Just inside the town limits Danny stopped at a petrol station. He filled the tank at the pump then pulled into one of the parking spots. He was thirsty, could feel the dry clench of a headache coming on. He asked Ben if he wanted anything inside. Ben said no. There was an ­ice-­cream freezer next to the soft drinks. Danny got himself a blueberry ice pop. He sat sideways in the driver seat of the car with the door open, his feet out on the forecourt concrete as he sucked away on the pop.

‘You big baby,’ Ben said over his shoulder.

‘I am,’ Danny said.

In the distance, above Nephin Mountain, the stars were appearing in the highest, darkest reaches of the sky. Danny wondered if he was still a little high, because the stars looked like mistakes, glimmering little misimpressions you assumed would not be there if you looked again, but they were. Danny was thinking about Shauna. It was Shauna’s career adviser had first suggested accountancy. She had talked it over with the parents and applied. No fuss, no messing about. That was Shauna all over. She was a reliable student, did not give her parents shit, treated her friends well, treated people in general well. If one of her friends fucked up, she made sure she was there for them. The flagrant, ­self-­destructive gestures of adolescence held no attraction to her. She saw no point in working against her own best purposes. She possessed an innate ­level-­headedness and faith that things were largely destined to turn out OK, and would do so as long as you did your part. The trick was to be able to figure out what your part was, and Shauna, in her quiet, sturdy, deliberate way, somehow seemed to know how to do just that. Danny had always admired that about her. He had always thought of her as someone who could see the world clearly, or at least reasonably, which meant that whatever conclusion she had come to about him was probably correct. Zombie. Autopilot. Won’t do anything unless I get you to. I have no idea where you are, but you’re not here.

A chunk of the ice pop slid off the stick and Danny held it in his mouth, letting it burn against the inside of his cheek before he swallowed it.