The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace

Robert works at Newark International Airport, wearing an orange uniform that reminds him of his father’s prison outfit. His coworkers are older than he is, and he gets along with them. Jackie is furious that Robert has taken such a low-paying job, for which he didn’t even need a high school diploma.

While working at the airport, Robert continues to plan his real estate career. He researches properties in Cleveland and Florida, most of which are seriously damaged and need a lot of repairs. Robert complains to his friends that he didn’t think it would be so difficult to get into real estate. By this time, Tavarus has a son, and Julius has been with his girlfriend for six years. Curtis has a boring but decent-paying job in marketing. The friends continue to get along, although Robert hasn’t been smoking weed for fear that he’ll be drug-tested at work. As a result, he’s been irritable.

That year, Jeff talks to Robert just a few times. Robert doesn’t say much about his life. Jeff conceals the facts that he and Rebecca have been unable to start a family, or that his second book wasn’t accepted by any publishers on the first go-around. In short, Jeff is fronting to Robert—and Robert, Jeff later realizes, is fronting to him.

Robert has always had success with dating women. But in the mid-2000s, he begins to become more “bold, crass, and too often mean” with the women he’s dating. He yells at his girlfriends over the phone. Raquel Diaz often tells him “the only thing that will save you is a good woman.” Shortly after this, she gives birth to a boy.

Robert begins dating Inayra Sideros, Raquel Diaz’s aunt. “Ina” is only a year older than Raquel (Raquel’s mother and grandmother got pregnant around the same time). Robert goes to visit her in Miami all the time. He tells her about his dreams of becoming a college professor, and seems to love her deeply.

Robert uses his airport job to travel for free. He makes “business trips” to Liberty City to buy cheap weed, and then brings the weed back to Newark by hiding it in his boots. This is extremely risky, since he could be arrested by the DEA. Ina sometimes worries about Robert’s work, but she admires that he has a plan. However, she worries when Robert begins to speak about a new business venture involving guns.

In March 2008, Robert attends the birthday of Tavarus’s son. Lately, Robert has been away from Newark for weeks at a time, supposedly because he’s been traveling to exotic destinations like Croatia and Tokyo. He hasn’t applied to any schools, but claims he’ll begin in 2009. One morning, during a visit to Rio, he wakes up naked in a favela, with his wallet gone. When he returns to Newark and tells Jackie what happened, Jackie says, “I don’t need you. I never have. Don’t you go worrying about me. Take care of yourself.” Her only advice for Robert is, “Go back to school. That’s what I want to see.”