One Small Thing #3
Anthony didn’t have siblings or nephews, so it took him a minute to interpret the way they kept peering at their cards and waiting for each other before he realized what was happening.
He opened his mouth to say something, maybe “We’re on the honor system,” to keep the boys from cheating, but then he watched it happen.
Both boys recognized what the other was thinking and realized that if one of them cheated, the other would cheat, and that wouldn’t be fair to their teammates, who were counting up their cards honestly.
The tenets of mutually assured destruction were being played out in real time, and he wasn’t aware he was holding his breath until Ilia broke and grinned.
“Here are my points,” he said, handing Reg his cards. “Those are my real points. I did not cheat.”
Reynaldo grinned back and said the same thing to Anthony, handing his cards over.
Anthony glanced over at Reg, who was simply folding the points into the shuffle and nodding at Anthony to add the teams up on the scratch paper.
“You’re not going to count them?” Reynaldo asked in surprise.
“Honor system,” Reg said mildly, as though they hadn’t been watching both boys assessing the wisdom of cheating with absolute impunity.
“I’ll never understand how just calling it the honor system means we end up acting with honor,” Ilia said in disgust.
“Being honest even if it means you lose the game is important,” Reg told him. “It means when it’s not a game, people can count on what you say. Breaking faith with somebody is a hard thing to redeem.”
Ilia stared at him thoughtfully. “This,” he said. “This is why it was important that I threw my phone into the sea.”
Reg nodded. “And this is why it was important that I gave you a chance to keep your phone and go back to your old life. Lots of people will try to cheat you, Ilia. The ones who don’t, the ones you rely upon to tell the truth—those are the people you want to keep in your life.”
Ilia threw himself back against the carpet. “Even if it means you lose the stupid game,” he grumbled.
Anthony laughed. “You think you lost that game?” he asked. “You were partnered with Reg. Apparently he’s been playing this game since he was in diapers, because I’ve never seen anybody strategize so well.”
Reg smiled. “I’ve been playing Dean since I was in diapers,” he amended. “My next older brother is a super genius. I mean, none of us are stupid, but Dean is, like, intensely smart. And he didn’t believe in letting the little kids win just because they were little.”
“So we won?” Ilia said, straightening up.
“Yes,” Anthony said, giving Reynaldo an apologetic look. “You won.”
“So, chocolate?” Ilia said hopefully. “For dessert, for the winners to celebrate?”
“Reynaldo can have my portion,” Reg told him. “If I eat now, I’ll never sleep.”
“Yes!” Ilia said. “Reynaldo, you want to have some cookies?”
The boys went to raid the snacks on the dresser, and Anthony helped Reg divvy the cards up haphazardly back into their boxes.
“My mom makes these plastic canvas card boxes,” he told Reg. “I’ll have her make one for four decks so this can be your travel pack.”
Reg grinned. “That’s awesome. I love being prepared.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” Anthony teased, and together they stood and stretched.
Reg did so methodically—not quite yoga but close, one muscle group at a time.
Anthony tried not to stare at him in fascination, because he’d never seen anybody quite so centered on organizing everything about their life.
Very specifically he wondered what it would be like to make Reg completely lose his mind.
“Guys,” Reg said, breaking him out of a very inappropriate reverie, “it’s after ten. How about you eat one cookie and then go brush your teeth. We’ve got another long day driving tomorrow, and I really have to get some shuteye.”
“I miss reading on my phone,” Reynaldo said plaintively, and Reg brightened.
“There was a bookstore in Crescent City. It was used, but I bet they’ve got paperbacks in there. Let’s get a bag of them, and we can swap them around. How’s that? Since we’re without electronics, right?”
“Ooh, good idea,” Anthony agreed. Although technically he could have read on his phone, it didn’t feel right since everybody else was without.
Reg had spent half an hour fiddling with Anthony’s phone in ways that probably didn’t fall under the blanket of “IT certificate,” and he held his hand out for it while Anthony retrieved it from the charger.
“Are you going to check on my aunt?” Reynaldo said, and Reg nodded.
“I’m going to go outside and call my dad right now,” he said. He sobered. “I promise to tell you everything we learn. I just need to listen.”
The boys nodded, and Reg opened the thing with a few number taps—he’d already changed the password, and Anthony would probably have to ask Reg to unlock his own phone.
Anthony couldn’t believe the whole family bought that Dean was the only “super genius” in the family. He really couldn’t believe Reg had managed to convince everybody to send Chance away to school and not him.
“Will I be able to text afterward?” Anthony asked.
“The encryption should continue to be active,” Reg told him sunnily. “Your dad will want to hear from you.”
Anthony didn’t point out that his dad would hear from Reg’s dad—that wasn’t who he wanted to contact.
A few moments later (almost exactly two minutes later, Anthony noted, thinking Reg wasn’t taking any chances), Reg came back into the cottage, an expression of sorrow on his face.
“My aunt Adelle—” Reynaldo began.
“Your aunt is fine,” Reg reassured. “She’s on her way with my brother and my mom. They should be together when we hook up with Val.”
“Oh,” Ilia said, his voice thick. “But not my mother.”
Reg gave him an apologetic look. “Adelle called her, and your mother said, ‘I’m sorry, my son can’t come to school today. His uncle is here to visit.’ And then she hung up.”
“She did not betray us, then,” Ilia said. “The text—when my phone came on—that was from my uncle.” He seemed sad but not surprised.
“I’m sorry, Ilia,” Reg said softly. “That’s what it sounds like. I think the safest place for you to be right now is far away.”
Ilia shrugged. “My mother, she tried to keep me from Bratva my entire life. I… I think the best thing I can do to honor her is to keep going.” But he averted his face and shrugged off Reynaldo’s arm around his shoulders.
“I think I should like to go to bed now,” he finished with dignity, crawling into the far side of the queen-sized he’d be sharing with Reynaldo.
Reynaldo gave Reg a sad look and crawled in behind Ilia. They didn’t spoon like adults might, but Reynaldo reached over to squeeze Ilia’s shoulder.
Ilia rolled into him and sobbed into his neck, and Reynaldo stayed there, like the adult he’d had to become. Reg and Anthony met painful gazes.
“Here,” Reg said, giving him the phone. “You should be able to text as long as you like.”
“Thanks. I’ll take a breath outside.”
Anthony leaned against the door as it closed behind him and shivered in the ocean chill of fall.
Children making hard choices—it broke his heart more now as he made his way through Reg’s heart like a detective and realized there would be mazes and doors of scar tissue built in these young men that other adults would have to decode.
But he couldn’t do much for the young men in the cottage, other than keep them safe and keep being kind to them as they endured the uncertainty of their trip. Reg? Reg he could be a good boyfriend for.
Anthony: How many of you are letting your mother win at cards?
Laure: She’s amazing at it—I gave up trying to beat her when I turned thirty.
Sal: Oh ha ha—now tell me I’m fat, I dare you.
Dean: You’re breaking encryption for this?
Prock: I only play her because she looks so sad when I say no, but she’s vicious.
Val: Dad said I didn’t have to play her anymore.
Chance: She’s nice to me because I’m the baby, but she still wins.
Anthony: Chance, do you know why I’m asking?
Chance: Yes. He used to practice how to lose with me so he could do it and she wouldn’t suspect.
Anthony stared at his phone while every account did the… bubble thing.
Oh yes, he’d stirred up a hornet’s nest.
Dean: He didn’t tell me? I’m the only one who can beat her. Why wouldn’t he tell ME?
Anthony got ready to deliver a dollop of truth, but Laure did instead.
Laure: Because you’re the only one who could beat her, Dean. Don’t you understand?
Dean: No.
Marcus: Because he’s as smart as you are, and he didn’t want the family to know.
And more frenzied silence. Anthony wondered how many side conversations were going on that he couldn’t be privy to.
Anthony: You guys, I can only do this for another minute. I was just wondering why you didn’t send Reg to school, and now I know.
Chance: He told me once. He didn’t want to leave Mom and Dad—and he knew everybody else was going to leave anyway.
Laure: AUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHH I HATE EVERYTHING
Anthony: And on that note, I’ve got to go.
Val, tell my dad I love him, and so far so good.
Oh! And you all should know he took lifeguarding and health and safety classes so that none of you could die on him.
And today he pulled a kid out of the surf who got eaten by a sleeper wave, so that paid off.
Dean: My God, you are an asshole just like your father.
Anthony: I’m so mad at all of you right now I can’t even breathe.
Well, that had just slipped out, hadn’t it? It wasn’t fair—he knew it. But he was. They were Reg’s support system. How had they not known all this was happening inside their shyest, most fragile family member?
Val: Take a breath, kid. We all hate ourselves enough for you. You don’t need to put any more effort into it.
Anthony realized that Val had contacted him directly, and he found he did actually breathe.
Anthony: I’m sorry. I just… nobody noticed? But I know the answer to that is he didn’t want anybody to notice.
Val: YOU noticed. That’s important. Get some sleep—you guys got four more days of this.
Anthony: Thanks, Val