Now isn't the time to tease Nate about his feelings for Chloe, Beth knows better than to do something like that, but they're written so plainly on his face and in his words that she squeezes his hand gently before letting go. The situation between them is complicated, she knows that, she knows Nate is technically married, but it's so clear how much he cares about Chloe.

If something happens to her, something worse than the state she's already in, Beth isn't sure what Nate will do. She doesn't want to think about that.

"She'll be okay," she says. "I know I don't really know her, but even just passin' her in your hall, I could see she's tough." She'd have to be, to do the sorts of things Nate has done. And Beth thinks that's probably a thing that appeals to him in women, too, that innate ability to take care of herself. So she's tough. She has to be. And that means she'll be okay.

Because, for Nate's sake, she has to be.