A Bend in the Road - By Nicholas Sparks Page 0,100

wish that more than anything. Try to keep that in mind, okay? This isn’t easy for any of us.”

“What’s going on?” he asked.

Sarah glanced toward Brian. She nodded, and with that, Brian felt his throat suddenly go dry. He swallowed.

“It was an accident,” he said.

At that, the words poured forth, the way he’d rehearsed them a hundred times in his head. Brian told him everything about that night two years ago, leaving nothing out. His mind, however, wasn’t on the words.

Instead it was on Miles’s reaction. At first there was none. As soon as Brian began, Miles slipped into a different posture, that of someone who wanted to listen objectively, without interruption, the way he’d been trained as a sheriff. Brian, he knew, was making a confession, and Miles had learned that silence was the best way to get an uncensored version of events. It wasn’t until later, when Brian mentioned Rhett’s Barbecue, that Miles finally began to realize what Brian was telling him.

Then the shock set in. As Brian went on, Miles froze, his face draining of color. His hands tightened reflexively on the armrest. Nonetheless, Brian pressed forward. In the background, as if from somewhere far away, Brian heard his sister inhale sharply as he described the accident. He ignored the sound, continuing with his story, stopping only when he described the next morning in the kitchen, and his decision to keep silent.

Miles sat like a statue through it all, and when Brian lapsed into silence, Miles seemed to take a moment to register everything that Brian had told him. Then, finally, his eyes focused on Brian, as if seeing him for the first time.

In a way, Brian knew he was.

“A dog?” he rasped out. His voice was low and gravelly, as if he’d been holding his breath through the confession. “You’re saying she jumped in front of your car because of a dog?”

“Yes.” Brian nodded. “A black dog. A big one. There was nothing I could do.”

Miles’s eyes narrowed slightly as he tried to keep control. “Then why did you run?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I can’t explain why I ran that night. The next thing I knew, I was in the car.”

“Because you don’t remember.” The anger in Miles’s tone was unmistakable, barely suppressed. Ominous.

“I don’t remember that part of it, no.”

“But the rest of it you do. You remember everything else about that night.”

“Yes.”

“Then tell me the real reason you ran that night.”

Sarah reached out to touch Miles’s arm. “He’s telling the truth, Miles. Believe me—he wouldn’t lie about this.”

Miles shook off her hand.

“It’s okay, Sarah,” Brian said. “He can ask whatever he wants.”

“You’re damn right I can,” Miles added, his voice lowering even more.

“I don’t remember why I ran,” Brian answered. “Like I said, I don’t remember even leaving the scene. I remember being in the car, but that’s it.”

Miles stood from the chair, glaring. “And you expect me to believe that?” he said. “That it was Missy’s fault?”

“Wait a minute!” Sarah said, coming to her brother’s defense. “He told you how it happened! He’s telling the truth!”

Miles swiveled to face her. “Why the hell should I believe him?”

“Because he’s here! Because he wanted you to know the truth!”

“Two years later he wants me to know the truth? How do you know it’s the truth?”

He waited for an answer, but before she could respond, he suddenly took a small step backward. He turned from Sarah to Brian and back to Sarah again, as he considered what the answers to his questions meant.

Sarah had known exactly what her brother was going to say....

Which meant... that she’d known Otis was innocent. She’d tried to get him to back off. Let Charlie handle it, she’d said. What if Sims and Earl were wrong somehow?

She’d said those things because she’d known Brian was guilty.

But that made sense, didn’t it?

Hadn’t she said that she was close to her brother? Hadn’t she said he was the one person she could really talk to, and vice versa?

Miles’s thoughts, fed by adrenaline and anger, raced from one conclusion to the next.

She’d known but she hadn’t told him. She’d known and... and...

Miles stared at Sarah wordlessly.

Hadn’t she volunteered to help Jonah, even though it was out of the ordinary?

And hadn’t she befriended him as well? Gone out with him? Listened to him, tried to help him move on with his life?

Miles’s face began to twitch with barely suppressed rage.

She’d known all along.

She’d used him to assuage her own guilt. Everything they’d had was