She did feel weird about her role in the accident, because Alexander and Eleanor would never have been out driving if it weren’t for her, although Anna took comfort in the fact that Eleanor had been the one to push Alexander to come for her on that snowy night. While she absolved herself of that particular guilt, she couldn’t so easily forgive herself for what had occurred between her and Vronsky. Calling it a harmless kiss would be like calling the Titanic a boating accident.

Vronsky, still wearing his kilt, had carried Anna’s bag for her to the Escalade. Steven didn’t question why Vronsky was up that early. He just got into the car and set the GPS to guide them to Greenwich Hospital.

“Please text me later, okay?” Vronsky pleaded softly.

She couldn’t do more than nod at the time for fear she might start crying. And she didn’t want to cry because she wouldn’t have known why. Would her tears be for Alexander or for herself because everything had just become infinitely more complicated? She did hug Vronsky good-bye though, even sneaking a quick kiss onto his neck before she pulled away. She didn’t want to do to Vronsky what she had done to Alexander the night before, which was let him leave (though this time she was doing the leaving) without him knowing where he stood with her. She may not have spoken her words aloud, but she was in love with Vronsky, and there was no turning back.

By the time they reached the hospital Alexander was already in surgery, so Anna, Steven, their mother, and Alexander’s dad sat together in the waiting room. Eleanor had already been discharged from the emergency room and she and her mom were in the city at Lenox Hill Hospital, where the plastic surgeon, who had handled her mother’s chin augmentation, worked to make sure the five cuts that Eleanor suffered were stitched up to minimize any scarring. After Anna and Steven told their version of the events from the night before, everyone took a seat and stared at their phones.

During that time, Anna received a notification that a new player, HeavyV, wanted to start a game of Words with Friends with her. She almost refused the invitation, but there was something about the timing of the request that gave her pause, so she accepted. When she opened the app, she smiled for the first time since she had left Beatrice’s house. She stared at the two-letter word US that he had played and saw there was a message: ME + YOU = US. Anna messaged him back: ME—YOU =:(