“Me neither. It didn’t used to bother me as much before—” Zadie paused as she debated whether the mustard-colored booth under the watchful eye of Luanne the Armadillo was the right venue to tell her sister the big news. Thankfully, the waitress swooped in at just that moment to refill Zadie’s coffee. “Can I interest you girls in anything else?”

“Just the check, please,” Zadie answered, then wiggled her finger in her right ear as if that would somehow cure her of her dinner-bell tinnitus.

“So what’ve we got planned for today?”

“You tell me,” Zadie said, emptying her coffee cup. “You’re the reason we’re out here.”

“There must be a ton of fun things to do in”—Finn read the address at the bottom of the menu—“Filbert, Texas.”

Zadie looked skeptical. “Yeah, okay.”

“Oh, come on. Live a little.” Finn vigorously shimmied her shoulders.

“That’s weird. Don’t do that.” Zadie looked around the diner to see if anyone was watching, but all the other patrons were focused on their breakfasts. If there was one thing that hadn’t changed about her sister, it was her willingness to embarrass herself in public.

“You do remember how to have fun, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I have fun all the time,” Zadie said, although the uncertainty in her tone belied her words.

“Okay, if you say so.” Finn leaned back, casually draping her arms over the back of the booth.

“I do.”

“I believe you,” Finn said, humoring her, then examined a hangnail on her left ring finger.

“Fine. You want to know what I do for fun?” Zadie stood up, wincing as the vinyl upholstery nearly ripped the skin off her bare thighs. She spotted a Wurlitzer-style jukebox pushed up against the far wall and headed toward it. Finn swiveled around to watch her, hiding a grin behind the back of the booth. Zadie slid a quarter into the jukebox, punched a button or two, and returned to her seat.

A second later, the opening bars of “Baba O’Riley” started playing. Zadie first looked around to make sure no one was watching. Then as the drums kicked in, she started air drumming along with them. After she’d banged out the first verse, Finn said, “So that’s how you have fun? Pretend drumming while making awkward eye contact with people?”

“No. Most of the time it’s with my cat. Well, Dustin’s cat, I guess. It’s actually really cute. Once he didn’t break eye contact with me for the entirety of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’”

“Okay, so just to recap, you like air drumming…”

Zadie nodded.

“And staring contests with cats.”

“If the mood strikes.”

“Anything else?”

Zadie thought for a moment, then reached into her bag and pulled out her copy of The Fisherman’s Desire. “And this.”

“You’re still reading that stuff?”

“That stuff?” Zadie playfully raised her eyebrows.