“How can you sit here and know that day... three I'm not going to be driving you crazy because I laugh like a horse or...or... dress up your penis in Barbie clothes?”

“When you sit that way, you look kind of like a beach ball with a head,” he continued. “Your haircut is really, really bad, I’m probably going to lose my job for helping you this way, and I’m dying to fuck you.” He glanced at her. “That honest enough for you?”

“Hi, mom,” he said. “I’m fine.”“How are you? Are you still seeing . . .?”“Yep,” A.J. said. “Jamie’s sitting right here, next to me.”“Let’s freak her out, okay?” Jamie said, mischief glinting in his eyes as he popped away—which worked more to freak A.J. out.”

“I love quick,” Gina said. “And come on, I’m getting jealous here. Was it zero sex last year for you,too?”“Yes,” he admitted. “I love you, you weren’t there—what was I going to do?”“Are you actually embarrassed, ” she asked, “because you weren’t some kind of man-ho and—”“No,” Max said. “I’m embarrassed that it took me an entire fucking year and a half and the worst scareof my life to figure out that I can’t live without you.”

“She was looking at the cab, looking right through me, and I knew that she was curious because she’d seen A.J. talking to me. Which, to her, looked an awful lot like A.J. was talking to himself. “Say, I gotta run, mom, I’ll call you later,” I instructed the kid, and then pretend to hang up your phone.”

“If you want, I can carry you—” “I’m fine,” she said shortly. “Let’s go.”He’d said that wrong. He should have said, “I want to carry you.”

“While I sleep, and I sleep often these days, he spends much of his time in the church downtown. The very one I never could convince him to attend. He claims he is praying. But I know he is trying to strike a bargain with our Maker.One hand of Black Jack, I know he says. Winner gets to keep the girl.I know for sure, were J. granted that game of cars with the Almighty, he’d go into it with both an ace and a jack up his sleeve.”