Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

I didn’t stop running until I reached the manor, clinging to the Bible the entire way.

As I passed Earl’s Auto , Earl tried to wave me down. “Noah. I got good news. Your car’s all fixed. She’s as good as new.”

“Not now, Earl.”

I kept running, my lungs burning as I pushed through the door and almost barreled straight into Maybelle carrying Chet in one arm.

“Noah! Slow down, child! What’s going on? You didn’t get caught, did you?”

I was panting so hard I could barely speak. “I… I found something. Something terrible. I have to get to Lovesong. But first… there’s something I need.”

I bolted for the stairs, no time for the slow, grinding elevator.

I dodged the holes and broken steps.

I sprinted into the room I shared with Lovesong, rummaged through my suitcase and pulled out the cassette tape.

It was time to tell Lovesong everything—

Why I was there…

What happened to Joel…

And what Lovesong’s father was guilty of.

With the Bible, the note, the letter, and the tape, I bounded back down the stairs.

I raced past Maybelle and Chet, shouting over my shoulder, “I’ll be back. I need to tell you what I found. You need to know everything.”

I charged through the open door.

I heard Maybelle calling, “Chet! Come back here now!”

But I didn’t have time to look back.

I ran as fast as I could into the cotton fields, the spikes of the prickled bolls scratching at my skin again as they had the other night.

But I didn’t care.

With sweat pouring down my face, blood streaking from the scratches, I kept running.

I had to get to Lovesong.

He had to know the truth.

When I burst out of the cotton fields and onto the dirt road leading to the crossroads, I could see the cotton pickers in the field opposite.

I saw Lovesong and hurried across the road, calling his name. “Lovesong! Lovesong, it’s me, Noah. We need to talk! Now!”

He raised his head, then shook it. “There ain’t nothin’ I wanna talk with you about, Noah. I’m busy.”

“Lovesong! I need to tell you everything! Now!”

I saw him huff, then storm his way through the cotton plants toward me. “Where are you?” he demanded impatiently. “At least tell me where you are!”

“I’m right in front of you, here on the edge of the road. Just keep walking.”

He plodded out from the field, and I reached out to catch him. “I’m here. I’m right here.”

“So, what the hell do you need to tell me, huh? What’s so important that you need to tell me now, when last night you wanted to keep everything a secret?”

“You’re angry. I get it. I understand. And what I’m about to tell you might make you even madder. But you deserve to know the truth. You need to know everything.”

“So, talk.”

I didn’t start by talking at all. I started by grabbing his hand and placing his cassette tape in his palm.

He shook his head, confused. “What’s this?”

“It’s yours. It’s your audition tape for Juilliard.”

Confusion turned to disbelief. “What are you doing with it? How do you know about that?”

“I know about it because my partner was the one you sent it to. He heard your audition, and he wrote back to you, saying he wanted you to go to New York for a proper audition.”

“No, he didn’t,” Lovesong said, stumbling back a step, completely disoriented by what I was telling him. “He never wrote back at all. How do you know he did?”

“Because this is the letter,” I said, shoving it into his hand. “You never got it, because your father opened it and hid it from you. Lovesong, you need to leave here. Your father’s been lying to you all this time. He’s been lying to you since you were born.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about your mother. When she left you at the crossroads, the note she supposedly wrote wasn’t written by her at all. It was written by Reverend Jim.”

Lovesong was reeling. He was beside himself, his emotions erupting. “How… how do you know all this? Why are you telling me this?”

“Because you need to know the truth.”

“And you need to tell me why you’re here! Why did you come to Clara’s Crossing, Noah?”

I took a sharp breath. “I came because Joel, my partner, died mailing this letter to you. I came to blame you for his death, to try and unload all the hurt in my heart and make you carry it for the rest of your life. But I was wrong. I know that now. I know—”

Lovesong suddenly stopped and held up his hand. “Shhh! Stop!”

“No. I won’t stop.”

He thumped his hand against my chest. “Stop! Listen!” He pointed to the still air, like he could hear something I couldn’t.

“What? Listen to what?”

I turned my head and saw Cybil driving down the road in our direction, having taken a load of cotton to the Landry factory.

“It’s Cybil’s pickup,” I said. “Cybil’s coming down the—” I narrowed my eyes. “Oh God, something’s wrong.”

I watched as Cybil suddenly slumped onto the wheel.

I watched as her truck suddenly picked up speed.

“Cybil,” I gasped.

But Lovesong couldn’t see what I could.

He was sensing something else entirely.

“No, it’s not Cybil I can hear.” Lovesong pointed quickly across the road. “It’s Chet!”

I turned.

Through the cotton field across the road, Chet came bolting out.

He dashed straight onto the road.

“No!”

I looked the other way to see Cybil’s out-of-control pickup careen even faster toward us, heading straight for Chet.

I dropped everything in my hands and ran. “Chet! No!”

The pickup’s engine revved louder.

As Chet raced across the road, I sprinted in front of the truck about to hit him.

I reached him a second before the pickup did.

I scooped him up in my arms.

I cradled Chet as tight as I could before—

BANG!

Everything turned black.

No, not black.

Everything turned…

To nothing.