17

Morning light skirted the eastern ring of the valley as gently as an Easter sunrise.

“Jack,” she whispered.

“Yeah?”

“Jack . . . water?”

“No.”

“It’s all gone?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“Oh.”

“Sorry.”

“Okay.”

They drifted in a daze between waking and oblivion.

“Jack?”

“Yeah?”

“I thought you left.”

“Nope.”

“Okay.”