When Barlow and Caroline arrived at the hospital, they had to wait in line outside Pet's room. In front of them were two uniformed state police troopers who eyed the two of them.

Barlow introduced himself and Caroline. "Petronia and I grew up together. We're good friends."

The troopers identified themselves and shook hands. They were Lieutenant Martin Jardine and Trooper Morg Johansson. Both men wore squared away uniforms, crisp ironed trousers, perfectly knotted ties, and highly polished shoes. Jardine said, "We work with Petronia and respect the hell out of her. She's an ace trooper."

Since the man was a lieutenant, Barlow figured he was her boss. "Can you tell me what happened? The news report lacked details."

"It's one of the reasons we're here," Jardine said. "We need to talk with her about the accident."

"I hope she's okay," Caroline interjected.

Trooper Johansson fingered the brim of his hat. "We spoke with her doctor a few minutes ago. She's banged up pretty bad but nothing life threatening."

Barlow sighed in relief. The knot in his stomach eased.

The room door opened and a nurse and Pet's mother exited. She nodded to the two troopers. "She's ready to talk with you now."

The lieutenant snapped to attention. "Thank you, ma'am." He turned to Barlow. "It will be a while until we're done interviewing her. You might want to get coffee."

He acknowledged the lieutenant with a nod. "Mrs. Henning, do you remember me?"

She regarded him. "Barlow Jackson. What a pleasant surprise. It's been years."

"Ten to be exact." He embraced Pet's mother. When they separated, he introduced Caroline.

"How is Petronia?" Caroline asked.

"Broken nose, stitches in her forehead that will leave a nasty scar, black eyes, swollen face, but the doctors assured us there are no internal injuries. Thank God for seat belts and airbags."

"Were any other vehicles involved?"

Mrs. Henning shook her head. "It appears to be a one car accident. She simply ran off the road."

Barlow knew Pet only had two beers and they were spaced an hour apart. She couldn't have been seriously impaired. She patrolled the county roads, knew them well. How could she have missed a turn?

"We were with Pet before it happened." Barlow went on to explain to Pet's mom how the three of them had dinner together at the Dancing Bear but left out details concerning the purpose of their meeting.

"Petronia didn't tell me you were back. Where do you live?"

Barlow explained how he lived in Ohio and how his father's passing led to a chance encounter with Pet.

"I knew your father had passed because of us being neighbors. Sorry for your loss."

"Thanks."

"I occasionally get phone calls from your mother. How is she doing?"

"Fine. I was hoping to fly to Texas to visit with her over the holidays."

Mrs. Henning checked her watch. "I'm so happy to have seen you again. Stop by and see me sometime. You spent so much time at our house growing up that I was practically your second mother. When you see your mother, please send her my regards."

"I certainly will."

She turned to walk away, Barlow thought about something. "Wait, Mrs. Henning?"

When the woman stopped, Barlow asked, "Where's Petronia's husband, Charlie? I thought he would be here."

An odd expression crossed Pet's mother's face. She cocked her head. "Charlie? Goodness, Barlow, Charlie is remarried and lives in Maryland. He hasn't been in the picture for a long time."

Petronia wished she could be more helpful to her lieutenant about the accident. Her head hurt, and details about the previous night were fuzzy. The last thing she remembered was driving home after meeting with Barlow and Caroline. She had no idea how she had crashed her car. She couldn't remember how many beers she had. The doctor told her memory loss was typical following a trauma. He also said in time she'd probably recover her memory.

"How poorly will this reflect on me?" she asked Lieutenant Jardine. "Am I going to lose my job?"

"I'll be honest with you. That depends on the tox screen."

She had voluntarily submitted to his request for a blood sample figuring it would look bad if she refused him. It worried her, though, because she couldn't remember. Had she been impaired?

"The roads were dry," Morg said, the implication being she had no excuse for leaving the road. "The berm is plenty steep at that spot. If I hadn't come upon the car stopped at the side of the road, I hate to think how long it might've been 'till someone found you."

Petronia tried making sense of his words. "Someone stopped?"

"A man said he saw it happen. He came to your assistance."

She had a vague notion of having been followed. "Who?"

Morg shrugged. "I didn't have the opportunity to ID him, because my priority was to tend to you. He left shortly after I got there. I guess he figured I'd handle it."

"Thank you, Morg, for being there for me."

The trooper seemed embarrassed. He looked at the floor. "No problem, Petronia. You'd do the same for me."

Lieutenant Jardine laid a hand on her shoulder. "If you remember anything else about what happened, call me. Don't worry about your job. Worry about getting better."

The two men left and a heavy weariness settled on her. She hurt. She wanted to sleep.

"Pet?"

A familiar voice. She opened her eyes. Barlow. The look of pity on his face made her feel wretched. "Go away. I don't want you to see me like this."

Instead of leaving, he took her hand. "You said those exact words during our sophomore year of high school, remember?"

She closed her eyes. "No. What are you talking about?"

Barlow chuckled. "You had a huge zit on the tip of your nose. We were supposed to go to the homecoming dance, but you refused to go."

Now she remembered. "We compromised. You agreed we didn't have to go to the dance since I was too embarrassed, and I agreed you could spend the evening with me anyway, despite my zit."

"It was one of the most fun dates we had."

She kept her eyes closed and allowed the memory to replay. "We had our own private party. A picnic on my parent's front porch. We sat on the porch swing."

"I serenaded you with your dad's guitar."

Petronia giggled. "You were terrible, Barlow. Couldn't carry a tune if your life depended on it."

He squeezed her hand. "But I made you forget you had a zit."

His words were true. "You were so good to me."

"You had an iPod back then," Barlow said. "We danced, remember?"

She opened her eyes. "We shared a set of earphones. I wore the right side and you the left. The only way that worked was when you held me close and we slow danced."

"I'll never forget that night," he said.

Petronia heard the slats of the window blinds rattle. Was someone else in the room? She turned her head and saw Caroline. Pulling her hand from Barlow's, she said, "Oh, hello, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there. I didn't mean to ignore you."

The girl approached and did the strangest thing. She flashed a rueful smile and ever so gently placed a hand against her cheek. She held it there for a long moment before saying, "You take care of yourself, Petronia. I'm going to get some air and make a phone call."

"I won't be much longer," Barlow said to Caroline as she headed for the door.

Without another word, the girl left them alone. As soon as she left, Barlow sighed. "Pet, I had a conversation with your mother."

"That's nice. I'm sure she was glad to see you again after all this time."

"She was, and it was nice seeing her again too."

Something about the way he was looking at her. Her mother. And... "Oh god, oh no."

"Why didn't you tell me the truth about your divorce?"

Tears leaked from her eyes. She cursed. "I'm crying. I haven't cried since our breakup. Not even when my father passed away. Damn it all, Barlow, now my humiliation is complete. You always put me on such a high pedestal. You left because you didn't think you were good enough for me. Look what happened. I'm a failure as an adult, couldn't even hold onto a marriage, and now I'm disfigured."

She rolled to her side and sobbed, faced the window, unable to look at Barlow's face any longer. "Leave me alone. Caroline is waiting for you."

Barlow stroked her hair. "Don't be silly. You are not disfigured, Pet. Your face is going to heal good as new." He leaned close and whispered in her ear. "Even if it didn't, you will always be beautiful to me."

Pet's secret about her divorce is finally revealed. How is Barlow going to react to this news? How is Caroline?