Michelle glanced down at Adesina curled up beside her and saw she’d fallen asleep. She picked her up and carried her to bed. After she tucked the pink sheets around her daughter, she turned on the nightlight. Even in the half-light, the stars she’d painted on the ceiling in glow-in-the-dark paint lit up.

She kissed Adesina on the forehead, then slipped out of the room.

This was the time of night that Michelle didn’t like. With Adesina in bed, she was alone. And when she was alone, her thoughts turned to Joey. And that was a complicated mess. Not just because of the sex—which was alternately tender and horribly violent—but because Joey was broken in specific ways and, no matter how hard she loved her, Michelle couldn’t fix that.

She pulled Skype up on her tablet. A list of contacts appeared, Joey’s name at the top. Michelle’s finger hovered over her name a few times, debating whether or not to call. Then she tapped the screen.

To her surprise, Joey answered on the second ring.

“Hey, Bubbles,” Joey said. Her silky Creole voice made Michelle miss her more. “Adesina asleep?”

“Yeah,” Michelle replied, running a hand through her hair. “How’d you know?”

Joey laughed. “The only time you call now is when the niblet is in bed.”

“What are you doing at home? I would have thought you were out fleecing the tourists.” This was better. Giving Joey a hard time was better than trying to really talk to her.

“Fuck you, Michelle,” Joey snapped. “I don’t tell you how to run your life. You’re still working for those Committee dickweeds.” A couple of zombies appeared behind Joey.

Pretty standard Joey stuff, Michelle thought. Get pissed. Get zombies. This was familiar territory. She lay back on the couch, propping her head up on a pillow. She folded the tablet cover into its standing position, then put it on her chest.

“They do a lot of good, Joey,” Michelle said defensively. “I wouldn’t have Adesina without them.”

Joey’s expression softened. “You got a point. Don’t suppose the two of you can come down for a visit? It’s been a long fucking time.”

Oh, yes, it had been a long time. Michelle felt a stab of desire shoot through her. But instead of saying what she wanted, she said, “I don’t know, Adesina’s in summer school and I’m doing a bunch of work for this L’Oreal thing.”

“Oh, fuck that shit,” Joey said angrily. “You could get out of that if you wanted to. A week. Are you really saying the Amazing Bubbles can’t get a week off? That’s some fucking bullshit.”

She was right, of course, Michelle could probably get the time off, but she was scared. Scared of how much she wanted Joey. And how that usually turned out.

“It’s not…” she began, and then Adesina’s scream drove everything else from her mind. Michelle jumped up from the couch, her tablet hitting the floor with a thunk. Long ago, she’d discovered that that scream was the most terrifying sound in the world. Michelle ran to Adesina’s room, slamming her foot and hip into the doorjamb. She didn’t feel the pain, just absorbed it into her body.