Page 67 of Joey

“Oh… a while back. I think I was nineteen the first time. Then again a couple years later. And the last time was just two years ago. It’s a nice place, don’t you think?”

“For sure,” Huck says. “But not easy to get to. At least from most places. It’s not that bad if you’re flying out of Tokyo. Where were you coming from?”

I glance up from the phone and shade my eyes so I can see his face. He’s got a nice face. Square, and strong, and proportioned well, just like his body. His eyes are wide and blue, his eyebrows and beard stubble a shade or two darker than his hair, but still light enough that he has a beachy look to him. Like he belongs in Bora Bora.

I could lie to him and he’d never know. But I don’t feel like lying to him. So I say, “Santiago.”

“Chile?” he says. “Really? What were you doing there?”

“Living,” I say.

He nods his head and smiles. “OK.” And then he drops it and I go back to scrolling.

“Where’s Wald’s profile?” I ask.

He takes the phone, taps a few times, and pulls it up for me. “Here.”

“Oh, my God.” I laugh. “Has he seen this?”

“No.” Huck chuckles. “He’s gonna kill me.”

Wald is so obviously drunk in his profile pic, you don’t even question why he has a dildo suction-cupped to his forehead. You just appreciate the photo for what it is. A prank. “Where was this?”

“College.” Huck laughs. “Rush week. This,” he says, taking the phone so he can look at Wald’s pic, “was the first time we met. All of us. We were rushing the same fraternity in freshman year and Wald kinda got the worst of it. I have been waiting sixteen years to embarrass him with this photo.”

I try to picture them all as gangly teens and find I can’t. They are men now. But I want to see more of those early days because I feel like I’ve missed out on something fun and good and I need to make up for lost time.

“I need more of these,” I say, taking the phone back. “All the frat pics.”

Huck laughs again. “She made a whole folder in his pics section. Just tap there.”

I tap and pull it up. “Holy shit!” I cover my mouth to keep my newfound happiness inside me. Joey and Wald are skinny and lean. And Huck was nothing but a giant wall of muscle. In even better shape than he is now, and that’s saying something.

“I played football,” he says, scrolling down as I hold the phone until I see one of him in his uniform. He’s sweaty and flushed, obviously excited about the game. “We won the division that year. It was a good day.”

“Where’s Joey’s profile?” I ask.

He takes the phone, taps and swipes, then hands it back.

“Hmm,” I say. “He’s frowny.”

“Yeah, he’s not much of a smiler.”

I study Joey. All serious and straight-faced. His hair darker then than it is now. His eyes dark too. In his profile pic he’s looking off to the side. Not quite in profile, but not straight on, either.

It fits him, I think. That wayward gaze. The look of a thinker. Of a man with shit on his mind.

“Does he have any of his brothers in here?” I ask, looking up at Huck.

“Just one. From back when they were kids.”

“Show me,” I say, excited to see little Joey.

He takes the phone and opens up a folder, then starts scrolling down until the very last one. “Here,” he says, handing it back. “That’s them. The Boston brothers.”

Three little boys and a baby in Joey’s arms. The oldest ones very close in age. Maybe ten or twelve. Somewhere around there. The biggest one, Johnny, is blond like the younger one, and so is the baby. But Joey has that same dark hair he has now. “They don’t look alike,” I say.

“Well, Jesse and Johnny do. I guess. But yeah. Joey has always suspected that he’s only a half-brother.”