Chapter 12
Julia
Tony washed his hands as soon as he got inside, then finally decided he was cold.
He put clothes on and got under the covers with me.
He couldn’t sleep with the boat moving, so I stayed up with him.
He told me about riding bikes in the neighborhood until the streetlights came on.
I told him about eight years at Our Lady of Sorrows.
He described how he got mixed up with a bad crowd and found a home with them, then the periods where the imperceptibly tiny particles on his hands made noise in his brain.
I told him they had medication for OCD now. He made me confirm it three times, then was struck silent for so long that I fell asleep.
The seagulls are screeching up a storm at seven in the morning. Worst alarm clock ever.
Tony’s already up, somewhere on this boat. The engine hums, then cracks and sputters.
I get dressed, pour myself a cup of what’s left at the bottom of the coffee pot, and find my partner on the back deck, laptopping under the shade.
“Whatcha looking at?” I ask, sitting across from her.
“That man with my name had some finance tips.” Just then, I hear the men’s voices from above, on the captain’s deck. “Some are even legal.”
I drink the coffee. It’s disgusting, but the sky is crystal clear blue and the breeze is fresh. We didn’t go out that far, and now we’re headed back toward land. I can’t tell which slice of land though. We could be anywhere.
“We going to make it to the Goddess?”
Tonya closes the laptop. “I think so.”
“How did it go last night?”
“The hardware store was open late. We got the stuff.”
“I mean with your father.”
“Did you know you can’t take pictures at the Newport Beach Yacht Club? They will literally throw you out.”
“I did not know that.”
“Yeah. You could catch some C-list celebrity trying to get in his intern’s pants.
” She sighs, as if resigned to talking about what she’s avoiding.
“My father is still my father. His ears pricked up when we said Jaeger Duke. I could see his wheels turning. TV appearances. Interviews on the courtroom steps. Juicy discovery phase.”
“So he’s excited. That means he’ll take it?”
“I should have sent you. You would have graciously accepted.”
“Accepted what?”
She starts to answer. Stops herself. Starts again.
“He looks at me like I’m his fucking child.
Not his daughter. His child. Like he’s on high and I’m this poor helpless thing.
Like I’ll never be grown. It used to be cute.
Now it’s shitty. I hate it. So, I just couldn’t.
It’s demoralizing. I said we’d give him the regular retainer.
He insisted on pro bono. I said we’re using someone else.
He insisted on doing it. I threatened to walk out.
It was a hot fucking mess.” She presses her lips together as if she wants to say something, then decides on, “If he does it, we’re going to win. I don’t know if it’s worth it.”
“We’ll figure it out.”
“You always say that.”
“Because we always do,” I say.
“I’m not trying to screw you.”
“Tonya. I’m not interested in spending your dignity to save dollars.”
She grabs my hand across the table. “Thank you.”
“We can use another lawyer, you know. Since we’re paying anyway?”
“We could do that.” She opens the laptop again, as if she’s going to look up lawyers, then closes it. “But I want to win. I want Jaeger Duke to be publicly humiliated.”
That decides it. I bring my cup into the galley and dump the last of the cold sludge. Tonya follows me and puts her mug in the sink. I wash. She dries. I feel as if she came in to ask me something, but nothing’s happening here. So I start.
“Did he like Dan?” I ask.
“Peas in a pod. So impressed with Awesome Parasailing. Man who knows how to lay down roots. Something something. Whatever.”
“And you liked that your dad approves.”
“I did. Listen. You fuck this guy?” She points upward, where the guy in question is sitting with Dan.
“You bet I did.”
“You jumped right off your screwdriver’s dick onto… what is it… your level’s?”
“Apparently, the four of them have a thing. They’re not into being possessive.”
She spit-laughs as if this is a wild joke she’s heard a hundred times, and every time she hears it, it gets wilder. “Girl. Please.”
“I haven’t had a bad time yet.”
“I don’t want you to get hurt, and how many cursed tools are there? Four?”
“Four.”
“And it’s only one at a time?”
“So far?”
She shakes her head. “When you figure out how to uncurse all four at once…” She starts to say something then stops herself.
“What? Get a pickup game going? Tag you in? Have the hospital on speed dial?”
“Those are all good. But I was gonna say, buy a new set of tools.”
“Ahoy!” shouts Dan from outside. “We’re in sight!”
We go outside and up the steps to the captain’s perch. Tony’s leaning on the rear ledge, and Dan is pointing at the monstrosity of a yacht.
“Aye, feast yer eyes on this damsel of the seven seas.”
The Goddess is bigger than a yacht, but it’s not as big as a cruise ship. It’s bigger than our last apartment building, but it’s smaller than an airport terminal.
“One hundred feet of pure oceanic pleasure,” Dan proclaims. “That’s two football fields, for the non-sports fans in the audience.”
“Dan, honey, I’m really uncomfortable with how much you like it and how bad your math is.”
“Some guys like cars. Some like trains. I like boats.” He points. “See that netting off the aft top deck? That’s an IGF standard driving range.”
“Wait,” I say. “You like golf?”
“Some guys like baseball. Some guys like—”
“Stop!” Tonya puts out her hands. “Do you ski?”
“Of course.”
“Rock climb?”
“Guilty.”
“I’m not doing any of that.” Tonya crosses her arms and shakes her head.
Dan puts an arm around her shoulder. “Don’t hang the jib, lovely lass. This scallywag wouldn’t force a lady up a mountain.”
She laughs and nudges him. He lets her steer us toward the yacht.
The Goddess has a little gangplank and dock tied to it. A man in a black bomber jacket guides us to a space away from the other boat parked there.
We hear a whoop and clink from above. I look up. The netting over the top deck moves. Someone’s using the driving range.
A little research uncovered the owner of this boat. Our employer is Reince Geggy, a British billionaire with dual US citizenship who, after a year at MIT, moved to Silicon Valley and made his first hundred million creating an app I’d never heard of.
We get our tools together and wheel out the case. I strap on my toolbelt, mostly to keep the screwdriver near me.
“I got that.” Tony hustles out to push the cart over a bump in the ramp.
“I’m capable.”
“I know.”
He leans his head forward to kiss me, then stops himself. Good man.
A golf ball plunks into the water. So much for the net.