A Bend in the Road Read Free Page A

answered that it was fine. But earlier that morning, while getting
Jonah’s backpack ready, Miles had found a note from Jonah’s teacher, asking him
if it was possible to meet today. Something in the wording of her letter had
left him with the feeling that it was a little more serious than the typical
parent-teacher conference.
    “You doing okay
in class?”
    Jonah shrugged.
“Uh-huh.”
    “Do you like your
teacher?”
    Jonah nodded in
between bites. “Uh-huh,” he answered again. 
Miles waited to see if Jonah would add anything more, but he didn’t.
Miles leaned a little closer.
    “Then why didn’t
you tell me about the note your teacher sent home?”
    “What note?” he
asked innocently.
    “The note in your
backpack—the one your teacher wanted me to read.” Jonah shrugged again, his
shoulders popping up and down like the waffles in the toaster. “I guess I just
forgot.”
    “How could you
forget something like that?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Do you know why
she wants to see me?”
    “No . . .” Jonah
hesitated, and Miles knew immediately that he wasn’t telling the truth.
    “Son, are you
in trouble at school?”
    At this, Jonah
blinked and looked up. His father didn’t call him “son” unless he’d done
something wrong. “No, Dad. I don’t ever act up. I promise.” “Then what is it?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Think about it.”
    Jonah squirmed in
his seat, knowing he’d reached the limit of his father’s patience. “Well, I guess
I might be having a little trouble with some of the work.”
    “I thought you
said school was going okay.”
    “Schoolis going
okay. Miss Andrews is really nice and all, and I like it there.” He paused.
“It’s just that sometimes I don’t understand everything that’s going on in
class.”
    “That’s why you
go to school. So you can learn.”
    “I know,” he
answered, “but she’s not like Mrs. Hayes was last year. The work she assigns
ishard. I just can’t do some of it.”
    Jonah looked
scared and embarrassed at exactly the same time. Miles reached out and put his
hand on his son’s shoulder.
    “Why didn’t you
tell me you were having trouble?”
    It took a long
time for Jonah to answer.
    “Because,” he
said finally, “I didn’t want you to be mad at me.”
    • • •
    After
breakfast, after making sure Jonah was ready to go, Miles helped him with his
backpack and led him to the front door. Jonah hadn’t said much since breakfast.
Squatting down, Miles kissed him on the cheek. “Don’t worry about this
afternoon. It’s gonna be all right, okay?”
    “Okay,” Jonah
mumbled.
    “And don’t forget
that I’ll be picking you up, so don’t get on the bus.”
    “Okay,” he said
again.
    “I love you,
champ.”
    “I love you, too,
Dad.”
    Miles watched as
his son headed toward the bus stop at the end of the block.  Missy, he knew, wouldn’t have been surprised
by what had happened this morning, as he had been. Missy would have already
known that Jonah was having trouble at school. Missy had taken care of things
like this.
    Missy had taken
care of everything.

A Bend in the Road

Chapter 2
    The night
before she was to meet with Miles Ryan, Sarah Andrews was walking through the
historic district in New Bern, doing her best to keep a steady pace.  Though she wanted to get the most from her
workout—she’d been an avid walker for the past five years—since she’d moved
here, she’d found it hard to do. Every time she went out, she found something
new to interest her, something that would make her stop and stare.
    New Bern,
founded in 1710, was situated on the banks of the Neuse and Trent Rivers in
eastern North Carolina. As the second oldest town in the state, it had once
served as the capital and been home to the Tryon Palace, residence of the
colonial governor. Destroyed by fire in 1798, the palace had been restored in
1954, complete with some of the most breathtaking and exquisite gardens in the
South. Throughout the