I was glad for the snow because I was sitting in my car in the dark, balling my eyes out, talking to myself and hitting the steering wheel like a freak.

I pulled the donut off the floor and threw it out the window. Then the frozen coffee. Then everything in the cup holder, and all the trash on the floor.

I had to straighten up my act and stop feeling sorry for myself. Lisa was right, I was my own worst enemy, and I did show everyone a hard outer shell to protect my soft, tender insides.

"Why, Daryl? Why!" I hit the steering wheel again, put my head down on it and cried some more.

I think ending up with guys that didn't get me any further was the natural result of not being open and honest. And it all started with not telling Daryl how I felt.

And I just made that mistake again.

I looked up and saw some motion at the hotel entrance. I blipped my wipers to clear the snow.

It was Evelyn. She had something in her hand, and she was looking around like a crazy person. She slipped and fell, the black thing in her hand slid across the ice, and she stumbled over, picked it up, and kept looking around.

I saw someone run inside, and I saw someone else run through the parking lot.

What the hell?

She was yelling something. I opened my car door and stood up so I could hear.

"Wendy!" She wiped tears away from her face.

Did something happen to Daryl?

"Evelyn! Over here! What's wrong? Are you okay? Is Daryl okay?"

She saw me, put whatever it was back in her purse, and comes over to me as fast as she can manage in the snow and ice.

"What are you doing, Evelyn? What's wrong?"

"You! You're what's wrong! Everything was perfect until you came strolling in here with your tight dresses and your sex in the conference rooms! You!"

"Evelyn, go back inside. You aren't making sense."

"I'm making PERFECT sense!" She shouted and almost lost her footing again. "I planned this for years... it was my life's work. Me! I was this close," she put her fingers an inch apart, "and all I had to do was make it through tonight. Years of planning, all gone to the shitter in one fucking night!"

The news crew came out and saw us, trained their cameras on us. Great. Will this day just end, already?

"Evelyn, how do you figure that your terrible choice for Daryl is my fault? And how do you figure that your money launder-"

She pulled a gun out of her purse and aimed it at me. I backed up but there was nowhere to go - I was surrounded by snow drifts up to my hips.

"Shut up!"

"Whoa, there, calm down."

"Don't you fucking tell me to calm down! You fucking ruined me!"

I heard a shout in the distance: "Somebody call 911!"

"Hey, there's got to be a better way. We can talk this out. Nobody has to shoot anybody..."

She shook her head. "You ruined me. All my life, it's all I wanted. You ruined me." She started to put the gun down,

The next part was in slow motion. I remember ringing in my ears, then a dull pain in my left arm. A flash of light, then Daryl leaping through the air into Evelyn, her body twisting, the gun falling.

I put my hand on my arm and pulled it away, it was completely red with blood. Funny part is, I remember getting mad for a second, thinking this was my favorite winter coat.

I looked back up and Evelyn was on the ground, unconscious, blood dripping from the side of her head, and more blood dripping from the side view mirror of the car next to mine.

Blake came running, slipping and sliding on the ice, and knelt down beside Evelyn. He took her pulse and put his hands up with a sigh. "She's alive."

I fell back into the snow, a red stain growing by my arm.

Daryl lifted me like I was a child, pulled me into the car and cradled me in his arms. He was crying. He smelled great.

"Did that bitch shoot me?" I was having a hard time thinking straight.

"Shh. You're losing blood and going into shock. The ambulance is coming."

"I didn't tell you, Daddy Daryl," I put my right hand on his face and dragged my fingers down to his chin. "I didn't tell you before you left. And I almost didn't tell you again."

"Shh, Wendy, you need to rest." He pulled one of my belts out of the suitcase and tied it around my arm.

"I didn't tell you, Daryl. I didn't tell you I love you."

"Wendy... I didn't tell you, either. I loved you. I wanted you to come with me. I thought you didn't want to. Then I got caught up chasing my Naval career, chasing money, and chasing fame. I forgot to let love in, Wendy." He kissed my forehead and held me tight.

"Don't go, Daryl. Don't marry that girl with big, fake boobs, Daryl. I have real big boobs, Daryl!"

He laughed at me and looked over at Blake. "Is that ambulance almost here? I think that bullet hit an artery."

"On its way, sir."

"Daryl, honey," I closed my eyes. "I'm tired. It's been a long day. Daryl? Tell me a story. A dirty one," I tried to laugh but it was weak.

The last thing I remember is sirens and Daryl holding my hand all the way to the hospital.