Free Heartbreak Highway 1 by Harper Whitmore

the book and flipped through a few pages. When she got to the part where they left Asheville and headed towards Tennessee she threw up her hands and said,
    “I’m sorry Marshall, but your grandfather was crazy.” Eva and Marshall had both said those same words about Granddad, but somehow, coming from the lips of someone who didn’t love him they sounded hateful and insulting.
    “Don’t talk about him like that!” Eva told her. Simone dismissed her with a roll of her eyes and toss of her long, dark hair as she said,
    “Did you read this all the way through?” she asked Marshall.
    “No, we were just kind of winging it. That was supposed to be the point of the trip.”
    “He has you going through the Appalachian’s and then to Dollywood! Are you freaking kidding me? Dollywood? Really?”
    Eva could see Marshall’s face in the rearview mirror. She saw his lips quirk in an upward slope as he said, “I like Dolly Parton.”
    Simone let out a low growl and said, “Your silly obsession with listening to country music is one thing, but a theme park named after a big-haired, big busted bottle blonde is going too far. It’s in Pigeon Forge Tennessee for crying out loud, how hillbilly is that?”
    Marshall kept his eyes on the road as he said, “If it’s on the itinerary, we’re doing it. I think it’ll be fun.”
    Simone sat back in the seat and folded her arms in a huff. Eva’s pleasant smile from earlier that day found its way back to her face.

Chapter 9
    T hey arrived at the Biltmore Estate just before noon. The drive up to the estate was paved along the original carriage route that served the property in the old days and the road was flanked by trees and bushes in early stages of transforming into their gorgeous fall colors.
    “Oh my goodness, look, it’s a deer!” Eva cried out when she spotted a small doe looking out at them from behind one of the trees. Marshall looked at it and smiled, Simone didn’t seem the least bit impressed. A few minutes later Eva squealed again…. “It’s a turkey!”
    That time Simone sighed loudly. Eva opened her mouth to say something to her, but closed it again. She wasn’t going to let the other woman’s negative attitude ruin this for her. The three and a half mile ride was gorgeous and if Simone didn’t see the beauty and wonder in any of it, then Eva thought that was sadly, her loss.
    When they got to the ticket booth they were given pamphlets to help them through the self-guided main house tour. There was no timeline for the walk-through, but they were told to allow themselves at least two hours in order to be able to see it all thoroughly.
    They started on the main floor, Eva wanted to look at everything and Simone tried to hurry them along. Poor Marshall seemed torn between the two of them and although Eva wasn’t seeking his attention, he seemed interested in the same things in the house that she was. Unfortunately, every time the two of them tried to look more closely at something together, Simone would grab Marshall by the arm and lure him away somehow.
    They worked their way all the way up to the fourth floor. It was a great work-out, but the only complaint that Eva had was that they weren’t allowed to take pictures inside. There were so many beautiful things that she’d love to have photos of. She told herself that she’d just have to take a snapshot of it all in her mind. She would have to edit Simone out of all the shots thought; she couldn’t seem to get a good picture in her head without the raven haired nymph photo-bombing it.
    When they finished the house, almost two hours later, they headed out to the stables where there was a restaurant and shopping. Eva would have loved to spend more time inside the house, but Simone had started her incessant whining about an hour into the tour and neither Eva nor Marshall could take it any longer. When she heard there was shopping in the stables, her entire demeanor changed.
    The Stable Café had large,