or cute.
So, as Gram and Mimi dug their phones out of their purses, Brandon and I headed over to the carnival rides, and we
had
a
blast!
We rode the Zipper and the Tilt-a-Whirl.
We drove go-carts and played carnival games.
We jumped in the bounce house and raced down the inflatable slides.
And when we had done it all, I wished we could start over and do it all again, but it was almost time to go to the airport to pick up Mom.
“Well, the only thing left is for us to settle our bet,” Brandon said, and we both looked at each other and smiled.
“To the Ferris wheel!” Brandon said as he put his hand up in the air and pointed in that direction.
And as we stood in line, sharing the box of Lemonheads we’d won playing Skee-Ball, I felt about as awesome as a person can feel.
We were both wearing our Team Road Trip shirts. Mimi had washed them out in the bathroom sink for us the night before. She thought we should wear them on our last day of the trip, and she was right.
And just like the secondhand-store bowling shirts were the perfect thing to wear on the last day of our trip, the Ferris wheel was the perfect way to end our time at the Borlandsville Fun in the Sun County Fair and conclude this out-of-control, widow’s bucket list karaoke Bible-delivery road trip.
As I enjoyed the view while the Ferris wheel circled, I thought about how funny it was that it took a trip like the one we’d just been on to:
Have the chocolate chip cookies that came from all my failures win a prize.
Discover something Mom and I can do together that we can both feel proud of.
Find out how cool my grandma really is.
And the bonus part of the trip was meeting someone like Brandon and realizing that the people I so quickly label as “just a little too cool” can actually make pretty great friends.
Now, I don’t know if you’re thinking this or not. But I sort of wonder, that at this point, in this collection of letters, because this is the last one, and I’ve set you up with this really sentimental ride on the Ferris wheel, that you might be thinking that I’m going to finish with sort of a semi-surprising bang.
(And no, I don’t mean that you’re thinking something really bad happened, like the Ferris wheel malfunctioned, and Brandon and I got stuck at the top for hours and hours or maybe even days and days. Although with all the things that have happened to us so far, I guess something like that would not necessarily be out of the question.)
But that’s not the kind of thing I’m talking about.
I’m wondering if it hasn’t crossed your mind that possibly, at some point during the Ferris wheel ride, that Brandon and I may have become more than just friends.
Maybe you’re wondering if Brandon and I held hands.
And in all these letters, I’ve always written nothing but the truth, and never kept anything from you.
But this is where I have to stop.
Because here’s the thing.
If Brandon and I did hold hands, I’m pretty sure you’d remember it.
And if we didn’t, maybe you’d rather remember it like we did.
But either way, it doesn’t matter, because when I hit the road this summer, what turned out to be important was the ride itself.
The ride Brandon and I took on the Ferris wheel.
And the ride the four of us took together in Gram’s Mustang, down so many rural back roads of Florida, doing all the things we’d set out to do and a whole lot more than we could’ve ever expected or imagined.
That’s how each of us ended up with memories that will last a lifetime.
And for me, those memories pretty much changed everything.
Love,
Me
Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Optional ingredients to put a Samantha twist on your chocolate chip cookies (use one or all!):
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together sugars, eggs, butter, and vanilla (and the optional ingredients if you choose to include them).
2. Stir in flour, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips.
3. When ingredients are thoroughly combined, cover bowl and place in a refrigerator for 2 hours to chill.
4. After 2 hours, preheat oven to 375ºF.
5. Use tablespoon to drop rounded balls of dough on ungreased cookie sheets. The balls of dough should be 2 to 2½ inches apart.
6. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies are golden brown.
7. Take cookies out of oven, and place on a wire rack to cool.
A special thanks to my neighbor, Martha, who not only shared more than a few batches of her chocolate chip cookies with my family but also told me the above ingredients were the reason her cookies were so uniquely good. —Nancy J. Cavanaugh
Acknowledgments
After finishing a book, it’s always difficult to know who to thank first. This time, I’m going to start with my agent, Holly Root. Authors are always supposed to have just the right words to say what they want to say, but I’m not sure how to express the gratefulness I have for the way Holly is always there, ready to help and encourage and keep my projects on track. Thank you!
Then there is Dominique Raccah, whose wonderful dream to be a publisher provided me a place at Sourcebooks, where my dream to be an author continues to come true. Thank you, Dominique, for being brave and fearless in finding a way to accomplish truly good things for so many people.
And to Todd Stocke, who undauntingly finds ways to propel Sourcebooks to great heights, thanks for all you do.
To my editor, Steve Geck, a master at knowing just what my manuscript needs: thank you for always pointing the way to a better book.
And what can I say about the entire Sourcebooks team? The words hardworking and fabulous are two that come to mind, but there are so many more. Every author should be as lucky as me to work with a team like this!
I’m always grateful for my writer pals, those in Florida and those in Illinois. Over many years, Samantha�
��s story has gone through so many revisions that some of you may not even recognize her anymore. But know that I couldn’t have gotten this story to where it is today without all of you along the way.
As always, thank you to my mom and dad for all your love and support.
And a ginormous thank-you isn’t nearly enough for Ron and Chaylee, because they’re the ones who have to live with a writer, which isn’t always the easiest thing to do. And to Ginger, who keeps me company in my office.
And most of all, I’m thankful to God for the redemption I get to rest in because of His great love.
About the Author
When Nancy finds herself on a road trip, she’s sure to bring along: plenty of car snacks, a couple of small bottles of hand sanitizer (filled to the tippy top), and all her favorite CDs for marathon sing-alongs. Traveling companions find her car snacks satisfying and think the hand sanitizer comes in handy, but those don’t make up for the dreadful singing voice Nancy uses to belt out her favorite songs while she heads down the highway.
When Nancy isn’t on a road trip, she lives in the Chicago area with her husband and daughter and the cutest five-pound cockapoo anyone has ever seen. When she’s not enjoying car snacks on the road and chasing germs with hand sanitizer, she’s eating lots of Chicago pizza. Thick crust. Thin crust. She loves it all!
Visit nancyjcavanaugh.com or @nancyjcavanaugh on Twitter to find out more about Nancy and her other books.
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When I Hit the Road Page 17
