Read The Sooner the Better for Free Online

could’ve changed my schedule and joined you.”
    Joined her? Not once had Lorraine considered asking Gary to accompany her. He couldn’t come anyway, she thought with a surge of relief. Not when he was so recently promoted and training his replacement.
    But that wasn’t the real reason, and she knew it. She loved Gary, but she didn’t want him with her. This journey into her family’s past was her adventure, and hers alone.
    Â 
    Letting Lorraine travel to Mexico by herself had never sat easy with Gary Franklin. He loved his fiancée and realized this was a difficult, unsettling time for her. A measure of his love was his willingness to stand by and watch her fly off on her own. Not only that, he’d offered to drive her to the airport—which meant getting up at 4:00 a.m. He glanced at his watch in the dashboard light. Quarter to five now. They’d discussed this trip countless times since the morning she’d sprung it on him, and he was convinced she was making a mistake. But Lorraine didn’t want to hear that and had stopped listening to him.
    Although his only intent was to protect her, shield her from further hurt, she refused to imagine any outcome other than a joyful reunion with the father she’d never known. He’d long admired Lorraine for her common sense, but she exhibited little of it in this unpleasant matter.
    Gary had liked Virginia, and her death had shaken him, too. He’d respected Lorraine’s mother for her business savvy and the way she worked in what was still largely a man’s world. Furthermore he trusted her judgment. Since she’d chosen to tell Lorraine a lie regarding her father, he figured there had to be a good reason. Gary feared that whatever it was would mean bad news for Lorraine, maybe even heartbreak.
    Besides her unwillingness to listen to his advice, he couldn’t help resenting the fact that she didn’t want him with her. She hadn’t tried to hide it, either, and that hurt.
    He parked the car and collected his thoughts as he approached the house.
    â€œReady?” he asked Lorraine when she answered the door.
    She nodded. At least she’d packed sensibly, he noted—just one medium-size wheeled suitcase. She wasn’t like some women, who found it necessary to bring every outfit they owned. She looked smart, too, in an off-white linen pantsuit, her blond hair neatly pulled back. She seemed a little uncertain, but obviously determined to follow through.
    â€œDo you have your passport?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œTraveler’s checks and cash?”
    She nodded.
    â€œInsect repellant?”
    â€œGary! Honestly, you make me sound like a child heading off to camp.”
    He hadn’t seen it like that, but she was probably right. “Sorry,” he said with a grin.
    Because there was hardly any traffic this early, the drive to the airport didn’t take long. He insisted on having a coffee with her after she’d checked in. They sat there, not knowing what to say.
    â€œI don’t want you to worry,” she murmured at last.
    â€œI’ll try not to. Will you phone?”
    She shrugged lightly. “I don’t know about the phone situation in El Mirador. My guess is the schoolhouse is the only place in town with a working phone.”
    He wished she hadn’t reminded him how primitive this village was likely to be.
    â€œI’ll write,” she promised, “and phone if I can. Plus I’ll email if I have a chance.”
    â€œGreat.” He had to be happy with that.
    They hugged and kissed and he clung to her for a moment, then stepped back as she left for the departurelounge. She’d vanished from view, and still Gary stood there.
    Despite Lorraine’s optimism, he couldn’t shake the feeling that everything—in his life and in hers—was about to change.

Three
    J ack Keller had never thought of himself as a big-game fisherman. But owning a