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ChapterTwenty-Four
“Come on, Jo. Make your bet.”
Jo looked down at the upturned cards on the table and then back to the two in her hand. She knew it was a high probability that her hand was not the highest, and if she made a wrong move, then she would lose, but that was the beauty of poker— it was a game of chance— you were either a risk taker or you weren’t. If she folded, then she would lose the few quarters she had wagered, but good to play another round. She decided to do the opposite. “I’m all in,” she said, pushing the remaining dimes and quarters into the center of the table.
Uncle Luke looked from the coins to her with a gleam in his eyes.
“Show your hands, please,” Cora spoke from the head of the table, face stoic and eyes focused on the cards on the table as she embodied the role of a poker dealer perfectly.
“You first,” Uncle Luke suggested, still staring at her and smirking.
“You go first, Uncle,” she countered. The man shook his head no.
“I have an idea. Why don’t you both show your hands at the same time?” Jules asked, just as invested in the game as the others that surrounded the table.
“All right, on the count of three. One, two, three.”
They both turned over their cards at the same time, and by Luke’s look of shock, she knew she’d won before she looked down on his cards.
“You won,” Uncle Luke confirmed.
Jo smiled broadly. Her straight flush was the highest hand.
“You’re a natural at this,” her uncle mused. “I’ve never in all of my days lost to anyone but your father. I guess the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
“Yeah, Jo. The only person I’ve ever seen beat Dad was Uncle Sam,” Tessa, who sat beside her, agreed.
Jo looked over at her mom, who smiled encouragingly at her. “Well, this definitely proves that I am my father’s daughter,” Jo replied jokingly, which elicited chuckles from the others around the table.
“So, about the music festival next month. Who’s going or not going?” Tessa asked the sisters as they sat in lawn chairs closer to the water. The older folk had opted to have a go at the small stake poker game.
“Are you kidding me? The Dixie Chicks are having a concert on Whidbey, and I’m not there? Unless my name isn’t Andrea Bethany Hamilton, I will definitely be there,” Andrea spoke with conviction.
The others laughed. It was a known fact that Andrea had been a die-hard fan of the girl band since they were kids.
“We can make it a girl’s outing. I’m sure the other ladies would love to go,” Jo suggested.
“Um… I… actually Jamie bought tickets for the both of us,” Cora said, giving Jo an apologetic smile.
“And Donny invited us to go together,” Andrea added.
“But we can still go as a group,” Cora quickly responded, just not as an all-girls group.”
“That’s fine. I wouldn’t want to intrude on the time you get to spend with the guys,” Jo replied. “Tessa and I and anyone else who wants to go could probably go together.”
“Nonsense,” Andrea refuted. “I wouldn’t feel good knowing that we went to the same concert in separate groups. Jo, we’re still a family, and anyone who enters our lives will have to get used to us being together like this.”
“That’s right,” Cora said. “Besides, I know someone who would probably appreciate being invited on this outing.”
“Who?” she asked.
“Daniel.”
Jo pulled back her head in surprise. “Um, Daniel and I are just friends. Nothing more,” she spoke slowly, hoping she sounded as convincing to them as she wanted to sound to herself.
“I know. You said that before. I just thought that as a friend, he would appreciate the gesture.”
Jo smiled thinly at her sister. Maybe it hadn’t been a good idea to tell her the person she’d gone to visit a week ago was Daniel. She could see the wheels turning in her sister’s head and the fact that she’d also witnessed the awkward tension between them just two days ago. She knew all too well that her sister was scheming.
