You

Joe finds another boathouse half a mile from Peach’s house and hides inside. He waits for Peach and Beck to go running and then enters the beach house. He charges his phone, drinks a coffee, and masturbates while smelling Beck’s clothes. When Peach and Beck return to the house, he hides in the closet of the master bedroom. Waiting in the dark, Joe is forced to urinate in his coffee mug and leave it in the closet. He hears Beck crying and realizes that Benji’s family has declared him dead. His boat was found wrecked, and his family presume that drugs were involved. Joe has “never felt so lucky” (180). When Peach uses a blender, Joe uses the sound to cover his dash toward an exit. On the way out, he sees Peach consoling Beck with a massage. The massage turns into a kiss and Joe watches in horror until Beck eventually apologizes, pulling away from Peach. Beck apologizes again but Peach angrily leaves the room. Beck cries as Joe slips quietly out of the house.

Joe lurks outside the beach house and waits. He is reminded of Candace, his former girlfriend whom he drowned in the sea when she tried to break up with him. When Peach emerges for her morning run, Joe attacks her. He kills her with a rock then fills her pockets with rocks, heaving her into the ocean. Then, he sends an email to Beck from Peach’s phone saying that she felt the “need to go away” (185). Joe goes to the town where the local mechanic has repaired his car. As he drives home, he worries for a moment about the cup of urine in Peach’s closet. He tells himself not to worry; according to Beck’s phone, she seems happier. He is excited that she is free of Peach’s grip. He waits for her to contact him.

Beck returns to New York but does not contact Joe. She sees her therapist, Dr. Nicky, more often, and Joe is “concerned” (187). Joe decides to visit the therapist, so he schedules an appointment with Dr. Nicky under the name Dan Fox. In the therapist’s office, Joe is surprised to find that Dr. Nicky is youthful and handsome. They sit and talk; Joe invents a persona in which he is obsessed with a music video rather than a woman. After an hour-long session, Joe feels drawn to Dr. Nicky and feels “like a changed person” (191).

Joe tells Dr. Nicky about the positive effects of the session; Dr. Nicky says that this “reaction is common” (193). Through their coded analogies, Nicky suggests that Joe could deal with his obsessions by finding something new to interest him. On the train, Joe decides to test this theory. He meets a young woman named Karen and flirts with her. After going for drinks, they have sex on the subway train at 4am. Karen tells Joe she loves him, and he sleeps well that night. The next day, however, she comes to the store, and he is struck by the terrible realization that he “cheated” (196) on Beck.

Being with Karen allows Joe to “practice being a boyfriend” (197). Whenever he is with her, he thinks about Beck. Nicky encourages Joe to make a list of the things he likes about Karen. He can think up several positive qualities, but he knows that he loves Beck, not Karen. Nicky encourages him to tell Karen that he does not love her.

After mentioning a detail about his private life, Dr. Nicky feels like he has crossed the “patient-therapist boundary” (203). Joe does not want a referral. He lies and tells Nicky that his issues with obsession are over. When Nicky momentarily leaves to take a phone call—explaining that he has issues “at home” (204)—Joe checks his computer. He finds Nicky’s audio notes of his sessions with Beck and sends them to himself.

Joe listens to Dr. Nicky’s notes about his sessions with Beck. He hears the therapist confess that he is slowly falling in love with his patient. Joe is incredibly angry. Karen is waiting for him on his stoop with a picnic. Joe breaks up with Karen, who runs away. He eats the picnic alone in his apartment.

Joe decides to do something about Nicky. He finds out everything he can and stalks Nicky, watching him with his wife and daughters. Joe believes that he will be putting Nicky “out of his misery” (211) when he kills him. The murder will be difficult but “necessary” (212) because Beck and Nicky are obsessed with one another. Joe panics when an aggressive police officer stops him outside his apartment. However, he is relieved when the police officer is just Karen’s brother, who shouts at Joe for disrespecting his sister.

Joe plans to kill Nicky under the pretense of a mugging gone tragically wrong. As he follows Nicky, however, Beck calls. Joe stops and takes the call. Beck asks him to come to her apartment. Joe drops his murderous plans and hails a taxi.