The Road before Us

How far would you go to fix the mistakes you've made? For Jade Jessup, the answer is 2,448 miles. Once one of Chicago’s significant financial advisors, Jade lost her credibility when her fiancé (and coworker) stole millions of dollars from their clients in a Ponzi scheme. Now she’s agreed to help one of them—an aging 1960s Hollywood starlet named Berenice “Benny” Alderidge—seek financial restoration. Jade sets off along Route 66 with Benny and her handsome adult foster son, Bridger, who is filming a documentary retracing the 1956 trip that started the love story between Benny and her recently deceased husband, Paul. Listening to Benny recount her story draws Jade into memories of her own darker association with Route 66, when she was kidnapped as a child by a man the media labeled a monster—but she remembers only as her dad. Together, these three travelers will learn about family, forgiveness, and what it means to live free of the past. But not before Jade faces a second staggering betrayal that changes everything. “This dual-time journey along the Mother Road is not to be missed.”—Amanda Cox, Christy Award–winning author