Susan continued.
“Mark and Jake were best friends. And the night Mark died, Jake was sitting beside him in the car.”
For the first time, Tom was silent.
I could feel the air in the room becoming heavier.
Five years earlier, Mark and I had been driving home from a friend’s birthday party.
He was driving.
I was sitting beside him.
We argued.
Over something completely stupid.
I wanted him to take another road.
Mark refused.
I got angry and said,
“Just once in your life, listen to me.”
Those were the last words I ever said to him.
A few minutes later, another car cut across our path at an intersection.
I woke up in the hospital.
Mark never did.
The police explained that the accident had been almost impossible to avoid.
But only one thought kept repeating inside my head.
What if we hadn’t argued…
What if I hadn’t distracted him?
