As it got dark we made a fire with some of the old furniture that was scattered around the backyard. We threw a tennis ball to the dogs, but Scruggs was the one who brought it back every time, Kiki nipping at his heels, Popcorn just giving up and lying in wait to ambush them on their return trip. I sipped whiskey out of the bottle and stared into the fire as Kenny told stories about the time he broke up a fight at Malone’s, the time he started a fight at the 2:19, the time, the time …

Cameron fell asleep with his head in Nora’s lap. She laughed in the right places as Kenny told stories, but it seemed to me that her mind was on her boy vet. She stroked his hair with tender repetition and maintained an expression of wonder no matter how grotesque the behavior Kenny recounted. I didn’t think she and Cameron were actually married, but it did seem like she loved him, and maybe, in his way, he loved her, too. I felt a tug of jealousy for their mutual madness, or whatever it was.

“Happy,” I said to Nora. I’d meant it as a question to her.

“Good,” she said.

In an increasingly rare stretch of lucidity, I realized, staring into the fire, that it had been a long time since I’d seen my dog, so I got up and walked toward the trees calling her name. Scruggs emerged with the ball gripped in his teeth.

“Where’s your friend?” I said. “Where’s Kiki?”

He ran back into the woods, as if he were really going to go find her for me, and I watched his small white body disappear into the darkness. I listened hard for the jingle of dog tags. Nothing.

“She’ll come back,” Kenny said. I hadn’t realized he was beside me.

“What if she chased after a deer and got lost?” I said. “What if she’s stuck in barbed wire somewhere?”

“Well, then I guess you fucked up,” said Kenny.

We sat by the fire a while longer, letting it burn down to a low smolder. The special guest couple went to bed, Cameron trailing after Nora like a sleepy child up the dark path to the house. Kenny and I followed after them and listened to Roy Orbison on the turntable for a while. Scruggs curled up on my lap and I rubbed his head, listening for any sign of Kiki’s return.

“I’ve got to find my dog,” I said. “Shit. I’m gonna walk around a little and see what I can see.”