He can only hope that any heists he plans go as well as dipping does. He hits two casinos, and people are practically handing him their wallets. He scores a thousand dollars in only three hours.

He returns to the motel at dawn. Edgar’s out cold, but Johona sits up when he comes in. They eat Pop-Tarts, and he tells her about his luck. They fall asleep lying side by side, but he comes awake later to find her on top of him. She presses her body against his and kisses him deeply.

They undress without a word, and before he can stop himself, he’s inside her. It’s been a long time. There were a few animalistic couplings in the years between Claudine’s death and him taking charge of Edgar, but they left him so soul-sick and regretful, he hasn’t been tempted since. This time, with Johona, it’s like a balm, a soothing salve that makes him think his sorrow might not be permanent after all.

Afterward, they’re both on their backs, looking at the ceiling. Sunlight beams through a hole in the blackout curtain, and music’s playing somewhere.

“Thank you for that,” Jesse says.

“I shouldn’t have done it,” Johona says. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“It was a gift,” Jesse says.

Johona rolls away from him. “Stop,” she says. “Please.”

Whatever it takes to save her. Whatever it takes.

He rolls over in the other direction, toward Edgar’s bed, and his brother’s eyes are wide open, glaring at him.

He lets Edgar mess around in the pool for half an hour after the sun goes down. He’s tried a hundred times to teach him to swim, but Edgar can’t move his arms and legs in unison and won’t put his face underwater. His idea of fun is walking out into the deep end until only his head’s showing, then bouncing back to the shallow end.

“Bring me my cars,” he calls to Jesse. “I’m gonna wash ’em.”

“Time to go,” Jesse says.

He stands and stretches while Edgar lollygags to the ladder. Something sharp digs into his heel. He dislodges a sliver of glass embedded there with his fingernail and wipes away the drop of blood that wells before the puncture closes.

Johona is in a good mood as they get ready to go to supper at Beaumont’s. Jesse’s happy to see it. She turns on the radio and dances while brushing her hair. Twirling in the green dress Jesse bought her, she asks, “Is this fancy enough for Monsieur Beaumont?” hamming a French accent.

“Fancy enough for anyone, if you’re wearing it,” Jesse says.

Edgar’s locked in the bathroom. Jesse knocks on the door.

“Hold your horses.”

“Let me in.”

The door opens, and Edgar’s standing there with Jesse’s razor in his hand and a big grin on his face.