Page 98 of Joey

“So,” Huck says. “Should we go see what they’re up to down there?”

“They’re probably fucking,” I say.

“Well, then we should probably join them, don’t you think?” He stands up. Turns to me and offers me a hand.

I take it. Let him pull me to my feet.

“It’s gonna work out, Joey. You’ll see.”

“I don’t really have much control over this, do I?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Maisy.”

“Joey Boston. You have more control over more things than almost anyone else on this planet. If you want your daughter back, you will get your daughter back.”

“I want her back,” I say. “I really do.”

And it’s not a lie. Maybe this whole fake girlfriend plan is really more about us than it is Maisy. That’s probably true.

But it doesn’t change the fact that I ache for that little girl.

“Then take her, Joey. She’s yours.”

“She is but…”

We stare at each other for a few more seconds. There’s some sort of understanding between us. Some new way of looking at things.

So I nod. We walk over to the top of the stairs and look down. There’s some murmured whispering but no obvious sex noises.

“Hey,” I say, a thought coming to me.

“Hmm?” Huck says.

“That article you were telling me about yesterday? About those three Japanese guys who were sharing a girl?”

“What about it?”

“What happened to them?”

“They killed themselves.”

“What?” I laugh.

“You know. Fucking cultures are weird like that. Sometimes shit makes sense even when it makes no sense. It’s all perspective.”

“That’s… not even close to our scenario.”

“I told you it devolved, remember? Wasn’t the point. The point was… well, I’m not sure about their point. But my point was… hell, I’m not sure I had a point, either. But my new point is this.” He looks at me and smiles. “Do you even know who we are?”

I laugh.

Which makes Wald yell, “What the fuck are you two doing up there?”

“My real point,” Huck says, leaning in close and talking low, “is that we can do whatever the fuck we want.”

“Come down here,” Wald says. “We need you.”