A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks Read Free Book Online

the
classroom, headed down the hall, and pushed open the door.
    “So how long have
you been in town?” Miles finally asked.
    “Since June.”
    “How do you like
it?”
    She looked over
at him. “It’s kind of quiet, but it’s nice.”
    “Where’d you move
from?”
    “Baltimore. I
grew up there, but . . .” She paused. “I needed a change.”
    Miles nodded. “I
can understand that. Sometimes I feel like getting away, too.” Her face
registered a kind of recognition as soon as he said it, and Miles knew
immediately that she’d heard about Missy. She didn’t say anything,
however.  As they seated themselves at
the picnic table, Miles stole a good look at her.  Up close, with the sun slanting through the shade trees, her skin
looked smooth, almost luminescent. Sarah Andrews, he decided on the spot, never
had pimples as a teenager.
    “So . . . ,” he
said, “should I call you Miss Andrews?”
    “No, Sarah’s
fine.”
    “Okay, Sarah . . .”
He stopped, and after a moment Sarah finished for him.
    “You’re wondering
why I needed to talk to you?”
    “It had crossed
my mind.”
    Sarah glanced
toward the folder in front of her, then up again. “Well, let me start by
telling you how much I enjoy having Jonah in class. He’s a wonderful boy—he’s
always the first to volunteer if I ever need anything, and he’s really good to
the other students as well. He’s also polite and extremely well spoken for his
age.”
    Miles looked
her over carefully. “Why do I get the impression that you’re leading up to some
bad news?”
    “Am I that
obvious?”
    “Well . . .
sort of,” Miles admitted, and Sarah gave a sheepish laugh.  “I’m sorry, but I did want you to know that
it’s not all bad. Tell me—has Jonah mentioned anything to you about what’s
going on?”
    “Not until
breakfast this morning. When I asked him why you wanted to meet with me, he
just said that he’s having trouble with some of the work.” “I see.” She paused
for a moment, as if trying to collect her thoughts.  “You’re making me a little nervous here,” Miles finally said.
“You don’t think there’s a serious problem, do you?”
    “Well . . .”
She hesitated. “I hate to have to tell you this, but I think there is. Jonah
isn’t having trouble with some of the work. Jonah’s having trouble withall of
the work.”
    Miles frowned.
“All of it?”
    “Jonah,” she
said evenly, “is behind in reading, writing, spelling, and math—just about
everything. To be honest, I don’t think he was ready for the second grade.”
    Miles simply
stared at her, not knowing what to say. Sarah went on. “I know this is hard for
you to hear. Believe me, I wouldn’t want to hear it, either, if it was my son.
That’s why I wanted to make sure before I talked to you about it.  Here . . .”
    Sarah opened
the folder and handed Miles a stack of papers. Jonah’s work. Miles glanced
through the pages—two math tests without a single correct answer, a couple of
pages where the assignment had been to write a paragraph (Jonah had managed a
few, illegibly scrawled words), and three short reading tests that Jonah had
failed as well. After a long moment, she slid the folder to Miles.  “You can keep all that. I’m finished with
it.”
    “I’m not sure I
want it,” he said, still in shock.
    Sarah leaned
forward slightly. “Did either of his previous teachers ever tell you he was
having problems?”
    “No, never.”
    “Nothing?”
    Miles looked
away. Across the yard, he could see Jonah going down the slide in the
playground, Mark right behind him. He brought his hands together.  “Jonah’s mom died right before he started
kindergarten. I knew that Jonah used to put his head down on his desk and cry
sometimes, and we were all concerned about that. But his teacher didn’t say
anything about his work. His report cards said he was doing fine. It was the
same thing last year, too.” “Did you check the work he’d bring home