A Turn in the Road (Blossom Street #8)(90)

“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.

That thought made her sit up straighter. She was willing to look past her father’s mistakes but not Vance’s. Maybe she was being unfair to him. Maybe she should give him a second chance.

“The thing is,” her father said, “if your mother decides we’re finished, I don’t know if I’ll be able to love anyone else.”

“Oh, Daddy.” Hearing him say that made Annie want to weep. This was the kind of love she hoped to find one day. A forever kind of love.

“Also, before I forget, I wanted to thank you for telling me how much your mother admired that Civil War button. If there’s anything else she likes, please pass the information along. I’m looking for ways to spoil her. I have six years to make up for.”

“Oh, Daddy, you can be so thoughtful.”

“Not always,” he muttered. “I want your mother to realize how much I love her.”

“If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know.”

“Great. I appreciate it.”

He seemed in an optimistic mood and that pleased Annie. She glanced down at her computer. “Can I talk to you about something else?” she asked. “I could use your advice.”

“Sure, baby, anything.”

Annie flattened the paper napkin in her lap. “You remember Vance, don’t you?”

“He’s the guy you were dating.”

She nodded. “The one I thought was about to propose.”

“Oh, right.” He frowned as if he’d welcome the opportunity to give Vance a piece of his mind.

“But instead,” she went on, “he told me he was taking off for Europe. For a year.”

“That was a real disappointment, wasn’t it, honey?”

The sympathy in his voice soothed her hurt feelings. “I was devastated,” she said. “I cried buckets.”

“He doesn’t deserve you, Annie. No one treats my daughter like that and gets away with it.”

Annie loved the way her father rushed to her defense. “Vance is coming home at the end of August.”

“So this European adventure didn’t work out the way he planned, huh?” Her father’s eyes flashed with satisfaction, as if to say this was what Vance got for hurting Annie.

“Apparently, Europe wasn’t what he expected.” She tried to hide the pleasure it gave her to tell him so. “Now he seems to think everything will go back to the way it was before he left.”

“You’ve got to be kidding!” His voice rang with righteous indignation.

“The problem is, I don’t know how I feel about Vance anymore. I’ve gone out with a couple of other guys during this trip, but it isn’t the same as being with him. He was more than my boyfriend. Vance was my best friend, too.” She sighed. “For a while I thought I missed him so much because I was just so used to being with him. I decided that wasn’t a good enough reason to get back together. But now…”

“You’ll get over him, honey. Vance needs to know he isn’t the only bird in the flock.”

“I couldn’t wait to tell him about Jason. He’s the guy I met in Vegas. Jason was nice, and so is Craig. I talked to Mom about it and, well…”

“What did she say?”

It’d been a really helpful conversation. “We discussed me wanting Vance to be sorry for the way he treated me. Mom said—” Annie paused “—she said the real problem is that I wanted to make sure Vance understood that what he did was wrong. If he’d told me about this trip, it would’ve been different but to hide it from me and then expect me to be okay with it was too much.”

“I couldn’t agree with your mother more. Like I said, Vance doesn’t deserve you. You aren’t really going back with him, are you?”

“That’s just it. I…I don’t know.”

“Don’t, honey. If he’s making plans behind your back now, that behavior isn’t going to change.”