I drive David to the hospital, trying to keep my cool.

A car accident. How would the girls have even got access to a car? Julie has a license, but she doesn't have a car to drive. Riley has her license, too, but I'm currently driving the only car she'd be able to get her hands on.

Christ, did they steal one? No. I can't imagine either of them going through with that. There must be some other explanation, and I'm not helping anybody by sitting here, spinning through a million different scenarios that may not even be relevant.

I'm definitely not helping David.

As soon as Julie hangs up—well before he wanted her to—he got on the phone with the sheriff's department to try and find out more about the accident.

"I understand that information's not available to the public, but I'm her father, goddammit! I deserve to know what happened."

Judging from his half of the call, he's not having any luck getting a report on the incident. We'll get one soon enough, but I'm not about to say that to him. Not while he's trying to grasp at anything he can to keep him sane.

I want to comfort him. I want to say something brilliant that'll put him at ease. But what can I do? His worst fear has come true. Something happened to Riley. And not just anything. She got into a car accident, the same awful scenario that made him a widower.

I can't imagine what he's going through, and my platitudes aren't going to give him any peace of mind, no matter how well they're meant.

So I just focus on driving as quickly and competently as I can. When I get to the hospital—a small one that straddles the town line between Glen Springs and Harris—I pull around to the ambulance bay and let David out while I find a parking space in a nearby garage.

By the time I get into the ER, David's still at the front desk, arguing with the attendant.

"I shouldn't have to give you my fucking insurance card just so I can see my daughter," he growls.

"If you want me to fill out forms, I can," I offer gently.

David looks at me with tired eyes that are still red from crying. He drags a hand over his mouth, then nods, fetching his wallet. "Yeah. Yeah, that'd be good."

He hands the woman his license and insurance card, and receives a clipboard and forms in exchange. I take the packet and sit with him near a host of other people waiting to be seen or to see loved ones.

It doesn't take long for them to call us back. I finish the forms, getting input from David where I need it, and we go back together with no resistance from the staff.

The smell of hospital hits me as soon as we pass through the doors, that caustic cocktail of rubbing alcohol and other chemicals burning my nose. The nurse leads us back to a hallway, and I immediately see Riley. She's just in a gurney, pushed off to the side. Still in her clothes, with the right leg of her jeans cut away to reveal a leg that's swollen, but with no breaks in the skin.

I still wince when I see it, and David's steps hasten. "Jesus, baby girl, are you okay?"

"Dad," she says, her bottom lip trembling as she tries not to cry any more than she already has, judging from the streaks on her face.

I look for Julie, and find her standing off to the side. Her arms are wrapped about herself, and she's looking down at the floor. I glance to Riley, then walk over to Julie, putting a hand on her arm. She jumps as soon as I touch her.

"Hey, it's okay," I say softly. "Everything'll be okay."

Her eyes well up with fresh tears and she just shakes her head.

"It just came out of nowhere," Riley says on a sob. "I swerved to miss it and I must have hit a patch of ice and—"

"God, did you break your leg? Are you in pain? They haven't even put you in a gown yet, what the fuck are they doing…"

"We'll get her situated in just a couple minutes here, Mr. Frazier," the nurse says.

David looks like he's close to losing it. His face is actually red, and he glares murder at the poor nurse. I understand it. If I could let myself be angry or terrified right now, I would. But I can't. I have to keep it together for him and the girls.

Especially for Julie. She doesn't have anybody else.

"It doesn't hurt that bad," she says. "I'm really cold, though."

"You're in shock. She's in shock," he repeats to the nurse. "Can we at least get some more blankets?"

The nurse scurries off and I give her an apologetic look. David meanwhile has plastered himself against the gurney. He has an arm around Riley and he's stroking her hair.

"This never should've happened," he says.

"We were careful, I swear we were. The deer came out of nowhere. By the time I saw it, there wasn't any time to stop. I thought I swerved far enough, but the car hit the guard rail." Riley fights for air, the sobs coming faster than she can breathe. "Nathan's going to be so mad."

A little more talking reveals who Nathan is. Apparently he's a classmate who was "nice" enough to loan his car to two teenage girls who wanted to play hooky for the rest of the school day to have just a little more time together.

His Mazda was crashed into a thick steel guard rail on the county road that eventually meets up with Lexington. I make a mental note that I need to find out if Riley is covered on David's policy, and get his insurance information for Nathan's parents.

"It was my idea," Julie confesses. I can barely hear her, and I'm standing right next to her. "Skipping school. Driving to Lexington. It was my idea."

My heart aches for her, and while David's anger is currently directed at the hospital staff, mine's squarely focused on Julie's parents. It's that kind of oppressive behavior that makes kids feel like they don't have any choices. They take stupid risks like this because they think they have to just to breathe; just to survive.

But my rage is impotent in the face of Julie's guilt and sorrow. She looks like she's in shock, too, even if it isn't the physical sort. Every time she glances at Riley, she pales.

"This isn't your fault," I tell her firmly before pulling her into a hug.

She weeps into my shirt for a solid minute.

Once Riley's finally seen by a doctor, things start to settle down. The calm before the storm, I know, because I have to call Julie's parents sooner rather than later. She can't bring herself to do it, but they need to know their daughter was in an accident.

I have to take care of David first, though, so when he steps out for some air, I follow him, leaving Riley in the care of the radiologist as she's taken back for imaging.

"How are you holding up?" I ask once we finally get outside.

Winter seems to be hitting its stride early this year. There's a bite to the air, and snow flurries dance over the parking lot. I tuck my hands beneath my arms.

David stops and slowly turns to face me. His breath fogs the air as he speaks. "How am I holding up? My kid's lying in a hospital bed with a broken leg, Jake."

"Right. Dumb question, sorry," I murmur, feeling foolish. I lift my hand to my neck and just keep talking. "Look, anything you need, anything that'll help, I'll do it. Just say the words."

David bends over and his hands slide down to his knees. He looks like he's about to wretch, but he just holds himself there for a few moments before standing back up.

"You don't get it," he says, shaking his head. "This is my fault. She's in there, scared and in pain because I fucked up."

"If anyone's to blame, it's Julie's parents," I say, my lips pressing into a thin line. "Outside of that? The kids made a dumb decision."

"A dumb decision I could've prevented if I'd been paying attention!"

He says it with more force than I expected, and I actually lean back from him a little. A woman walking by looks at the two of us, then hurries past.

"Christ, Jake, I moved us here to stop something like this from happening. So I could keep an eye on Riley, make sure she'd make it through okay. And then I let myself get so distracted that she steals a car and crashes it into the guard rail!"

I can't argue semantics with him. It's no use right now, and my entire being is fixated on one word.

"Distracted?" It washes over me, colder than the air swirling around us. "Distracted by me, you mean."

David's expression is pained, and I know I'm right. "No," he says reflexively. "Maybe. I don't know."

He looks away from me for so long I start to believe he's hoping I'll just leave. Maybe it's stupid of me to stand here, but I do, and eventually he turns back.

"These last couple weeks with you, they've been amazing. I… I never thought I'd find anything like it again. But I have to be here for Riley, one hundred percent. And that has to start now."

His voice shakes as he says it, and with every word it feels like he's slowly driving a knife into my heart. I didn't realize how much I wanted this, how much I came to depend on it until this very moment.

The moment when I'm about to lose it all.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying… I think it's better if I handle this alone."

Stillness falls. It's so strange to think of an emergency room as ever being still, but in that moment, nothing moves. No cars pull in. The doors don't open. Even the wind seems to stop blowing.

"Okay," I say, somehow managing to act calm even though my world's crumbling inside. "Okay." I pull my arms free and turn from him, toward the hospital. "I have to call Julie's parents and try to explain what happened. Then I'll go."

"I'm sorry, Jake," he says, and it genuinely sounds like this is tearing him apart as much as it is me.

"Do what you need to do, David. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

On my own. I leave the words unspoken, but they hang there between us.

I'll be fine on my own, just like I always am. Just like I always will be.