"Hit me," the man beside me said as he slammed his hand down on the table. With a nod, the croupier handed him another card from the pile, all while keeping it face down.

I narrowed my eyes at the pair of cards in my hand. No longer was there a bullet-sized hole in the middle of it, revealing a tangle of blue and red wires. Nor was there a flurry of sparks shooting out from where my fingers were. Tan skin now covered where the hole had been, and my fingers had been returned. But how—and when—I could not recall. Complete darkness laid between the showdown and waking up here, in the gambling hall.

I must have been staring at my hand for too long since the croupier asked, "Are you going to stand or hit?"

Hit.

"Hi—" I started to say before another voice cut in.

"She's going to stand." Peter's head appeared next to mine, nearly touching my shoulder with his chin.

"Alright. Let me see your cards." The croupier gestured for us to turn our cards over. As soon as I did, the man beside me let out a sigh, banging his fist against the green felt.

"Damn computers," he swore under his breath before storming off. I glanced down, seeing what had made him act like that. My pair of cards showed a queen of hearts and a queen of diamonds while his were an ace and a four of clubs. 

Snickering, Peter collected the chips off the table into his hands. "I can't believe you were going to ask for another hit! It's a good thing I came in when I did."

I started to walk with him as he headed towards the cashier's booth. He was with me until my vision went black. He was the last thing I had seen. How I arrived here, maybe he knew. "What happened after the showdown?" I asked as we maneuvered around crowded tables and slot machines. 

He came to an abrupt standstill, right in the middle between a row of glowing slot machines. Tilting his head slightly downward, he kept his back towards me; the curve of his spine upright and straight. After a few seconds, his body started moving again and did not stop until we reached the cashier. 

"Can you cash these in, please?" He smiled as he handed the chips over. "Thanks." 

He hadn't heard me. "What happened after the showdown—" I began to repeat the question before he suddenly spun around, interrupting me for the second time. 

"You—You went to get fixed. Where? I don't know." Peter's speech was quick, and his words stumbled over one another. 

"So you don't know how I ended up here?" 

He shook his head. "No, sorry. But you were probably brought here."

This only raised another question. Who brought me here? Yet, I did not ask as the question was soon gone once I saw the pile of cash handed to Peter through the window. 

He grinned at me. "Here, you earned it." Pushing my coat aside, he placed the wad of cash into my front pocket. "Not sure what you'll do with it though."

I glanced over at him as we headed for the entrance. "Ever heard of banks?" 

Peter burst out laughing. "Yeah, right. Like you'd deposit your cash in a bank."

For some reason, his laughter brought a smile to my face. "Of course not. They're bigger thieves than me."

"You got that right." He nodded, taking out a pack of cigarettes. "So while you were gone, I went back and got our horses." He paused to light the cigarette before blowing out a cloud of smoke. "They're around back." 

"Thanks." I turned the corner and started down the vacant alleyway. But as I passed between the narrow path, I heard his footsteps following right behind me. I stopped in my tracks, turning to him. "I reckon this is where we part ways." 

"C'mon, the sun's still in the sky." I followed his gaze as he looked up. Sure enough, the sun hadn't even begun to set yet. 

"I was thinking... maybe we could go to the mountains?" He shifted his eyes downwards. "We could watch the sunset. I hear they're really beautiful here." A dark shade of red crept up his cheeks as he said all this. 

Do as he says.

"Alright." I gave a quick nod before continuing down the alley. The sound of his boots treading over the dirt picked back up almost immediately. 

Just like he said, the horses were behind the gambling hall, blinking and dipping their heads as if to graze. After climbing onto Muerto, I glanced over at Peter and said, "Lead the way then."

His mouth curled into a grin, revealing a row of shiny white teeth. "Follow me."

Before I could even give the command, Muerto dashed off after Peter. Our horses kicked up heaps of sand dust as they raced through the desert, neck-and-neck with one another. Cacti and dried shrubs whirred past me as we galloped further into the barren wilderness. The mountains that were once so far began to grow larger as we approached them—a dark shadow starting to hang over their peaks. 

"Slow down." Peter patted his horse on its head. Immediately, the horse slowed to a steady trot. Doing the same with Muerto, I came up beside him, who seemed not to notice. His head was turned towards the setting sun. 

"You're very quiet," he suddenly said after several minutes of silence. "You don't talk a lot, do you?"

"I suppose not." Unlike him, my head faced straight ahead towards the oncoming trail in front of us. "There's not much to say."

He finally looked at me. "You know you can talk with me, right?" The pupils in his eyes were dilated, and his eyebrows were creased together, creating a wrinkle between them. "I want to hear what you have to say."

"I wouldn't even know what to say," I answered as we stepped onto the rocky trail that curved into the mountain. 

"And yet, you knew exactly what to say last night," he muttered. "You could see my marriage for what it was. A sham." Peter frowned, continuing to stare at me with that strange look of his. "It's nothing but a marriage of convenience."

The trail ahead of us grew steeper as it winded around the side of the mountain. I could not afford to take my eyes off it lest we stumble and fall. The risk was too great.

"She gained my money, but what did I get in return?" His grumbling  voice lowered another octave. "A wife who can spin straw into gold. A wife who views her brilliance as a curse." At this last sentence, I caught a glimpse of his hands flailing in the air in some sort of wild gesture. 

It was then, as he talked of her, did I register she hadn't been with us. She hadn't even been seen. "Where has she been?" 

Peter's scowl only deepened at my question. "Stuck in meeting after meeting." He shook his head as if what he said hadn't been correct. "No, not stuck. She wanted to be there. Stuck for her would've meant being with me out here."

I didn't understand what he meant by this. She was his woman—his wife. They were supposed to be together. "She is your wife," I repeated the words out loud.

He snorted. "Sure doesn't feel like it anymore. Not right now. Honestly, you've done a better job. You actually listen to me. You don't complain or nag. You want to be around me." Peter reached over and touched my hand. "You're easy."

Again, I did not understand what he meant. Easy meant something not hard, something like a card game. So as I drew my hand away, I asked, "What do you mean?"

"You're not some sort of puzzle to figure out. With Dominique—" He took off his hat, running his fingers through his dark curls. "I don't know. It's just complicated. I don't understand her. She creates something so amazing and she despises it." Peter sighed. "I love her, but I can't—I don't  understand her."

I didn't know how to answer him. There was nothing I could say. The conversation was over.

Eventually, the path gave way to the edge of the mountain—a plateau that overlooked the entire desert. Coming to a stop over the flat, rocky surface, we stared ahead at the wide-open space in front of us.

"Look!" Peter pointed towards the sky. "You cannot tell me that's not beautiful."

But I barely heard his words as I looked to where he pointed. Even if he hadn't been pointing, I couldn't have missed it. The sight was unlike anything I had ever seen. There, right in front of us, was a sunset that filled the entire sky. It was orange, but not just any regular orange. It was a deep orange, almost red. The light it gave off was so bright Peter had to squint and shield his eyes just to see. And its rays seemed to melt into the blue sky behind it, turning it purple.

I had not known what beauty was or what it meant. But if this was it, I understood now. 

So we remained there, watching until the sun disappeared into the horizon and the stars twinkled above.