I sighed. All was quiet for a while, and then I thought of something. “How’s my car?” Both heads shook. “That bad, huh?” Both heads nodded. I sighed. “That sucks. That was a great car. And now I have to get a new car … and insurance is gonna skyrocket … and my classroom! Oh man, my kids. My cat!” Tears were looming.

“We’ve been feeding her, don’t worry. And everything else will work out, Grace, just take it easy. God will take care of everything.”

I heaved a sigh as deeply as I could, which wasn’t much since everything still hurt so badly. She was right, I knew she was. It was still hard to remember to trust, though. I was still so used to being self-reliant and expecting to have to take care of everything myself that it was hard to remember to just let go and allow God to do His thing. “Okay. You’re right.” I forced myself to unclench my fists from around the thin white bedsheet. “How long am I stuck here?”

Jane shrugged. “No idea. Depends. But I don’t know what exactly it depends on. I’m sure they’ll tell you after they’ve checked you out and done more tests.”

I wrinkled my nose, which didn’t hurt quite as much as I expected; the drugs must have started working. “Let’s talk about something else.”

So we did for another twenty minutes until the doctor strolled back in to kick the Uptons out. “Visiting hours start at eight tomorrow morning, ladies,” she said as she riffled through pages on a clipboard. Jane and Missy dutifully stood and pulled on their coats.

“We’ll come by in the afternoon after work,” Jane said as she leaned over to give me a gentle hug. Missy did the same, then they both made their exit. After an hour of poking, questioning, and testing, it was determined that I would remain in the hospital until Friday, at which point, assuming no turns for the worse, I would be allowed to go home. I was finally brought back to the room and left alone, and I slept and dreamed of the ocean.

JACK

I WOKE UP WITH a raging headache, and my first question was, why on earth does my neck hurt so much? Then I remembered the evening before and groaned aloud. Why did these things keep happening to me?

The phone rang and nearly scared me out of my skin. My assistant was on the other end, asking where I’d been all day. “Here,” I answered as I looked around wildly for the time. The clock on the night table read 2:47.

“I’ve been calling all morning.”

“Slept through it, sorry.”

“So what happened?”

“Got hit. Car that hit me got hit. Big mess. Cars totaled, I think.”

“Yeah, it is. Cops called and told me where you could go claim the contents.”

“Good.”

“So what’s your statement?”