The Best of Me - Nicholas Sparks [94]
With a feeling of desperate urgency she didn’t quite comprehend, she gathered her bags and carried them down the stairs. Normally, she would have placed them near the door until she was ready to leave. Instead, she found herself reaching for the knob and making her way directly to her car.
She tossed her bags into the trunk before moving around the car. Only then did she notice her mother standing on the front porch, watching her.
Amanda said nothing, nor did her mother. They simply stared at each other. Amanda had the uncanny feeling that her mother knew exactly where she was going, but with Tuck’s words still ringing in her ears, Amanda was beyond caring. All she knew was that she needed to find Dawson.
Dawson might still be at Tuck’s, but she doubted it. It wouldn’t have taken him long to wash the car, and with his cousins on the loose she knew that he wouldn’t stay in town.
But there was someplace else he said he might go…
The words came into her mind suddenly, without conscious thought, and she slipped behind the wheel, knowing exactly where he might be.
At the cemetery, Dawson stepped out of the car and made the short walk toward David Bonner’s headstone.
In the past, whenever he visited the cemetery, he came at odd hours and did his best to remain unnoticed and anonymous.
Today, that wouldn’t be possible. Weekends tended to be busy, and there were clusters of people walking among the headstones. No one appeared to pay any attention to him as he walked, but he kept his head bowed nonetheless.
Finally reaching the site, he noticed that the flowers he’d left on Friday morning were still there, but they’d been moved to the side. Probably by the caretaker when he’d mowed. Squatting, Dawson plucked at a few of the longer blades of grass near the headstone that had been missed.
His thoughts drifted back to Amanda, and he was gripped by a sense of intense loneliness. His life, he knew, had been cursed from the beginning, and closing his eyes, he said a final prayer for David Bonner, unaware that his shadow had just been joined by another. Unaware that someone was standing right behind him.
Reaching the main street that ran through Oriental, Amanda stopped at the intersection. A left turn would bring her past the marina and eventually to Tuck’s. A right turn would lead her out of town, eventually becoming the rural highway she’d follow on her way back home. Straight ahead, beyond a wrought-iron fence, was the cemetery. It was the largest in Oriental, the place where Dr. David Bonner had been laid to rest. Dawson, she remembered, had said he might drop by on his way out of town.
The gates to the cemetery were open. She scanned the half-dozen cars and trucks in the parking lot, searching for his rental car, and her breath caught when she spotted it. Three days ago, he’d parked it beside hers when he’d arrived at Tuck’s. Earlier that morning, she’d stood beside it as he’d kissed her one last time.
Dawson was here.
We’re still young, he’d told her. We still have time to make this right.
Her foot was on the brake. On the main road, a minivan rumbled past, momentarily obscuring her view, heading toward downtown. The road was otherwise deserted.
If she crossed the road and parked, she knew she’d be able to find him. She thought of Tuck’s letter, the years of grief he had endured without Clara, and Amanda knew she’d made the wrong decision. She couldn’t imagine a life without Dawson.
In her mind’s eye, she could see the scene unfold. She would surprise Dawson at Dr. Bonner’s grave and could hear herself saying that she’d been wrong to leave. She could feel her happiness as he took her in his arms once more, knowing they were meant to be together.
If she went to him again, she knew she’d follow him anywhere. Or he’d follow her. But even then, her responsibilities continued to press down on her, and ever so slowly, she removed her foot from the brake. Instead of going straight, she found herself suddenly turning