They order cheeseburgers and huckleberry milkshakes and eat french fries with fry sauce. Sitting in the booth with the meal between them. The big window behind them overlooks the dark and the street. Fall of snow. Soft light coming from the wall lamp. Heat and warmth. Smells of grease and sizzling beef. Ava watches Matty. He eats a fry slowly, dipping each bite in sauce. Still wrapped in his coat and hat.

He seems lost. He looks at her.

“Go ahead,” she says. “Or it will get cold.”

“These are good fries.”

“Yes. They are.”

“The shake looks good too.”

“You should try it.”

“Okay.”

He sits there without moving.

“Are you okay?”

He nods.

“Are you sick?”

“No.”

“What is it?”

He blinks at her. “Do you think we should save some?”

“Save some?”

He nods. “For later.”

“You can eat it all. Here. You can put the sauce on your burger.”

“Okay.”

In the dim light of the lamp she watches him sitting, quiet. Gray circles under his eyes. He stares at the burger.

“What is it?” she asks.

“I was just thinking. We could take some to Jack.”

Oh.

“We could do that,” she says. “But when we finish, we’re going to order him a burger and fries of his own. So you don’t need to save yours.”

“He likes huckleberry milkshakes.”

“We’ll get him a shake too.”

He looks at all the food. “So it’s okay.”

“Yes. It’s okay.”

“Are you going to eat everything?”

“Yes.” She eats a bite of her burger. “I am.”

He picks up the plastic spoon and dips it into the milkshake and lifts the spoon to his mouth. “Wow, that’s good.”

They eat wordlessly. Fries, hamburgers, milkshakes. Matty talks about Batman. How he doesn’t have any superpowers, but he’s brave. Like Jack. When he finishes, he licks the milkshake spoon and tips the cup and drinks the last of the sweet huckleberry milk. Then he sits gazing out the window overlooking the street. Cowled in his hat and coat. He looks droopy. He looks like he might fall asleep. After a while, he says, “My mom’s dead.”

She watches him. Her stomach knotting. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right.”

“I think mine is too,” she says.

“You don’t know?”

“I guess I know. In my heart.”

He sits there, looking out the window at all the snow and the dark. He says, “The bad people are looking for Jack, aren’t they?”

“Yes.”

“Why do they want him?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do they want to kill him?”

“I don’t know.”

“They want to kill him.”

“Yes.”

He nods. Then he covers his face with his hands. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Listen to me.”

He shakes his head. Then he lowers his hands and looks at her.

“I’ll stay with you. I won’t let anything happen.”