Harriet Beamer Takes the Bus by Joyce Magnin Page A

hours … two hours!”
    “This is just so awful,” Harriet said. She continued to tap Tess’s hand. “Are you sure something didn’t happen? I mean considering the circumstances, maybe he was in a car wreck or … something.”
    “My daddy called all the hospitals, the police and …”
    “I’m sorry. It would have been better to have a broken and bleeding fiancé lying in a ditch than no fiancé at all.”
    Tess cried a bit harder and wiped her eyes on a balled-up napkin she had been clutching. Harriet managed to get a closer look at it. It was yellow and had the words
Tess and Gordon
printed on one side. She sighed.
    “Everybody just sat there — waiting and waiting. My Aunt Irene did her best to entertain, but she can only juggle for just so long, and then Uncle Cyrus sang a duet with the pastor; they sang
My Girl
, and it was terrible, and then my maid of honor, Kicky — Kicky Strassmeyer — told a few jokes; they were pretty funny and then …”
    Harriet patted Tess’s hand a smidge harder. “I think I understand.”
    “I’m sorry. I babble when —” she snuffed back tears and snot — “when I’m upset.”
    “Well, if you don’t mind me asking, how come you’re traveling alone?” Harriet needed to take a deep breath. Speaking to strangers about such personal matters was not something she did on a regular basis … or ever, really. But there was something about being on the train that made it possible to poke her head out of the shell.
    “I just wanted to. Dad and Mom went on ahead. They’ll meet me at the station, I suppose, even though I’d rather … I’d rather just —”
    Harriet put her hand up. “Now listen here, if you are about to say the word
die
, I am going to have to tell you a thing or two. You have your whole life to look forward to. Twenty-three, well, you’re barely out of diapers.”
    Tess smiled. “But why would Gordon do that?”
    “Now that I’m sure I can’t answer with any amount of certainty, although I have heard that cold feet can get pretty frosty. I’m sure that’s just what it is. He’ll be back the second he realizes what a fool he’s been.”
    “But he would have called or texted me. It’s not like Gordon.”Tess reached under her thigh and produced her cell phone. “Nothing. Not one text from him.”
    Harriet gazed out the window at the lights on the track and the lights through the trees whizzing past faster than anything. “This train is moving awful fast now. We must be on a nice straight track. But I’m sure there’s going to be a curve coming up soon, and the conductor will have to slow down to get safely around.”
    Harriet stopped patting Tess’s hands and turned her face toward her. “Just like life, don’t you think? We have times when we move fast, all seems like smooth sailing, then God throws us a curve and we got to slow down, way down sometimes. I think this is just a curve in your track, sweetie. It’s gonna get straighter again.”
    Henry ripped lettuce while Prudence formed hamburgers for the grill.
    “I’m glad you’re home this evening,” Henry said. “We can celebrate.”
    Prudence rinsed her hands and dried them on a soft yellow towel. “Celebrate? Did you hear from your mother?”
    “No, no, I wrote some words today. Good words. Humphrey and I went to visit Mrs. Caldwell, and she helped me … well, along with her apple pie.”
    Prudence smiled into Henry’s eyes. “I’m proud of you. Maybe you should be working then and not ripping lettuce into tiny pieces. Here, let me do that.”
    Henry looked into the bowl of lettuce. “Oh, yeah, look at that. I was distracted. Thinking about my novel.”
    “That, believe it or not, is the best news I’ve heard all day.”
    “The case not going well?”
    Prudence sliced a tomato. “We hit a snag.”
    “I’m sorry, Pru. But you always win, you know.”
    “I know, I know, but this time … I’m not so sure.”
    That was when Henry’s cell phone jingled.
    “I’ll