Chapters (97)
- Cover
- Back Cover Text
- Praise
- Booklist
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Sixty-Nine
- Seventy
- Seventy-One
- Seventy-Two
- Seventy-Three
- Seventy-Four
- Seventy-Five
- Seventy-Six
- Seventy-Seven
- Seventy-Eight
- Seventy-Nine
- Eighty
- Eighty-One
- Eighty-Two
- Eighty-Three
- Eighty-Four
- Eighty-Five
- Eighty-Six
- Eighty-Seven
- Eighty-Eight
- Eighty-Nine
- Acknowledgments & A Personal Note
- Excerpt
John rubbed his chin as if ready to challenge his wife’s decision, but yielded. Grace jotted down a note, stuck it to the inside door handle, then she left with Blake and John, who locked the RV’s door. They walked across the immense lot to the main building, a colossal glass and glazed brick structure in an art deco motif. The Stars and Stripes, county, state and corporate flags flapped from poles that reached high above the entrance, which was landscaped with cactus, violets and pink roses.
About a half hour later, they returned.
“I can’t get over how big the place is,” Grace said.
“It’s epic,” Blake said.
“It’s something all right,” John said before he entered the four-digit PIN on the RV’s keypad. They got in and prepared to leave.
“Blake,” Grace said, buckling her seat belt, “would you go back and check on Riley, please?”
Blake went to the back then returned, just as John started the engine.
“She’s fine.” Blake flopped back into his place at the dinette.
John shifted the transmission and they resumed heading north on the interstate.
“We’re not far from Vegas.” John bit into an apple.
Grace nodded, resumed watching the sweeping views. Sipping her diet soda, anticipating how trying life was going to be for Riley in Pittsburgh. Grace then thought of her friend Sherry, Tim’s former colleague at work, and how good she had been to Grace and Riley in the time after Tim’s death. Already missing her, Grace thought how she could use Sherry’s help now.
I’ve got to be more patient with Riley. She’s got a lot to deal with.
They’d gone less than ten miles past Jean, Nevada, when Blake, sitting alone at the window of the dinette, had finished his bag of chips and Coke.
“Grace, do you think I could have my phone back?”
“Just hang tough, son,” John said. “We’ll be in Vegas soon.”
“Would you go get Riley?” Grace asked, pulling Riley’s favorite drink and snack, pecan tarts, out of the bag from the truck stop.
Blake hesitated but then got up from the dinette, went to the back and knocked softly on the privacy door to the bedroom.
“Riley?”
He knocked again, louder.
There was no response.
He tried the door, expecting it to be locked but to his surprise he slid it open to reveal an empty room.
Cursing to himself, he knocked on the adjoining bathroom door and it swung open.
Empty.
“She’s not here!”
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