You

Beck and the Captain are dressed up in costumes to visit the Charles Dickens Festival near Bridgeport. Joe gets a costume of his own and attends the festival. He lurks behind them as they ride a ferry across the harbor; Beck’s father is Captain of the ferry, and his new wife and family are waiting for him at the festival. Beck’s half-sister and half-brother are eight and six, respectively. Joe loathes the Dickens festival. On the return ferry, he becomes seasick and vomits in the restroom. His beard falls off, and he loses his only disguise. He worries that Beck will recognize him as the ferry pulls into port.

Joe drives back to New York City, worried that Beck saw him on the ferry. In a rage, he blames Beck for his actions because she told him that her father was dead. Beck calls his phone again as Joe curses the other drivers. He drops off Mr. Mooney’s car and then returns to his apartment. As he is alone in the dark, someone knocks at his door.

Joe answers the door to Beck. He invites her in, embarrassed at his apartment’s messiness. Beck seems unaware that he stalked her at the Dickens festival. She sits down and admits to her secret: Her father is not dead. He is rich and remarried; the only way he will give her money is if she accompanies him to events like the Dickens festival. Joe feigns ignorance and hopes Beck does not pay too much attention to the apartment, lest she find her stolen underwear between the couch cushions. Eventually, they sit on the couch and kiss until they fall asleep.

Joe wakes up to the sound of Beck using his shower. He uses the opportunity to quickly gather all the items he has stolen from her house and hide them. After her shower, Beck talks a while and then leaves. She kisses Joe good-bye. At the bookstore, Joe fires Curtis for giving Beck his address.

Over the next two weeks, Joe is bored by sexless dates with Beck. They visit a department store together; Beck wants to return a pair of pants, but it is beyond the window for returns. Joe realizes that she really is “strapped for cash” (148) despite her rich father. He leads her to the fitting rooms, where they share a romantic moment. Afterward, she makes him wear a hat so she can take a picture. She buys the hat for Joe. He offers her a job working at the bookstore. As Joe begins to question whether working with Beck is a good idea, he also hires Ethan, “the loneliest, most depressing man” (152) he has ever met.

Working with Beck makes Joe “fall back in love with Mooney’s place” (154) because every shift feels like a date. One day, he disapproves of Beck’s revealing sweater and sends her home to change. They exchange flirtatious messages and, when Beck returns, she is wearing just an overcoat and her underwear. They have sex for the first time in the cage in the store basement.

Joe is disappointed by the first time he has sex with Beck. He is worried about his performance as it did not measure up to his imagination. In this moment, he realizes that she has a degree of control over him that he can never have over her. Beck excuses herself, saying she must “check on Peach” (159). The next day, she says she cannot work and then makes plans with her friends. Joe’s panic only lasts a moment as Beck asks to see him in the evening. Shortly after she is due at his apartment, however, she cancels. Joe is furious with himself. He holds his hands over the flame of the candles he bought especially for this occasion.

More than 11 days after Beck canceled the date, Joe is in a foul mood. He is beginning to lose his patience with Ethan as well as everyone else now that he has “nothing left to crave and dream about anymore” (162). Using Beck’s phone, he monitors her emails closely and sees her tell a friend that she “got too deep, too fast… again” (163). He picks at his burned hand so the wound does not heal. Eventually, however, Beck confesses in an email to a friend that she misses Joe. She plans to go to Peach’s beach house in Little Compton to “decompress” (165). On seeing how much Beck misses him, Joe is energized and excited. 

Joe’s excitement continues as he reads Beck’s emails. Her friend encourages her to invite him to the beach house for a night. Joe already plans to close the store for a few days and follow Beck to Rhode Island. He waits for Beck to send him a message or an invitation. As he waits in the bookshop, three masked men enter. They rob the store and beat Joe to a pulp. Recognizing one of the attacker’s sneakers, Joe knows that Curtis is responsible for the attack.