Val saw the model in the open centerfold of Sherri’s magazine and did the strangest thing: she struck up a conversation with Sherri, who was so surprised that she looked around the room to make sure someone else wasn’t there. “So last night some guys were sitting at a table,” Val said, “and they put a quarter, a nickel, and a dime in front of them. ‘Which are you?’ they asked.”

“I don’t get it.”

Val rolled her eyes and tossed one of the crumpled notes at her. “You really don’t know? Sister Sherri, they were asking about my nipple size, you idiot.”

“Gross! Did you call security?”

“Hell no! I pulled out a Susan B. Anthony coin and slapped it on the table. And they left me a twenty-dollar tip!”

“Wow,” Sherri said.

“Wow. Can’t come up with anything better than that?”

Sherri closed her magazine and thought for a second. “OK, I would have slammed a dinner plate on the table and said that’s how big!”

Val started laughing, a sound that was truly magical. She was even more beautiful when she was happy. “Nice one.”

The window in their room was black—it got dark so early in February. The radiator hissed. “What would you do in East Troy on a night like this?” Val asked. “Counted cross-stitch?”

Just like that, Val was back to being Val. Sherri tried to ignore her.

“Go on a hot date with your first cousin?”

Sherri wished she could come up with another good reply. Val’s digs about East Troy made Sherri want to defend the place. She was often surprised by how much she missed it. She was known there, and everything was comfortable and familiar as a warm bath. “You know why they call it Beloit?” Sherri asked, remembering a joke Roberta had told her. “Because that’s the sound a quarter makes when you drop it in the toilet.”

“You really think I haven’t heard that before? That’s not even funny.” Val stood up and ran a brush through her hair. She passed a cigarette to Sherri, who’d never smoked. She took it, fearing she’d seem uncool, not sure how to even hold it. She sucked hard—too hard. Her lungs felt like they were filled with broken glass. It was all she could do not to cough.

“Get dressed,” Val said.

“Get dressed for what?”

“I’m going to take you to Danny’s.”