next to her and he wouldn’t be talking to anyone on the backend of this little vacation.
“We’re getting a late start, don’t you think?” Al asked, smoothing the wrinkles in his khakis. Originally, she liked the frazzled professor look, but now it was one of the things she found annoying about him. The crazy millionaire routine wore her patience thin. It would be interesting to see if he coughed up any money for gas and food along the way. That would tell her plenty about the man.
“We’re not on any clock but our own.” She punched the gas and had the satisfaction of watching him flinch behind his glasses. What a dweeb. She cranked the radio where Katy Perry sang about California girls.
“How far did you plan on going?” he asked. He lowered the volume and raised her hackles.
“As far as I can before I can’t keep my eyes open. Then you get to drive.”
The news didn’t seem to upset him. He nodded his head. “If we’re not on any clock but our own, why are you in such a hurry?”
“I want to surprise her for her birthday.”
After a few seconds pause, he eyes widened and he perked up. “It’s her birthday?” He shook his head and grinned. “It’s her birthday! That’s perfect!” He ran a hand through his unruly hair. “This will be great. What a great surprise.”
“Yep. A really great surprise.” Carrie Ann got on the freeway and crawled along with the rest of the traffic. She cranked the radio again. She should’ve waited a little longer for the roads to clear, but she’d have gone stir crazy. It took thirty minutes for the freeway to open up and she stomped on the gas. She planned to go all night. They’d make the best time driving at night with clear roads ahead of them. “So, Al, tell me more about when you met Julie. How long ago was it?”
He licked his lips, wiped his hands on his thighs and lowered the radio. “Only a few months. We met during one of her jogs up the hill. She’s a sweetie, isn’t she?” He seemed happy with his response and Carrie Ann nodded.
“She’s a sweetie all right.” America’s Sweetheart. Carrie Ann wanted to puke every time she heard that moniker. Of course, Julie had never been thrilled with it either. She laughed.
“What’s funny?” Al asked.
“Life. Life is funny.” Carrie Ann glanced at him then back to the road. “You know how you expect it to be one thing and it turns into something else completely different?” She felt his gaze on her.
“I do know that.” His tone empathized. “But sometimes it turns around and you get everything you want when you least expect it.”
Carrie Ann doubted that, but maybe Al had a point. Sometimes life and timing worked to a person’s advantage. Personally, she had not experienced that phenomenon herself too often in the past decade or so. Julie certainly had both an abundance of good luck and timing, but it had yet to wear off on Carrie Ann.
Chalk up another thing that infuriated Carrie Ann.
“Where exactly in Massachusetts are we headed?”
“Not sure.” She didn’t bother glancing at his wide-eyed stare. “I told you I’ll know more tomorrow after I talk to Julie. She’ll have the address for me then. I just want to be there by her birthday and if we don’t leave now, we might not make it.”
“She is going to be so surprised.” He slapped a hand on his thigh and Carrie Ann laughed at his mood. Dweeb to the power of two.
“I agree. This might be the most talked-about birthday of her life.” Carrie Ann forced a smile and imagined the surprise on her best friend’s face when it all went down.
Chapter Twenty
Julie heard the car on the gravel road from the master bathroom and ran a hand through her hair. The woman staring back at her in the mirror looked road weary and stressed. She couldn’t even pinpoint a reason for her nerves, but her palms sweated anyway. She limped out of the bedroom toward the den.
Troy’s gaze lifted from his phone.
“Do you want me to stay scarce?” she asked. She didn’t want to push an introduction with a family member if it made him uncomfortable. This whole meeting already seemed to be throwing him off center. After the amount of talking he’d done retelling the story of his mother’s death, he’d clammed up tight. It didn’t take an expert to see he’d bottled up