A Bend in the Road Read Online Free PDF

need
to. The way she looked at him spoke volumes.
    Her brother and
sister-in-law were coming in from Atlanta the following day, and she’d been
working around the house, trying to get it ready for guests. Jonah was in bed
with the flu, which didn’t make it any easier, since she’d had to take care of
him as well. But that wasn’t the reason for her anger; Miles himself had been
the cause.
    Though she’d
said that she wouldn’t mind if Miles went fishing, shehad asked him to take
care of the yardwork on Saturday so she wouldn’t have to worry about that as
well. Work, however, had intervened, and instead of calling Charlie with his
regrets, Miles had elected to go out on Sunday anyway. Charlie had teased him
on and off all day—“You’ll be sleeping on the couch tonight”—and Miles knew
Charlie was probably right. But yardwork was yardwork and fishing was fishing,
and for the life of him, Miles knew that neither Missy’s brother nor his wife
would care in the slightest whether there were a few too many weeds growing in
the garden.
    Besides, he’d
told himself, he would take care of everything when he got back, and he meant
it. He hadn’t intended to be gone all day, but as with many of his fishing
trips, one thing had led to the next and he’d lost track of time. Still, he had
his speech worked out—Don’t worry, I’ll take care of everything, even if it
takes the rest of the night and I need a flashlight.It might have worked, too,
had he told her his plans before he’d slipped out of bed that morning. But he
hadn’t, and by the time he got home she’d done most of the work. The yard was
mowed, the walk was edged, she’d planted some pansies around the mailbox. It
must have taken hours, and to say she was angry was an understatement. Even
furious wasn’t sufficient. It was somewhere beyond that, the difference between
a lit match and a blazing forest fire, and he knew it. He’d seen the look a few
times in the years they’d been married, but only a few. He swallowed, thinking,
Here we go.
    “Hey, hon,” he
said sheepishly, “sorry that I’m so late. We just lost track of time.” Just as
he was getting ready to start his speech, Missy turned around and spoke over
her shoulder.
    “I’m going for
a jog. Youcan take care of this, can’t you?” She’d been getting ready to blow
the grass off the walkway and drive; the blower was sitting on the lawn.
    Miles knew
enough not to respond.
    After she’d
gone inside to change, Miles got the cooler from the back of the car and
brought it to the kitchen. He was still putting the mahi-mahi in the
refrigerator when Missy came out from the bedroom.
    “I was just
putting the fish away . . . ,” he started, and Missy clenched her jaw.
    “What about doing
what I asked you?”
    “I’m going
to—just let me finish here so this won’t spoil.”
    Missy rolled her
eyes. “Just forget it. I’ll do it when I get back.”
    The martyr tone.
Miles couldn’t stand that.
    “I’ll do it,” he
said. “I said I would, didn’t I?”
    “Just like you’d
finish the lawn before you went out fishing?” He should have just bitten his
lip and kept quiet. Yes, he’d spent the day fishing instead of working around
the house; yes, he’d let her down. But in the whole scheme of things, it
wasn’tthat big a deal, was it? It was just her brother and sister-in-law, after
all. It wasn’t as if the president were coming.  There wasn’t any reason to be irrational about the whole
thing.  Yep, he should have kept quiet.
Judging from the way she looked at him after he’d said it, he would have been
better off. When she slammed the door on her way out, Miles heard the windows
rattle.
    Once she’d been
gone a little while, however, he knew he’d been wrong, and he regretted what
he’d done. He’d been a jerk, and she was right to have called him on it.
    He wouldn’t,
however, get the chance to say he was sorry.
    • • •
    “Still smoking, huh?”
    Charlie