A Turn in the Road - Debbie Macomber [88]
“But you love Dad, too, right?” She felt as if the dream she held of seeing her parents reconcile was crumbling at her feet.
“I do care a great deal for your father. I can’t dismiss our years together because of an error in judgment he made.” Her mother lay down again. “However, I doubt that you woke me up to chat about your father and me. What’s up, sweetie?”
Annie sighed, unsure where to start. “I heard from Vance again.” She made it sound like he’d only emailed her a couple of times. The fact was, Vance had contacted her nearly every day since he’d left for Europe with Matt and Jessie. She hadn’t answered most of his emails.
“You mentioned that he’s homesick and wants to come back to Seattle.”
“He can’t. His ticket home isn’t good until next year. When he tried to change it, the airlines wanted to charge him for a whole new ticket. He doesn’t have that kind of money and he can’t ask his parents. He says the airline’s being unreasonable and I agree with him.”
“He must have known that when he booked his flights.”
“But he already paid for his return ticket!”
“He’s had a pretty quick change of heart, hasn’t he?” Bethanne commented. “He’s only been in Europe a couple of weeks.”
“Yes…”
“What aren’t you telling me, Annie?”
That was the problem with her mother, Annie thought. She read between the lines far too easily.
“Okay.” She closed her eyes tightly. “Vance wants me to meet him in France at the end of the month.” There, she’d said it, and held her breath while she waited for her mother’s reaction. “What do you think about that?”
Annie should’ve known. Her mother always did this. She turned everything into a question. “I’m not sure,” she admitted. “That’s why I wanted to talk to you. I need advice.”
“All right,” her mother said. “Obviously, this is bothering you. Otherwise, you’d be fast asleep.”
“And so would you,” Annie added, smiling.
“True.”
Her mother didn’t sound upset, though, and that was reassuring.
“First, how do you feel about Vance?”
“Now or before we left?”
“Now.”
“Well…I miss him. Before he decided to go to Europe, we talked practically every day. We were almost always together, which is one reason I was so upset when I found out he was going to Europe with Matt and Jessie.”
“He kept it a secret.”
“He wanted to tell me, or so he said, but Matt told him not to.”
“And he listened to his friend instead of doing what he knew was right.”
“Yeah.”
“Did he say why he wants you to meet him in France?”
Annie folded her hands behind her head and stared up at the ceiling some more. “He said he’s tired of being a third wheel. Matt and Jessie are having all these arguments and he’s afraid he doesn’t have enough money to last a year and—”
“In other words, nothing is turning out the way he thought it would,” her mother finished for her. “And that’s why he invited you to fly over and join him?”
Just the way her mother asked told Annie she thought it was a pretty selfish reason. “That’s what he said, but you have to remember Vance isn’t exactly a great communicator.”
Annie wanted to believe he was lost and lonely without her and that he regretted everything. He hadn’t said so, but she knew that was what he really meant. Or what she hoped he meant…
“Well, you’ll have to decide if he’s sincere,” her mother whispered. “If he’s asking because he wants to be with you or he just doesn’t want to be alone.”
Annie lowered her voice, too, not wanting to wake her grandmother. “He does want to be with me!”
“That’s not what he said, though, is it?”
“Well, no, but it’s what he meant.”
Her mother was silent for several minutes. “It sounds to me like you want to be with Vance, too.”
That was true, although Annie hated admitting it. “He really hurt me, Mom.”
“I know, honey.”
“I think he needs to work harder for me to put this behind us,