The Summer Seekers

Should she have opened those letters?

“Are you all right back there, Kathleen?” Martha glanced at her in the mirror, a dangerous glint visible in her eyes before she covered them with sunglasses. “Not too squashed?”

“Never better.” Her discomfort was caused by something less easy to fix than a lack of legroom in the rear seat.

She knew Martha was frustrated that she’d offered Josh a ride, but she was willing to weather her new friend’s disapproval if it meant coaxing Martha out of the little protective bubble she’d formed around herself. Kathleen recognized fear when she saw it. She didn’t think for one moment that Josh was a serial killer, or a threat of any kind. And the last thing Martha needed for the next month was to be closeted with an eighty-year-old, however much they enjoyed each other’s company. The girl needed youth and excitement.

But so far Martha had shown no inclination to engage their new passenger in conversation, so if this was going to happen then it was all up to Kathleen.

Fortunately she’d always been a skilled interviewer. There was no reason why she couldn’t use those skills to discover more about Josh.

“Vermont, you say. I’ve never been to Vermont, although I am partial to maple syrup. Is it home for you, Josh?”

“Home is California. I was visiting friends in Vermont.”

“And Route 66 has always been a dream of yours?”

It took him a long time to answer. “It’s something I’ve thought about doing for a while, but it’s taken me until now to do it.”

Kathleen sensed there was something he wasn’t saying.

Interesting.

Relieved to have something to focus on rather than her own problems, she waited for Martha to follow the obvious lead and ask why it had taken him until now, but Martha was silent, her eyes fixed on the road.

A silent Martha was concerning.

Kathleen could almost hear her saying, You invited him to join us, so you can make the conversation.

She sighed. It seemed she was going to have to do all the work.

“What made you suddenly decide to make this dream a reality?”

“A number of things, but it culminated in a friend pointing out that I hadn’t taken a vacation in three years.”

“Three years? Why?”

“I was busy working. I put my career first.”

So he was a man able to show commitment, Kathleen thought. That wasn’t a bad quality to have, providing he was able to apply it to other situations across his life and not only work.

“Your boss didn’t encourage you to take time off?”

There was a pause. “He didn’t see the point of vacations. He was—focused.”

“What job do you do?”

“I work in tech. I’m a computer engineer.”

Kathleen had only a vague notion of what that involved. She certainly knew too little to feel confident engaging him in conversation on the specifics. “No doubt he was one of those driven types who set up a business from his bedroom at college.”

Josh laughed. “That’s exactly what he did.”

“And no doubt upset his parents by not graduating.”

“No, he did graduate. He had too much respect for his parents and the sacrifices they’d made to throw that away.”

“He can’t be all bad then.” Kathleen was smug that she was managing to converse despite her lamentable lack of knowledge. “But I’m sure someone like that would make a difficult boss. Probably expected everyone around him to have the same drive and commitment to growing the company.”