At the sound of her door closing, Cliff let out a breath. He sat for a moment as the house hummed around him. How had he ended up here, in this strange house in the middle of Kansas? He wondered what Jill was doing at that very moment. Drinking a cocktail? Taking a shower? Kissing another man? Eventually he couldn’t stand the living room, with the ugly brass lamp and the blue throw pillows. He went to Heidi’s door and knocked.

“Come in if you really want to,” she said.

Hers was the master bedroom, but aside from the walk-in closet it was no bigger than his own. There was a girlish quality about it—the wallpaper was lined with red and white roses, and Heidi lay on a light pink comforter with what appeared to be a stuffed penguin behind her head.

“Are you upset?” he asked.

“I’m just embarrassed. I’m always embarrassed around you.”

“You shouldn’t be.”

“Why not? You’re a young man and I’m a disgusting old woman.”

“You’re not disgusting,” Cliff said. “And you’re not so old.”

Blue makeup was running down her face, collecting in the wrinkles under her eyes.

Cliff came closer to the bed, with an idea of consoling her. It was then he saw the reusable shopping bag, filled to the top with stones.

“They’re rocks,” Heidi said, noticing him looking. “My husband and I would collect them everywhere we went. Free souvenirs.”

“You put them outside,” he said. “On the sidewalks.”

Heidi turned over, so that her back was facing him. “Let’s just go to bed now,” she said. “I’m so tired. You can stay here, if you want. I’d like that. But don’t do anything you don’t want to. I’m not about to be accused of forcing anyone to do anything they don’t want to.”

Cliff stared at the rocks. The thought of sleeping with someone— anyone—was appealing, and yet he knew what a single night of intimacy could do to two lonely people. At the lodge, it was not uncommon to wake up in the bed of a friend, unsure of how you’d gotten there but relieved that you had.

Cliff knew he should turn off the light and shut the door, leave Heidi alone in her bed. But he found himself undressing. Not completely, just down to his boxers and undershirt. He climbed into the bed and put an arm around Heidi. A loose hold, but there he was, his weight around her. The mattress was soft with age and they sank toward the center.

“Nothing else will happen,” he said. “Only this.”

She said nothing, but pressed herself into him. He did not press back, but he did not move away, either. She kept pressing but in time gave up. Her body went limp and she began to snore.

Somewhere between this and sleep, he decided it was time to see Jill.

The streets in town were named after states, in order of when they’d been admitted to the union. It seemed a betrayal to Cliff, as if the town’s residents secretly dreamed of living somewhere other than Kansas, a desolate state filled with desolate people.