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I didn’t offer anything more beyond that because I didn’t actually have real evidence of the account. If it ended up being true, then I’d look into foundations that worked to improve literacy in adults and charities that fed hungry children.
Filipe looked at his phone. “Time to go, Joan. Your point of contact agreed to meet us in ten minutes.”
I held my breath the entire time Filipe carried the statue to Joan’s backseat.
“Are we free to head home?” Matty asked. “We can stick around in case things go sideways.”
“Not necessary,” Joan confirmed. “My contact was emphatic that they see only me and Filipe. If they spot you, things might go sideways.” She gave Matty a quick, but hard hug. “You’ll know everything turned out okay at the embassy if you see us at the team meeting tonight. I like my pizza with mushrooms.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Matty said dryly.
Joan kissed me on the other cheek. When she stepped back, I said, “If they need to distinguish between the replica and the real statue, the authentic version is fifteen pounds heavier.”
She beamed at me. “That is excellent information, my friend. Thanks!” Sliding into the car and revving the engine, she called out, “See you at eight.”
Matty came to stand beside me as they peeled out of the parking spot.
“Is she always so much of a tornado?” I asked as we got back into Matty’s Ferrari.
“Pretty much.”
“I just don’t get them as a couple. Filipe is so laid back and Joan, well, she’s this constantly lit firecracker. Is it an opposites attract kind of thing?”
Strangely, it didn’t bother me that he used to be intimate with them. Their friendship was deep and I had no plans of disrupting that. I trusted Matty and that was that.
“It’s like I always say: they defy labels. All I know is, they fit together. Just like us.”
Just like us.
He drove toward the pier before heading north on Palisades Beach Road. Palm-tree-laced hills rose to the right as the sun glittered off the ocean on our left.
As the salty ocean wind blew in the warm scent of the Pacific, I thought about Matty’s answer, and wondered, how did we fit? What did we even have in common?
Sure, Matty grew up in this glittering wealthy world and I grew up struggling in Las Vegas. But I think we had more in common than not.
My dad died when I was kid. Matty’s mom died when he was twelve.
He’d been taken advantage of by his swim coach.
Drew took advantage of me.
We both had dreams and aspirations and were determined to make those dreams come true.
We trusted each other.
We’d fallen for each other, despite our differences and backgrounds, because we saw in the other something we needed to fit in our lives.
Matty and I fit together.
No other analysis was even required.
All of a sudden I felt lighter.
Matty took my hand and laced his fingers with mine. “Now that we’ve returned the statue, I think I’ll have a talk with Joan and Filipe about retirement. Our cause was a noble one, but I can tell we went about it the wrong way.”
“How so?”
“Our contacts at LAX were racking in some serious cash and I have to wonder if they were already the middlemen for the sender or receiver. Either way, they’d be cashing in, and all I was doing was putting me and my friends in danger.”
