Bob took his sweet-ass time delivering the pizza. Still, by the time his shining bald head appeared at my doorstep, Pip had had some time to appear and bark a greeting at Tom and Dalia. Seeing Bob carrying her next-favorite food after squirrels (ham and bacon pizza), Pip trotted up and barked a greeting at him too.

Huddled in the corner of my porch, his face less than amused, Bob declared in a deadpan voice, “If your dog bites me, I’ll kill you.”

To which I replied, “And?”

A significant look in his eye, Bob retorted, “And then you won’t have any pizza.”

Nodding, I called Pip off and then took the box.

“Thanks, man.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Bob said, walking away already.

“Hey, Bob?”

He stopped but didn’t turn.

“You want one?”

Now he turned around, his bushy black brows raised in incredulity.

“You kidding me, man? I have that crap every day—morning, noon, night, dessert. Sick of the stuff.”

Pip started to make her way back toward Bob as he continued to his little white ‘Sexy Pizza’ labeled car. He called over his shoulder, “Give my piece to your dog.”

So I did. She carried it inside proudly.

“Wow, looks delish,” Tom said sarcastically.

Although after we’d opened the box and he’d had his first bite, Tom kept his mouth shut since he was enjoying the damn thing so much.

It was an “idiotic” scene as Tom would say, or a “sweet” one as Alice would. All four of us crammed together on my crummy couch, stuffing our faces with Sexy Pizza that was actually yummy, the delicious tang of the ham and bacon mixing strangely with the ever-potent stench of the Rasta hat (which we had chucked outside fifteen minutes ago). Everyone smiling at pizza, or, more likely, nothing in particular.

It was weird. Alice and I were about to go on the run for two crimes I’d made a mess of, and we could end up never seeing Tom or Dalia again. I should have been nervous, a little afraid, maybe exhilarated. Instead, I felt utterly at ease. Like finally I was on the right path somehow. A fucked-up, dangerous, and risky one, sure, but still, finally, one that felt right. Splat on the couch in the middle of everyone, with my past on one side of me and my future on the other, I felt like right here, right now, I could do anything.

Tom was the one who broke my reverie.

“Goddam, was that some sexy pizza.”

“Only 12 dollars for a large,” I chirped.

Then, silence. Tom slapped me on the back.

“Christ, am I gonna miss you, you big fuckup.”

I mussed up his hair and then rose. We hugged.

“Thanks, Tom. For everything.”

Tom shifted, and next thing I knew, Alice’s head was beside me, engulfed in Tom’s huge hug.

“You take good care of this crazy man, you hear?” Tom said to her.

She laughed.

“I’ll do my best.”

Tom shifted again, and, after some scuffling, Dalia’s bitter, bleached head was between Tom and me.

“Good luck, Jake,” she said. “You’re all right.”

With this impressive remark setting the tone for our group hug, Tom gave everyone one more giant squeeze, and then we separated.

“You want us to go first or you?” Tom asked.

I shook my head.

“You can stay here for as long as you want to take care of everything, if you feel like it. Or just stop in every few days or so to feed the little shed guys.”

Tom’s jaw actually dropped, showing a row of cigarette-ravaged lower teeth.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. Just don’t do anything idiotic like blow it up or eat the toad.”

“Shit, yeah—I mean no, of course not.” Tom shook his head so hard that some sticky strands of hair detached from his head and wagged along too. “Fuckers at my job just gave me the boot too, and—” His excited gaze flicked to me again. “Seriously?”

I nodded, and Tom hugged me, whooped, and then hugged Dalia.

“We got ourselves a regular old mountainside getaway, Dal!”

As they whooped and raced around like kids on Christmas morning, Alice and I made our way to the door.

“How do those two know each other exactly?” Alice asked.

I turned back to survey them once more. I shrugged.

“They never mentioned it, actually. Think some metal concert maybe.”

“Ah.”

Another silence. Then Alice asked, “Shouldn’t we pack?”

I shook my head and explained. “I loaded in all our stuff while you were sleeping. Not like there was much anyway.”

Her face went through an adorable sequence of surprise, confusion, and irritation before settling on a guarded sort of delight.

“You knew we’d go together all this time?”

I nodded.

“I guess you could say that.”

She kissed me, laughed, and then took my hand.

“Well, we better get going then.”

So we did. All decked out in our ridiculous costumes, our bellies full of delicious pizza, we got into the same black van Alice had been in the back of last time.

Once I started the engine, Tom and Dalia, as well as Pip, ran to the doorway.

As we drove off, they waved, whooped, and barked. In the rearview mirror, they shrank to tiny specks. Then we turned around a bend and they were gone.

That was it. No more petty household or friend concerns. There was only the road, the cops, and us, and who was going to beat who.