Zoe eventually limped downstairs to the couch. She’d spent so many hours there lately that the cushions were molded in the shape of her body. She tried to do some calculus homework, but even the textbook seemed to know her mind was elsewhere: “Solve for X,” it told her. Zoe napped. She reread the article about Stan obsessively (where had X found a purple cowboy shirt?). And she ate lunch, thanks to Jonah who made her a peanut butter and banana sandwich on gluten-free bread in just under 35 minutes. By afternoon, she was bored, so she guilted Val into visiting by playing up her aches and pains and Snapchatting her five selfies, in which she made increasingly miserable faces.
Val came over in her pajamas: red flannel bottoms and a pink T-shirt that said, I Wanna Be a Housewife. As always, she brought a great jolt of energy into the house. She scratched Spock’s and Uhura’s bellies. She painted Jonah’s toenails green. She raved to Zoe about her girlfriend, Gloria, in such minute detail that it seemed insane, then touching, and then insane again. Spending time with Val was so effortless that Zoe found herself almost teary with gratitude. It was like being lifted by a tide.
Just as it got dark, they heard a truck in the drive. Zoe’s legs were so stiff that they buckled as she went to the window.
“It’s Dallas,” she said.
“Ooh,” said Val. “This should be interesting.”
“You will be nice,” said Zoe.
“I doubt it,” said Val.
Jonah scampered to the door. Dallas’s wrist was still bandaged from his fall, and he was carrying a shopping bag, but Jonah wanted a piggyback ride into the living room—and got one. Zoe always felt a pang when she saw how much her brother loved having guys in the house. It was like the sonar ping on a submarine. Zoe knew that not even the sum total of X, Rufus, and Dallas could fill the empty place where their dad used to be.
Dallas’s goofy smile faltered when he saw Val. He knew she only tolerated him for Zoe’s benefit.
He set his bag on the floor shyly. There was a present peeking out of it, wrapped in fancy blue-and-gold paper. The corners were so crisp and perfect that Zoe figured one of Dallas’s parents had done it for him. He remained standing because Jonah was still hanging off his back, like a cape.
Zoe watched as Dallas’s neck got pink, then red.
“Jonah, get off him, okay?” she said. “He needs to do stuff like breathe.”
Her brother did as he was told, but the moment Dallas took a seat Jonah plopped down on his lap.
There was silence for a while. Val was not just reveling in the awkwardness now, but actually bathing in it. She pointed to the package at Dallas’s feet.
“I can’t stand the suspense,” she said. “What’d you get me?”
Dallas sagged, embarrassed. He looked at Zoe.
“It’s just something to commemorate you killing it at Silver Teardrop,” he said. “You can open it later. It’s probably stupid.”
“Thank you, Dallas,” said Zoe. “I was pretty hard-core, right?”
“You were full-on, dawg,” he said.
“Open it now,” said Val. “I’d like to see what it is.”
“Me, too,” said Jonah, who was rocking back and forth on Dallas’s lap.
“I’m gonna wait, bug,” said Zoe. She turned to Val and whispered, “Stop being a dick.”
It was too late, anyway. Jonah was off and running.
“Open it! Open it!” he said. “Please and thank you! Please and thank you!”
Dallas drew the present reluctantly from the bag.
“Actually, Jonah sort of inspired it, so it’s kinda for him, too,” he said.
He handed the box to Jonah, who tore into the wrapping paper.
The noise brought Zoe’s mom to the room. She’d just returned from town and stood leaning against the doorway. The whole situation was out-of-control awkward now. Zoe’s heart went out to Dallas, who was reddening again.
Jonah pulled the lid off the box. Inside, there was what looked like an antique quilt. It was covered with hexagons in a dozen colors. Even from across the room, Zoe could see how beautiful it was, though she couldn’t figure out what it had to do with caving. Jonah frowned into the box. He was trying to decipher it, too.
“Wow, that’s a gorgeous quilt,” said Zoe’s mom, just to break the silence.
“It is,” said Val. “I’m not even kidding.”
“Thank you so much, Dallas,” said Zoe. “I love it. But—”
She was about to say that she didn’t exactly understand it, but she feared it would hurt Dallas’s feelings. Fortunately, Jonah turned out to be smarter than she was.
“It’s a blanket for Dad,” he said. “So he won’t be cold.”
Thirty seconds later, Zoe’s phone buzzed, and she looked down and saw that Val had texted her from the other end of the couch: The dude is IN LOVE with you. YOU’RE the one being a dick, you dick! Tell him NO HOPE! Tell him X!
TOLD him already, Zoe texted back.