‘We caught you with the binoculars.’ Nora wipes her running nose on her sleeve. ‘Spotted the horses too. I told Milt I ain’t never seen no migrant on horseback, but we reckoned we’d better check it out anyways, and here y’all were, looking ‘bout as dead as dead can be.’

‘A few degrees hotter and you would have bin.’ Milt twists his chin a little more painfully. ‘But folks, I’m sorry if, well . . .’ Embarrassed, he looks up at Duval.

‘Sorry!’ Nora snorts. ‘Who’s sorry! We wasn’t to know Romeo and Juliet here decided to camp out and get sweet under the damn stars.’

‘And what with your friend bleeding and torn up . . .’ Milt turns to Benjamín, his face serious. ‘Say, do you mind telling us what’s been going on here?’

Nora moves between fridge and stove, stripping piece after piece of rough-cut bacon from its greaseproof paper and laying them on the smoking griddle. Through the window of the bar, I watch Duval tying up the horses.

‘Wife’s on the way.’ Milt lays a hand on Benjamín’s arm. ‘She works part-time up at the rabbit clinic in Patagonia, she’ll have you stitched up in no time.’

‘And this one?’ Nora stands at the small table beside us, pointing a pair of blackened tongs in my direction. ‘Gonna stitch up that head as well?’

I demur politely, quite happy not to be sewn together by a part-time bunny veterinarian, however well meaning.

‘Suit yourself, but we need to do something with you.’ She plucks at my arm. ‘How ‘bout a shower then?’

‘Sounds good,’ Duval says, walking in.

Nora tosses him a scathing look. ‘Don’t get excited. I ain’t wasting precious hot water on no man.’

‘Always the good Samaritan, Nora.’ He puts his hand on the back of my head and rubs it gently.

‘Hey, leave her be, can’t you see it’s a woman’s touch she needs now?’ Nora thrusts the tongs at him. ‘Make yourself useful, cowboy, and cook the damn breakfast.’

Reluctantly, I follow Nora up the narrow stairs, trying to navigate between the blisters on my feet. I hadn’t wanted to move from the table. I just wanted to stay close to Duval and Benjamín and feel safe. Nora disappears into the shower and bangs around a bit before reversing out, wiping her hands on her thighs. ‘Takes a while to crank up, it’ll be hot in about ten.’ She tosses me a towel. ‘Meantime, better fix you up with some clean duds.’

I look down at my torn clothes, feeling curiously attached to them.

‘Oh, don’t worry, these are fine.’

Nora looks at me shrewdly.

‘Worried about wearing a fat woman’s clothes, huh?’ She seizes me by the shoulders and turns me to the wall mirror.

‘It ain’t like you can look a whole lot worse than you do now, girl.’