Peach sat in the dark. It was past midnight. She didn’t like air conditioning, and the house was damp and hot. She wore a spaghetti strap T-shirt and a roomy pair of Deacon’s boxers she’d grabbed from the laundry. Her small feet were propped on the dusty living room coffee table, and her taped ankle throbbed. Sexpot Mannequin kept her company. Sexpot had hard nipples on crazy-big breasts, one arm cocked behind her head, and oddly muscular abs. She usually hung out in Peach’s bedroom wearing a baby doll and a long blond wig.

The mannequin thing was strange. She knew that, but she didn’t care. Some people collected stuffed animals. Some people dressed up Barbies. She liked having these faux women around, who were blank slates on which she could fashion new identities. They were her alter egos.

Justin on her mannequins. I’m not sure they like me. I think they’re worried I’ll steal you away.

Outside, headlights beamed through the picture window, and she heard the purr of the Mercedes engine. Deacon was home. She listened to his footsteps and then the rattle of the key as he let himself inside. He brought a smell of sweat with him; he’d been at the 24-hour gym. She said nothing, and he didn’t see her in the living room shadows. He headed through the foyer to his bedroom at the back of the house, and a couple minutes later, she heard the loud bang of the pipes as he took a shower. Their bathrooms were old, and the water was rusty.

It was just the two of them. Peach and Deacon. They had the typical relationship of siblings who were close and not close, totally different and totally alike. They lived together; they worked together; they spent time together. Even so, he was six years older, and she still felt like a little kid around him. He had never tried to be a father to her, just an older brother with his own life. Unlike Lyle. When their parents died, Lyle had jumped into the role of fill-in dad, as if it were his calling. It changed him. It was weird how quickly Lyle aged in those years. Losing his hair. His voice deepening. Becoming so serious and strict.