A/N - Sorry about the update lag...had a friend leave for Thailand this morning and have been busy sucking up his spare time! Still, the reviews just keep coming, so so do the chapters! You guys rock, but you know that 'cause I tell you all the time. Thanks for the reviews so much! =)

I ended up at the beach.

I didn't feel like going to Ryan's

And it wouldn't have been right for me to go to Summer's

And who does that leave?

I know if I went to my dad he'd try to tell me to go back to her.

Somehow

Dad finds me anyway

I bet Mom called him and told him to do something

I'm his son too, dammit.

I was watching the surf fall in

When he touches me on the shoulder

And sits down next to me.

"What're you doing out here?" he asks.

"Exactly the opposite of what you're doing," I say sardonically.

And after a beat

I add,

"Being a parent."

Dad nods slowly.

"Scary, isn't it?" he asks.

"Mom told you what happened," I say.

Dad nods slowly.

"Is she okay?"

Dad blinks.

"Your mother or your daughter?"

I roll my eyes at him.

"Yes, Luke, she's perfectly all right. She just had a scare, that's all. Just like you."

I pick up a rock and skip it over the water.

"Yeah, well, what if she would've hit her head or something? Then what?"

My dad asks me if I remember my car accident.

Or breaking my arm.

Or getting knocked out in polo.

Then he proceeds to tell me that accidents happen

And your children get hurt.

I think to myself,

It's not just your child that hurts.

"So what if you screwed up, Luke? That's what parenting is all about. Learning from mistakes. But you have to go back to her, you can't just bail."

I'm silent for a moment

Before saying,

"You did."