“That’s what you’ve been carrying all this time?”
“Yes.”
“Ryan, that’s not your fault. You didn’t cause the accident. You didn’t make the choice to drink and drive. That was him.”
I pointed at Cody.
“That’s why I said I’m the reason you’re disabled.”
“But you saved my life,” I added. “You called the ambulance. You stayed with me. You gave me a reason to keep fighting.”
Cody spoke again, his voice weak.
“I wanted to turn myself in. But Ryan begged me not to. He said you didn’t remember the accident. That you didn’t know who hit you.”
“So you’ve been hiding him here all this time?” I asked Ryan.
“He’s dying, Andrea. He has stage four cancer. The doctors gave him six months. That was four months ago.”
I looked at the frail man in the bed.
“He said you didn’t remember the accident.”
“You’ve been taking care of him.”
“I lost my parents in a plane crash when I was six. My uncle and aunt raised me like I was their own. I couldn’t just turn my back on him.”
