Story for the Week
My daughter, my best friend, and I are in the process of planning a road trip to Mount Rushmore and Grand Canyon National Park. If we were superhuman and could drive the whole way without stopping, it would take us 55 hours to drive the 3,763 miles. We’re not, so we’ll be making three extra stops along the way to sleep. 😴
The goal for the trip is to try to stop every three hours or so—stretch our legs, get something to eat, take restroom breaks. The stops won’t add too much time to the trip, but I imagine an hour or two depending on the length of each particular leg.
Dennis and I used to love making the drive from Illinois to New York or Toronto to visit family and friends. When we first got married, we went to New York almost every year. We would just load up the car and make the drive, switching off every few hours for the 14-hour drive. One time, we left just as a snowstorm was coming in and figured we would eventually get ahead of it. Twenty-three hours later, when we pulled into his mom’s driveway in Queens, we decided that the next time, we wouldn’t count on outrunning the weather.
After Corinne was born, she did well in the car, but one year we decided it would be easier to make the drive overnight so she would sleep most of the way. You know what they say about best laid plans? She didn’t sleep, and we decided then that we were getting too old to spend that much time in the car. 🤷♀️
As a man, Dennis didn’t think about where he stopped on road trips. When he lived in New York, he drove for a living, so if he was driving long distances and had to make a stop, he just found an exit. The first time I took a long drive with him, I was more worried than he was about just pulling off the highway anywhere, especially at night. Sad as it is, as a woman, I felt that we had to be more cautious.
I explained to Dennis that I used to drive to Minnesota for work. For a while, I flew, but flights were always delayed, so between getting to the airport early and then getting delayed on top of the flight, it actually took me just as long as driving. Eventually, I decided to just drive. I could toss everything in my car, and I had the convenience of not worrying about security, I could listen to my own music, and I could stop whenever I needed to. However, I always looked for a bigger place to stop.
During the day, that just meant looking for exit signs that showed at least two gas stations and two or three places to get food. Anything less could be a tiny gas station with nothing around it in the middle of nowhere—not a place I felt safe as a woman traveling alone. If it was dark, I wouldn’t just look for the signs. I would look for the glow of light in the sky that told me it was a relatively populated area with a couple of gas stations and a few options for food. It felt safer, less isolated, and if something happened, at least someone would find me. I wouldn’t be lost for days before anyone came along. 😬
I think that might have been the only habit of mine related to driving that Dennis adopted. It wasn’t about protecting himself though. It was about protecting me and, eventually, Corinne. So if we were traveling at night, he also looked for the glow of light in the sky.
A while back, I read a book about a congressman who vanished from his rental car on a deserted road in the middle of nowhere. He clearly didn’t look for the light. 😉
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 Stars for When You Find Me by P.J. Vernon
333 pages
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Publication Date: October 9, 2018
I received an advance copy of this title from NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books.
Publisher’s Description
Her husband is missing.
Visiting her family’s South Carolina estate, socialite Gray Godfrey wakes from a night out to an empty bed. Her husband Paul is gone and a thrashing hangover has wiped her memory clean. At first, she’s relieved for the break from her tumultuous marriage; perhaps Paul just needed some space. But when his car is found abandoned on the highway, Gray must face the truth: Paul is gone. And Gray may not want him found.
Her life is unraveling.
When a stranger named Annie calls claiming to know Paul’s whereabouts, Gray reluctantly accepts her help. But this ally is not what she seems: soon Annie is sending frightening messages and revealing disturbing secrets only Gray could know. As Annie’s threats escalate and Gray’s grip on reality begins to slip, the life she thought she had and the dark truth she’s been living begin to merge, leaving an unsettling question: What does Annie want? And what will she do to get it?
************
When You Find Me by P.J. Vernon tells the story of Gray Godfrey, a wealthy Southern socialite who lives in DC with her husband Paul who is planning a run for Congress. On a trip home to Elizabeth, SC, for Christmas, Gray wakes up one morning alone in bed with a raging hangover to discover that her husband is missing. She tries to piece together memories of the night before, wondering why her husband has disappeared, and thinking that her drinking has really done a number on her marriage this time.
When the car they rented is discovered abandoned on a deserted roadside with no sign of Paul, Gray begins to wonder if her husband has decided he needed some time away from her or if something awful has happened. And when she receives a voicemail from a mysterious woman named Annie, she really begins to unravel.
I loved this book! The characters had well-developed back stories with plenty of family conflict, the writing and setting of the stage were superb, and I was constantly second-guessing who did what and how the story was going to end. I thought I had part of it figured out early on, but then I changed my mind, and then I changed it again, and then I just decided to stop trying to figure it out and let the story play out. I was not disappointed.
And the last page…let’s just say it reminded me of some books/movies that I would willingly read and watch over and over because they’re just that good. I won’t say which ones because I don’t want to give anything away.
This was the debut fiction novel for P.J. Vernon, and he recently released a new novel Bath Haus, which I will likely be reading at some point. Definitely pick this up!
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