Posts tagged a bend in the road
Maggie May
"Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.”
In trying to read all of Nicholas Sparks’ novels, A Bend in the Road was yet again another attention grabber. This book didn’t make me cry, but I did change my predictions quite a bit. You think upon reading the back synopsis that you can tell what the conclusion is, but it was slightly different than what I expected, and yet it was a little predictable. Of course Sparks’ love scenes and romantic encounters always make you want to live in a book world. If you have read Nicholas Sparks, and like his work, I definetly recommend this book. If you have not read Nicholas Sparks, I wouldn’t begin with this book.
God, they’d been in love. Like two young kids, they couldn’t keep their eyes and hands off each other. Hugging and kissing, holding hands, flirty looks — it was like no one ever bothered to tell them that marriage was supposed to be hard. It hadn’t even changed when Jonah came along, for God’s sake. Brenda used to joke that Miles and Missy would probably be making out in a nursing home, fifty hears from now.
As for Miles and Sarah, their relationship progressed with a dreamlike intensity. When they were apart, the hungered for the sight of eachother; when they were together, they longed for more time. They met for lunch, they talked on the phone, they made love whenever they had a quiet moment together.
They were angry and forbade their daughter to see Harris anymore, since the Pressers were regarded as commoners, but it had the effect of binding the young couple even closer. But it wasn’t easy for them to see eachother. In time, they devised a plan, in order to escape the watchful eyes of Kathryn’s parents.
The kiss went on and on, and when they finally pulled apart, Miles embraced her. He buried his face in her neck, then kissed the hollow of her shoulder. The moisture of his tongue made her shiver, and she leaned into him, savoring the safe harbor of his arms as teh rest of the world went on around them.
He wanted to start walking again but found he couldn’t. Instead he took a step toward Sarah, pulling her gently toward him. Sarah followed hi lead, her stomach tightening. As Miles leaned toward her, she closed her eyes, and when their faces drew near, it was as if nothing else mattered in the world.
I miss having her around. Just being there when I got off work, or waking up beside her, or seeing her in the kitchen or out in the yard — anywhere. Even if we didn’t have much time, there was something special in knowing that she would be there if I needed her. And she would have been. We’d been married long enough to go through all those stages that married people go through — the good, the not so good, even the bad — and we’d settled into somethign that worked for bothe of us. We were both kids when we started out, and we knew people who got married around the same time we did. After seven years, a lot of friends had divorced and a few had already gotten remarried. But we made it, you know? I look back on that and it’s somethign that I’m proud of, because I know how rare it was. I never regretted the fact that I’d married her. Never.
We used to spend hours just talking about everything, or about nothing. It didn’t really matter. She loved books and she used to tell me all the stories she was reading, and she could do it in a way that made me want to read them, too. I remember sh used to read in bed and sometimes I’d wake up in the middle o fhte night and she’d be sound asleep with the book on the end table with her reading light still on. I’d have to get out of bed to turn it off. That happened more often after Jonah was born — she was tired all the time, but even then, she had a way of acting like she wasn’t. She was wonderful with him. I remember when Jonah started trying to walk. He was about seven months old, which is way too early. I mean, he couldn’t even crawl yet, but he wanted to talk. She spend weeks walking through the house all bent over so he could hold her fingers, just because he liked it. She’d be so sore in the evenings that unless I gave her a massages, she wouldn’t be able to move the next day. But you know…
She never complained about it. I think it was what she was meant to do. She used to tell me that she wanted to have four kids, but after Jonah I kept coming up with excuses why it wasn’t the right time, until she finally put her foot down. She wanted Jonah to have brothers and sisters, and I realized that I did, too. I know from experience how hard it is to be an only child, and I wish I’d listened to her earlier.
He moved closer, and as soon as he reached toward her hand, gently leaning against her as he did so, she felt something jump inside, a light shock that started in her belly and radiated outward.
Sarah heard the dull roar of other laughing and joking all around them, yet as she watched Miles, it seemed almost as if they were alone.
She hated being cold, and she was one of those people who got cold very easily.
He liked to watch them together; he liked the way it made him feel, knowing that Missy loved Jonah in a way that he had never experienced. His own parents hadn’t been so affectionate.
He’s one of those rare men who, when he loves, he does it with all his heart.
Other men knew how to do these things, but damned if he could figure it out. Once, in a moment of courage supplied by a couple of beers, he’d come close to calling her on the phone. He’d had no reason to call, and though he hadn’t known what he would say, he’d hoped that something would strike him, a bolt from the sky that would imbue him with wit and charisma. He’d imagined her laughing at the things he was saying, being positively overwhelmed by his charm.
He thought of her frequently and sometimes in the strangest of situations — standing in a grocery store while selecting a packed of pork chops, stopped at a light, mowing the lawn. Once or twice, he thought of her while taking a shower in the morning, and he found himself wondering about her morning routines. Ridiculus things. Did she eat cereal or toast and jelly? After a shower, did she wrap her head in a towel as she put her makeup on or did she style it right away?
For a reason she couldn’t quite explain, she found his good-bye adorable, almost charming. He was different from the men she had known.
