Around eleven, Shiver finds me on the back porch of the clubhouse.
He hands me a bottle of Lone Star, frosty, condensation already running down the glass in the cold.
"Sis."
"Shiv."
We don't say much for a minute. The cold is sharp out here. The party noise is muffled through the door behind us. The pasture is black past the porch rail.
"I need to be honest with you. I started looking three months ago," he says, low. "Quiet. Didn't tell you because I didn't want to ruin anything if I didn't have anything yet."
I don't move.
"And?"
"Don't have much, Dak. Her phone went off and stayed off. Bank accounts have been frozen since. Last credit card charge was a tank of gas in Big Spring."
"Big Spring?"
"Big Spring."
"That doesn't make sense, Shiv. Mom didn't go to Big Spring."
"I know she didn't."
The cold of the porch comes up through the soles of my boots. The reception is loud through the door. Spur's inside dancing with Marlena.
"Shiv."
"Yeah?"
"Promise me you won't stop until you find her."
"I won't, sis."
"Promise me."
"I promise."
He clinks his bottle against mine and we drink.
He goes back inside.
I stand on the porch for a long minute alone. The country in January is dark in a way only winter is.
The cicadas are gone. The dogs at the kennel are quiet. The whole property is asleep except for the clubhouse, lit up gold against the black pasture.
Spur comes out a minute later, doesn't ask what I'm thinking about.
He puts his arms around me from behind.
"It’s cold out here, wife."
"Yeah, husband."
"Come dance with me."
"In a minute."
