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Tom clapped his hands together and hooted. “I l . . . love your fire, Gracie girl. Let’s play.” He grabbed the deck of cards in front of him. He was always the dealer. Except when he went to shuffle, his hands wouldn’t work right. The cards kept slipping out of his fingers, yet he kept trying, cussing as he went. It was painful to watch, yet Daddy and I knew better than to interfere.
After several attempts, Brooks placed his strong hand over his father’s. “Let me do it for you.”
Tom stopped and met his son’s eyes. Tears leaked from his own. “Thank you, son.”
It was the most tender thing I had ever seen, so much so my eyes welled up with tears.
Brooks took the deck and, without another word, began to deftly shuffle the cards.
“No cheating,” I threw out there to stop myself from kissing him for being so sweet to his daddy.
“I plan to win you fair and square,” he zinged back.
“I’m not anyone’s prize,” I snipped at him.
“I think he meant to say you are a treasure,” Daddy betrayed me and helped the fool out.
I faced my father in shock. Seriously, whose side was he on?
“That’s exactly what I meant,” Brooks agreed with Daddy.
“Let’s just play cards.” I was annoyed with all of them ganging up on me. “Ante up.”
Brooks tossed a large pile of chips in the center.
“Um, you realize each of those chips represents real money, right? We don’t mess around here.”
Brooks flashed me a dazzling smile. “Neither do I, and I’m feeling lucky tonight.”
Holy crow, he needed to stop with the alpha male vibe that admittedly turned me on like a floodlight. “We’ll see.”
“Yes, we will.” Tom took a sip of his water.
Brooks dealt us five cards each. I picked mine up and held them close to my chest. I had to stop from grimacing. I had a pair of jacks and three crap cards. This wasn’t good news. My only hope was to turn in the three meaningless cards and pray for a miracle. I looked around at my opponents, mainly Brooks, who was already grinning at me. I had to stop myself from smiling back. It was almost a reflex to this playful side of him that I’d thought was long gone. I couldn’t let him get to me. I was here to win my Rick Springfield tickets. I averted my eyes. What I found was Daddy and Tom looking at each other conspiratorially. On an unseen cue, they both put down their cards and in unison said, “I fold.”
“What! Let me see your cards,” I demanded.
“Honey, that’s not how it works,” Daddy said reasonably. But there was no reason to any of this.
“Daddy.” I used my please, I’m your little girl voice.
He patted my knee. “I think this is better left between you and Brooks.”
“I second that m . . . motion.” Tom grabbed a handful of grapes.
I couldn’t believe my men had turned on me.
“Are you still in?” Brooks taunted me.
With determination, I threw several chips in the pot. If anything, I was way overconfident. Brooks matched my chips.
I scowled at him before discarding three of my cards and taking another three from the dealer.
With delight, Brooks counted each card out succinctly and slowly.
I picked up my cards, silently praying for another pair of jacks or three of a kind. I was gifted with a couple of twos. Two pair. It wasn’t a good hand at all. Sure, I could win, but it was the third-worst hand to have in poker.
Brooks took two cards. His face was stoic and unemotive. He had a much better poker face than his daddy. After looking at his cards, Brooks tossed in a buttload of chips. Oh crap. Maybe he was bluffing? Please, let him be bluffing. I didn’t care about the money. It was having to go to the concert with him. Not that long ago it would have been a dream of mine. Now it filled me with terror. How could I trust myself to keep it platonic? Because, I’m not going to lie, Rick does something to me when he starts singing. And Brooks only has to look at me and I go a little wobbly in the knees. This would not be a good combination.
I swallowed hard and pushed all my chips into the pot. “I’ll see your bet and raise you fifty dollars.” Please let him be bluffing.
With a smirk, he tossed in fifty bucks’ worth of chips. Then he laid his cards out. The man had a straight flush.
I let out a long sigh and dropped my losing hand for the world to see.
Tom cheered, and Daddy squeezed my knee.
“Let’s go double or nothing,” I pleaded with Brooks.
Brooks leaned toward me and whispered, “Not a chance.”
“What do you have to lose?” I begged.
