Page 20 of Mafia’s Final Play

She’d bought a kit at the store the last time she was in town, a kit that promised she would have one perfectly crocheted hat when she was finished, and she worked on that while she watched television. It wasn’t the perfect example shown in the picture, and she’d had to watch some videos online to find out exactly what one of the stitches was, but she got through it.

When she’d seen the kit, she thought it might improve her fine motor skills, and keep her arms moving. The whole thing was an attempt to stave off what she saw as a threat to her whole life. If she could just keep her balance, her range of motion, she could beat the disease. Marie knew it didn’t work like that, but there wasn’t much else she knew to do.

Matteo often asked her what was troubling her, he knew something was, but she didn’t want to talk about it. They were playing rummy, watching the snow fall outside of the kitchen windows when he brought it up again.

“What’s troubling you, Marie? You keep brushing me off, but you sigh a lot for a woman that’s got nothing on her mind.” He placed a card on the pile that she needed to make a trio of threes, so she took it and put the trio down, which left her with one card.

“I want to see a doctor. I think maybe I have a pinched nerve in my neck, something like that.” She finally admitted something, though it wasn’t exactly what her problem was. Well, not what her fears were.

“Does it hurt?” he asked, his brows knitted together as he leaned towards her? “Maybe some ice, or heat, would help?”

“No, it doesn’t hurt. My arm just keeps going… numb.” She looked down at her remaining card, afraid he’d see the truth in her eyes.

“Oh, okay. Well, I’m sure there’s a doctor in town that can have a look at you.” He pulled a card from the pile and looked at what was in his hand. “It sounds like a trapped nerve to me, if it’s going numb.”

“Yeah,” she answered and felt stupid because that was all she could think to say. She sighed again and stared out of the window while he decided what to do with his cards. Her free hand came up to touch the necklace he’d given her. It was so special to her and touching it brought her a lot of comfort.

“You’re a really sweet man for such a tough guy, Matteo.” She changed the subject entirely and looked back at him as he put down a four that she didn’t need. She reached for another card and threw it away.

“What do you mean?” he murmured absently as he stared at the long line of cards and then looked at the one card that remained in her hand. She could tell he was wondering if he should take the cards he needed and hope she didn’t throw her last card and go out, or whether he should leave the cards and hope for something better. It was all chance, much like their lives now. And even in a game of chance, he weighed every option, keenly aware that she was on the brink of winning. It was the same way he approached life. Was the choice he had to make worth the risk?

His eyes came up to her, comically narrowed into slits of suspicion before he made his move. He took three cards from the pile and laid down a trio, which left him with four more in his hand. She smiled at him, gave him a wink, picked up a card, and weighed her own options.

Place the card that matched her trio of twos down with the others, or let him have a chance to catch up to her score? Hmm.

She looked up at him, saw the uncertainty there, and decided to let him have one more chance at it. She threw the card she’d been holding in her hand down on the discard pile, and waited to see if he’d pick it up. She’d noticed he’d collected two jacks, so he must need the one she’d held.

With a grin of triumph, Matteo picked up the card and threw another one on the discard pile, which left him with one card in his hand. They were evenly matched now, so when she took the next card and it played on his jacks, she put it down with the rest of her, along with her card that matched the twos, and grinned at him.

“Floating,” she whispered with wide eyes, a mock evil expression of triumph on her face.

“That’s not a thing, you either go out, or you don’t,” he said immediately, but he didn’t look certain.

“That’s not how I learned to play it. This is how Trina taught me to play,” she countered and dared him to question it with a playful glare.

“Hmph. She cheats anyway. Well, I guess since we’re playing by your rules, you’re floating. Does that mean I pick another card up?” His dark eyebrows were up now in question.

“It does.” She nodded. She’d been bored with the game, almost too consumed by her own worries to enjoy the moment, but the last few plays had brought her around. She would have enough points to beat him now, and it was very rare to beat Matteo at any kind of game.

“Fine.” He pretended to be offended and picked up a card with a very snooty expression. “There, I can’t go out.”

He put the card he’d picked up down on the discard pile and she picked up one of her own from the pickup pile. It matched her trio of kings, so she put it down on that pile and put down the last card in her hand. “Done.”

“It’s only because you cheated.” He mock-pouted and collected the cards to shuffle them up. “Trina has taught you some very bad rules, I have to say.”

“No, I think you’re just a sore loser!” She got up from the table to get a glass of apple juice and asked if he wanted anything.

“A bottle of water, please. Is there any more of that salsa you made, the one with cheese? That was nice.”

“There is, it’ll take a minute to reheat it.” She pulled out everything she needed, felt a tremor go through her arm as she pulled plastic from the bowl of salsa, and paused to wait it out.

“What’s wrong?” He’d noticed the way she’d stopped, but then, he was very observant.

“Nothing, just my arm going numb again.” She dismissed it all, but he got up to come over to her.

“Let me do it then. I forgot about that. Let me help, Marie.” He gently nudged her out of the way, and she was grateful he did. He might notice that her arm was shaking if he hadn’t. It wasn’t numb at all, not really, it was a tremor that she couldn’t control.

“Thanks. I’ll get a couple of bowls and a bag of nachos.”