“Out late or up early?” the waitress asks as she pours coffee.

“Driving at night to beat the heat,” Jesse says.

“Good thinking. What can I get you?”

Eggs, pancakes, sausage, biscuits—Jesse and the others order more food than they can finish and eat it faster than they should. When Jesse runs out of steam, he sits back and looks out at the empty parking lot and deserted highway. He hates the orange streetlights that are replacing the old white ones. They suck the color out of everything and put him in mind of fire.

“How far are we from Denver?” Johona says.

“Ten, eleven hours,” Jesse says. “We’ll have to stop again, probably in Albuquerque.”

“We’ll be passing the rez,” Johona says. “I’ve got family on it. My grandma and grandpa, shimá sání and shicheii. I should have you let me off. If any bikers show up out there, my cousins’ll beat the shit out of them.”

She wants to sound tough but is too tired to be convincing. Chewing her bottom lip, she drags her fork through a puddle of egg yolk. She looks most like Claudine when she’s like this, unmasked, unselfconscious.

“You speak Navajo?” Jesse says.

“Diné,” she says. “The language is called Diné. My mom tried to teach me, but I wasn’t into it. I took French instead.”

“Say something in French, then,” Jesse says, not sure he really wants her to, not sure he can handle it.

“Je t’aime,” she says, and he sees Claudine saying it.

“Do you know what that means?” Johona says.

“No,” Jesse replies, lying.

“That’s I love you.”

Edgar opens a jelly packet and slurps the jelly out of it.

“Quit,” Jesse says, glad to have a distraction.

“It’s good,” Edgar says, sliding him a packet. “Try it.”

“There’s a lady present,” Jesse says. “Act like a gentleman.”

“Forgive me, Miss Johona,” Edgar says with a courtly nod. He can’t keep it up, starts giggling. “Convoy” comes on the radio behind the counter, and he sings along. “Breaker one nine, this here’s the Rubber Duck…”

Outside, the stars are disappearing one by one. Jesse feels day creeping up.

Edgar and Johona get the beds, and Jesse stretches out on the floor with a blanket and pillow. The long night has taken its toll. He falls asleep as soon as he closes his eyes. As a reward for all he’s been through, he finds himself walking his desert road again, dreaming his dream.

He watches a dust devil whirl, a lizard skitter. He kicks the pop can, chases it, kicks it again. A hawk circles in the sky this time, its shadow crossing and recrossing the road in front of him. Jesse. A voice calls his name. He looks around. Jesse.

The dream fades, and Johona’s crouched beside him.

“I’m freaking out,” she says. “Come talk to me for a while.”