“I know,” Izzy said, bristling, although Ever hadn’t told her that she and his girlfriend looked alike, only that Izzy reminded him of her. “And he looks a lot like my—like Cyrus.”

“Like who?”

Ever gave Word a hard stare.

Quinn studied them through his Buddy Holly glasses. “I’m sorry,” he said. Then he added, “That’s some cosmic shit there, though.”

◆◆◆

After Word, Quinn, and Robert had left, Izzy went into the tiny bathroom and looked at her reflection. The food, beer, and fire had flushed her face. She took off her jeans, put on her now-dry underwear, put on her jeans again. She opened the drawer and picked up the tube of lipstick; it felt heavy in her hand. Izzy never wore lipstick; it would be stupid to wear it now, but she opened the gold tube, leaned in to the mirror and dabbed the waxy substance to her lips. It had belonged to Emma Lee, she was pretty sure.

Izzy wiped the lipstick off with the back of her hand and looked at the red stain on her skin. Have you seen Emma? I just think she should know. She knows. Yes, she knows. That’s some cosmic shit there. Then she pocketed the tube in her jeans and left the room.

◆◆◆

Ever led her up a ladder onto the roof of the studio. He’d laid out sleeping bags and blankets, and he and Izzy sat and had another beer. They looked out over the desert, up at the firmament. The sky canopied her star-filled belly over the earth. Izzy closed her eyes and for a moment she forgot how and why she was here, where she had come from, who she had been, and what she had lost.

Without even touching him, Izzy felt the heat radiating through Ever’s flannel. She wanted him to fuck her, make her warm from inside, make everything go away except that warmth.

“Sorry about Word,” Ever said.

“It’s okay.”

“You don’t need any attitude thrown at you.”

She didn’t say anything.

Without looking at her, as if, she thought, he was trying to protect her, Ever asked quietly, “Did you report it to the police? Him leaving?”

“Yes. The police won’t do shit.”

“What makes you say that?”

“The way they acted when I told them. It’s like they didn’t take it seriously.”

“I don’t get it,” he said. “I mean, even if he just left, they should rule anything else out.”

“You didn’t grow up where we did.”

“Meaning…?”

“A lot of cops don’t care about Slabbers.”

Ever shook his head and frowned.