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under the hood came a lethargic murmur, then a click, then silence. He tried again. Nothing.
    He stared out the icy windshield, through the tiny hole he had managed to scrape clean. Even inside the car, his breath crystallized. His hands were shaking. He sat shivering in the darkness, thinking of Peyton lying in the hospital barely clinging to life while he lay snug and warm in another woman’s hotel room clinging to…
    His eyes closed in shame and anger.
    God, how I hate Boston.
    He left the keys in the ignition, slammed the door, and trudged through the snow in search of a bus, a taxi, or maybe a damn dogsled.

5
    KEVIN REACHED THE HOSPITAL JUST BEFORE 6:30 A.M. FOR THREE hundred bucks the hotel’s night manager proved willing to risk his life and drive Kevin all the way to Boston. What was normally an hour’s drive from Providence took nearly two and a half, and that was only because they’d lucked out and followed a snowplow most of the way. Not until he was trudging across the snowy sidewalk toward the windswept entrance did he fully appreciate what a total idiot he’d been. The one night on which he’d finally given in to Sandra’s advances was the one night on which Peyton needed him most.
    A blast of heat from the vents washed over him as he hurried into the lobby. In less than a minute he was dripping wet. Just in the short walk to the hospital entrance he’d accumulated enough snow and ice on his body to pass for Sasquatch.
    “Kevin?”
    It was Peyton’s mother, Valerie, talking on the pay phone. She hung up and hurried toward him.
    She looked beat, unlike the attractive woman she was. She and Peyton had the same exquisite face, the same expressive eyes. Kevin had seen all of the old photos of Peyton and Valerie dressed in matching holiday dresses, matching riding gear, matching bathing suits. It seemed to Kevin that the older Peyton got, the younger her mother tried to look, as if the ultimate goal were to become sisters.
    “Where the heck have you been?”
    Now there was an interesting question. “I came running as soon as the hospital called. How’s Peyton?”
    “She’s pretty banged up, but she’s going to be fine, thank goodness. Poor girl was so confused she couldn’t even remember the name of your hotel in Providence. She wasn’t even sure you told her before you left.”
    “I told her,” said Kevin. “But she knows I can always be reached by cell. I leave it on even when the battery is charging.”
    “I’ve been dialing that number all night.”
    “I must have slept through the earlier calls.”
    Valerie seemed a tad suspicious. Perhaps Peyton had told him how they’d been growing apart lately. Or maybe she was just one heck of a rat-sniffer.
    “Where’s Hank?” he asked, meaning Peyton’s father.
    “Upstairs. I decided to get away from all that ICU stuff for a couple minutes. Makes me nervous.”
    “What are the doctors saying?”
    “No broken bones, miraculously. Bad sprain to her ankle and a big gash in her leg. Twenty-six stitches in her right calf. That’s where she had most of the blood loss. Leg wounds can be real bleeders, they tell me.”
    “She’s going to be okay though?”
    “Physically, yeah. Emotionally, we’ll have to wait and see. She could have some scarring.”
    “Her leg, you mean?”
    “Yes,” she said, then looked off to the middle distance. “And the face.”
    Kevin nearly rocked on his heels. That beautiful face . “What happened?”
    “Shattered glass,” she said, her voice tightening. “On the left side. Don’t really know how bad it is yet. They’ve got her bandaged up.”
    Kevin lowered his head, saying nothing.
    “She’s going to need lots of support from all of us,” shesaid. “I’m optimistic. Peyton’s a tough kid. She’s just never been through this kind of emotional trauma. What with the blood loss and everything.”
    “Why would blood loss be emotional?”
    She just looked at him. Kevin asked, “Is there something you