Page 38 of Laying Low

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 uptheircards 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 myrealpoints.I did not cheat.”

Reynaldo grinned back and said the same thing to Anthony, handinghiscards 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 indiapers, because I’ve never seen anybody strategize so well.”

Reg smiled.“I’ve been playingDeansince 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,intenselysmart.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’sawesome.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 organizingeverythingabout 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 averyinappropriate 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.”