When I walked back into the house, I sat down on the couch and stared at the blank screen of the television set. I didn't even realize what I was doing until about 15 minutes later when Darry wandered in and stopped short, staring at me in surprise.

"Soda? What are you doing up so early?"

I turned to look at him, and his expression changed from surprise to concern. He came over quickly and sat down next to me. "What happened?" he asked gently. "Are you ok?"

I nodded, but my heart wasn't in it. "Yeah… I guess… uh, Darry, Steve came here last night… he'd gotten into a fight with his dad, and he kicked him out, so I told him he could stay a while."

Darry nodded quickly. "Of course. That's fine. You know that."

I nodded and opened my mouth to continue but no words would come. Darry sat quietly. I think he knew there was more, but I could also tell he had no idea what to expect.

Finally, I just blurted it out. "Dar, Mrs. Randle came here this morning. After Steve left last night, his dad went out. There was an accident. He … " and while I still couldn't continue, now I didn't need to. To my horror, I could feel tears suddenly stinging my eyes. But I knew they had nothing to do with Steve's dad and everything to do with my own. Darry did too.

Without saying a word, he put his arm around me and just squeezed my shoulder. Neither of us looked at each other until I managed to get myself mostly under control. After what seemed like hours, I rubbed at my eyes fiercely and cleared my throat.

"I don't know what he'll do," I said hoarsely. "He's acting like he's fine, but shoot, Dar… you know Steve. Maybe you don't know him as well I do, but you know what this'll do to him. Even though his dad used to beat up on him… well, he still loved him."

Darry still had his arm around me, and now he turned me so I had to look at him.

"Soda, I know you want to help everyone, but listen to me for a minute, ok? The way you can help most is just by being there. Steve'll figure this out the same way we did… by living it. All he has to know to make this a little bit easier is that you're here for him, and that's something he does know. That I'm sure about."

I sighed. I knew Darry was right, but that didn't make this helpless feeling go away.

"I know," I mumbled. I glanced at the clock. "I should go to work early and let them know Steve won't be there. Will you let Pony know what happened when he gets up?"

Darry nodded. "And you'll talk to him later," he said, and I could hear in his voice what he didn't want to say… that talking to Pony was probably the only thing that would make me feel better about this. I knew otherwise.

"Thanks, Darry. Oh, and thanks for this. You know, you're getting to be almost as good at this as Dad was."

I hurried out before he could say anything else, but I caught the look in his eyes in the split second I looked back as I closed the door behind me. I was glad I'd said it.