Dream Chaser Read Online Free PDF Page B

dump him. Let me guess. ” She patted Suzanna’s hand. “ H e was fooling around with other wo men. ”
    Suzanna gazed at her. How did she know?
    “Most of the successful men I’ve known seemed to think their success gave them license to drop their trousers with whomever they wished, even after or maybe because they were married. I’ll bet you’re blaming yourself for something you had no control over.”
    Suz anna looked at her. “I guess so .” Her eyes welled up. “It’s been months . I should be over this by now.”
    “Now, dearie , let me give you some advice.” She picked up Suzanna’s left hand and began to rub her now-empty third finger. “That husband of yours was a scamp and a scou ndrel. He’s gone now, and you’ re free to do whatever in the world you want. And, there’s no one to stop you. So just do it—including findin g yourself that schoolteacher.” She chuckled. “M aybe he teaches Italian.” S he wink ed.
    Suzanna looked toward the horizon, shining in the light of the moon. “I’ll have to get past my grown children first—at least my daughter. Most of the time, she wants me to pretend everything is just fine. But I don’t even want to live in our house now. It’s comfortable and everything. But all that space. I just bounce from one wall to the next .”
    “And bump into memories, too, I’ll bet. Have you given any thought to getting rid of the old man’s stuff?”
    “That’s on the list . I should have done that right away, but Penny will have a fit .”
    “ Not unless you let her. I’ll just bet she has never seen you stand up for yourself. You’ve been a wife and mother far too long, always taking care of others. I made that mistake, too, with my first husband. ” She stopped to adjust her heavy sweater. “Why don’t you take some time to be your own woman? You don’t know how many years you have left to do that.”
    Suzanna pursed her lips, considering her new friend’s words.
    “Maybe that’s wha t your list-making is all about, your ticket to being you again.”
    Suzanna turned to look into her kindly eyes. “We’ve been chatting all this time and I don’t even know your name.”
    The woman lifted her cane and leaned it against the seat. “Maude. Actually, Madelaine Tower, but I prefer Maude. All my friends call me that.”
    “ Well, thank you, Maude. You’ve given me an idea, something I’m going to add to the list.”
    “A Frenchman along with the Italian?”
    Suzanna laughed. “No. You said to be my own woman. I think I’d like to tra vel, you know, take a road trip… all by myself. When we were married, Brad was always too busy . That’s what I’d like to do. B ut I’m not sure where I’d go . ”
    “Why plan your trip to a T? I read once where some gal just got in a car and decided to go for a drive, making only right turns along the way.”
    “Wouldn’t she’d end up going in circles?”
    “Not necessarily. She just let the road take her to places she’d never been—and I hear she had a grand time. Which do you prefer—right or left turns?”
    “As long as they’re not wrong turns, does it make much difference?”
    Maude chuckled. “I doubt it.”
    Suzanna watched the moon for another few minutes after Maude left. When she returned to her stateroom, she pulled the list out of her purse and added, road trip. She pulled a map from one of the drawers of the little table and spread it out. The beach house in North Carolina was Margaret’s, but it harbored bad memories. She didn’t want to go back. Minneapolis was in the middle of the country. She could go to Canada. It wasn’t that far away, or maybe south into Mexico. She stared at the map. She’d always wanted to go west to see the mountains and some of the national parks featured in that Ken Burns documentary. Maybe this was the time to do that.
    She rummaged in her purse, then dumped it upside down. The gold band slid out from under her wallet. She wrapped it in a tissue and