The Longest Ride
Authors: Nicholas Sparks
With over 80 million copies of his books sold, Nicholas Sparks is one of the world’s most beloved storytellers. His novels include eleven No. 1
New York Times
bestsellers. All Nicholas Sparks’ books have been international bestsellers and have been translated into more than forty languages. Eight of his novels have been adapted into major films:
Safe Haven
,
The Lucky One
,
The Last Song
,
Dear John
,
Nights in Rodanthe
,
Message in a Bottle
,
A Walk to Remember
and
The Notebook
.
Nicholas Sparks lives in North Carolina with his wife and family. You can visit him and sign up for the Nicholas Sparks eNewsletter at
www.nicholassparks.com
, and follow him on Twitter: @SparksNicholas.
The Notebook
Message in a Bottle
A Walk to Remember
The Rescue
A Bend in the Road
Nights in Rodanthe
The Guardian
The Wedding
Three Weeks with My Brother (with Micah Sparks)
True Believer
At First Sight
Dear John
The Choice
The Lucky One
The Last Song
Safe Haven
The Best of Me
Published by Sphere
978-1-4055-1750-8
All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Copyright © Nicholas Sparks 2013
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
S
PHERE
Little, Brown Book Group
100 Victoria Embankment
London, EC4Y 0DY
Table of Contents
For Miles, Ryan, Landon, Lexie, and Savannah
T
he Longest Ride
, my seventeenth novel, could not have been written without the support of many wonderful people. At the top of my list, as always, is my wife
Cathy
, who has remained after all these years the best friend I’ve ever had. My life has been enriched by her presence on a daily basis, and part of me knows that every female character I’ve ever created is in no small way inspired by her. It’s been a joy to share with her the longest ride, this thing we call life.
I must also thank
Theresa Park
– my literary agent, manager, and now producing partner – yet another extraordinary blessing in my life. It’s hard for me to believe that we’ve been working together for nineteen years now. Though I’ve told you many times before, it’s time for me to put it in writing: I’ve always considered myself to be the fortunate one.
Jamie Raab
, my editor, is priceless when it comes to making my novels as good as they can possibly be. She has been my editor since the very beginning, and working with her has made me one of the luckiest authors around. She deserves my thanks not only for all she does, but also because I consider her a cherished friend.
Howie Sanders
and
Keya Khayatian
– my film agents at UTA – are quite simply the best in the business. More than that, they’re creative geniuses in all aspects of business. Add in kindness, honesty, and enthusiasm, and the more time I spend with them, the more thrilled I am to consider them friends.
Scott Schwimer
, my entertainment attorney, is yet another member of my team who has been with me since the very beginning, a man who has gifted my life with his wisdom and advice. Add in friendship and laughter, and my life has been enriched by his presence.
Elise Henderson
and
Kosha Shah
, who run my television production company, are two amazing people, gifted with motivation, intelligence, and humor, and I’m fortunate to consider them part of my team. Also thanks to
Dave Park
, for his guidance and support in my early TV endeavours, and to
Lucinda Moorehead
for her enthusiastic efforts at UTA.
My thanks also go out to
Denise DiNovi
, who has produced – with style and quality – any number of films adapted from my work, including
Message in a Bottle
,
A Walk to Remember
, and
The Lucky One
. I very much enjoy working with you and look forward to seeing
The Best of Me
on the big screen. I’d be remiss, of course, if I didn’t thank
Alison Greenspan
for all she does as well.
Marty Bowen
is yet another producer with multiple films adapted from my work to his credit, and I’d like to thank him for the work he did on both
Dear John
and
Safe Haven
. Along with Theresa and me, he’ll be producing
The Longest Ride
, and there’s no doubt that it will be an amazing film. Thanks also to
Wyck Godfrey
who works with Marty on all their endeavors.
I also have to thank
Emily Sweet
and
Abby Koons
at the Park Literary Group. Emily not only works with my foundation and the website, but handles all those jobs that fall into the gray areas of my ventures with energy, enthusiasm, and efficiency. Abby, who is responsible for all things foreign, is fantastic at her job. I consider both of them my friends, and I don’t know where I’d be without them.
Michael Nyman
,
Catherine Olim
,
Jill Fritzo
, and
Michael Geiser
at PMK-BNC, my publicists, are all terrific at what they do. I want to thank them for all the extraordinary work they do on my behalf.
Laquishe Wright
– also known simply as Q – who runs my social media pages, and
Mollie Smith
, who handles my website, also deserve my gratitude. Both of them are incredible at what they do, and it’s because of them that I’m able to let people know what’s going on in my world.
For further helping to keep me up to speed on the latest in technology, I’d like to take a moment to thank
David Herrin
and
Eric Kuhn
at UTA, who are always there to answer my questions.
Thanks, also, to both
David Young
and
Michael Pietsch
at Hachette Book Group. I’ll miss working with you, David, and I look forward to working with you, Michael.
I’d like to extend a special thanks to
Sean Gleason
, COO of Professional Bull Riders, Inc., for his painstaking review of the manuscript and all of his and the PBR’s enthusiastic support for this book. Bull riding is a thrilling sport, and you run an amazing organization, Sean.
La
rry Vincent
and
Sara Fernstrom
at UTA also deserve my thanks for the fantastic work they do in branding and corporate partnerships; it’s been an amazing experience so far, and I look forward to all that will happen in the future.
My thanks also go to
Mitch
Stoller
for all of his early contributions to the Nicholas Sparks Foundation, and to
Jenna Dueck
, the most recent addition to the foundation team, who I know will bring invaluable expertise and energy to our efforts in support of education.
I also want to thank
Saul Benjamin
, the Headmaster at The Epiphany School of Global Studies, a school that my wife and I founded in 2006. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll take the school to new heights as it moves toward the future. Of course, he couldn’t do that without the help of
David Wang
, the Assistant Headmaster, and I’d like to take a moment to thank David as well.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank
Jason Richman
and
Pete Knapp
, neither of whom work directly for me but nonetheless find themselves working on my behalf anyway. Thank you both for all you do.
Rachel Bressler
and
Alex Greene
also deserve my thanks for helping to keep the wheels turning smoothly when it comes to the Novel Learning Series and all things contract related, which can be a never-ending task.
Micah Sparks
, my brother, also deserves my heartfelt thanks not only for being the best brother a guy can have, but for all the effort, hard work, and vision he has brought to the Novel Learning Series.
Emily Griffin
,
Sara Weiss
, and
Sonya Cheuse
at Grand Central also deserve my thanks for all they do. Emily helps to guide a project near and dear to my heart, Sara handles an amazing workload at GCP on my behalf, while Sonya is a fantastic publicist in charge of my book tours.
Thanks also to
Tracey Lorentzen
, the Director of the New Bern office of my foundation, and to
Tia Scott
for all things assistant related. She keeps my life running smoothly, which is no easy matter. Finally, many thanks to
Jeannie Armentrout
for all she does at the house.
I must also thank
Andrew Somme
rs
, who does so much for me in yet another complex and critically important area of my life.
Pam Pope
and
Oscara Stevick
, my accountants, are wonderful at what they do, and I’m thankful to consider them part of my team.
Courtenay Valenti
and
Greg Silverman
at Warner Bros. feel like family to me after all these years, and I hope to work with both of you again.
Ryan Kavanaugh
,
Tucker Tooley
,
Robbie Brenner
, and
Terry Curtin
at Relativity deserve my thanks for the terrific work they did on
Safe Haven
, and I’m looking forward to working with all of you very soon! We make a wonderful team.
Many thanks to
Elizabeth Gabler
and
Erin Siminoff
at Fox 2000 for agreeing to make the film version of
The Longest Ride
. I’m excited to be working with both of you.
David Buchalter
, who helps to arrange all my speeches, also deserves my thanks. I appreciate all you do.
Todd
and
Kari
Wagner
also deserve my thanks for what they did – I trust they know what I’m talking about.
And finally, thanks to friends new and old who’ve added much joy and laughter to my life, including
Drew
and
Brittany Brees
,
Jennifer Romanello
,
Chelsea Kane
,
Gretchen Rossi
,
Slade Smiley
,
Josh Duhamel
, and
Julianne Hough
.