Page 37 of Laying Low

Anthony raised his eyebrows, because that was the first hint of, well, criticism that he’d ever leveled at his family.

“I mean, Mom and Dad knew,” he said, “and Val and Laure, but they weren’t there all the time.It just felt safer, particularly after people started moving away.”

Anthony was suddenly besieged with more questions: Howmuchhealth and safety stuff did Reg know?Could he be a nurse in his spare time?His “just a certificate” in the IT field had successfully eluded one of Mexico’s biggest cartel leadersandthe FBI.It wasn’t beyond the scope of imagination.

“Why didn’t they sendyouto college?”he asked, suddenly desperate to know.

“Because I told them I’d help send Chance instead,” Reg said, but he was turning his head, deflecting the question, and Anthony was starting to recognize his tell.

Another thing, buried deep inside him, that made him want to disappear, to efface himself out of existence.

Except there was something so pure inside Reg, so bright, so shining, that anybody with half a brain could see him light up like a summer star.

Anthony shook his head, suddenly wanting to cornersomebodyand get the whole story out of them, but Reynaldo called out from the cottage, “I’m all done—there should still be hot water,” and they both had other things to do.

But Anthony wasn’t going to forget any of it—the conversation, the rescue, Reg’s ability to just…pivotand answer any contingency.Yeah, his siblings were right to worry about him.It was a blessing to knowsomebodyhad, because there was quiet damage here, the kind that could only happen with a truly sensitive child who had been raised to be so self-sufficient, his own emotions had been neglected to the point of devastation.

But there was also strength.Reg wasworried—all the time—about the people he loved.So he took lifeguarding classes to take care of them in what seemed like a dangerous situation.He created a secure computer facility to protect his parents’ electronics.He monitored their phones so he always knew where they were.For all Anthony knew, he monitored their food and his parents’ medications, cholesterol levels, heartrates, income….Whatever Reg was afraid of failing the people he loved, he was right on top of.

It wasamazingin a way.

But he’d done a lot of sacrificing to be that amazing.Anthony suddenly wanted to give himeverything.The ocean.The moon.A trip to Italy.The computer of his dreams.Money hehad, but the ability to make Reg light up like he’d done when Anthony had admired his paintings?

He wantedthat.

Of all the crazy, selfish, inconsequential things he’d ever wanted as the “baby god,” that was suddenly the most important thing he’d ever wanted from life.

And he needed Reg to open up enough to let Anthony give him that.

THEIR TELEVISIONgot cable, but the boys were too restless to settle down on it, so Reg pulled out not one butfourpacks of cards from the go-bag he’d packed at his parents’ and made everybody spend ten minutes shuffling them all together.

“These were brand-new,” Anthony accused, as his hands accustomed themselves to the motion of splattering the cards so they merged together.

“Yes,” Reg said.He’d put on a fresh T-shirt and a pair of flannel pajama bottoms after his shower, and sitting cross-legged on the floor with the teenagers in the same attire, it was hard to spot him as the one in charge.

“Your mom had four brand-new decks of cards lying around?”

Reg shrugged.“Mom’s sister takes her to the First Nation gaming casinos once a year.Mom brings home, like, twelve decks—some of them with the cute cartoon animals on them, some of them plain—because she knows every card game known to man and can teach them to children to keep them out of trouble.”

Anthony snorted.“Your mom the card sharp—who knew?”

“Oh, she’s terrible at it,” Reg said sincerely.“We’ve all been able to beat her at every game she plays since we were in, like, sixth grade.But sheloveswhen the family sits around the table and plays games.We’ve all gotten very adept at letting her win.”

Reynaldo burst into laughter.“That’s the sweetest frickin’ thing I’ve ever heard.You people would have beeneaten alivein my compound.”

“My family too,” Ilia said, shaking his head.“If you cannot play the game, get out of the room.”

Reg shrugged.“Well, this game I’m going to teach you here, you have to play in teams.I’m across from Ilia, Anthony’s across from Reynaldo—those are the teams.Does somebody have some scratch paper and a pen?”

And then quickly and efficiently, Reg “cheated” through the first hand so he could help everybody learn the strategies, which was how he taught them Hand and Foot.

Four hands later, Reg and Ilia were winning, and everybody was out for blood.

It was a game that depended on each team to count up their own points and then give an honest reporting at the end, and as Reg and Anthony were counting their books, he saw Reg watching Ilia and Reynaldo having a silent conversation with each other.

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’reonthehonor system,” to keep the boys from cheating, but then he watched it happen.