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I looked behind me, trying to figure out what she was referring to. Nora chuckled. “Pretty sure that’s you, Beck.”
“That’s my grandson.” Gram leaned back in her chair with a smile. Not to be outdone by the colorful headwrap lady, she’d worn a sparkly shirt and matching sparkling eyeshadow. “Handsome but bossy.”
One of the ladies at the table wiggled her brows. She had to be close to seventy. “I like ’em bossy.”
I guess my face showed I wasn’t so sure what to make of the crew, because they all laughed. “Lighten up, boy. Come on in. Any friend of Big Momma is a friend of ours.”
“Big Momma?”
Nora leaned over. “That’s what they call Louise. It works, right?”
This was going to be one hell of an afternoon.
Nora and I joined the group at the table. Aside from Frieda, the owner, there was a guy they called Sugar. The lady who liked ’em bossy was Rowan, and last there was another man they called Slim, who was anything but. My grandmother was seated at the end, smoking a cigar.
When she saw my eyes on it, she shrugged. “Give me a break, kid. What’s it gonna do? Give me cancer?”
I shook my head but managed to bite my tongue. They seemed to be playing blackjack. “Mind if we join?” I asked.
“Sure thing. I’m not gonna complain about looking at that pretty face up close, sunshine.” The woman extended her hand and leaned over the table. “Frieda Ellington. Good to meet you.”
I guess Vegas-style card rules didn’t apply here. A patron could never touch hands with the dealer. I shook. “Beck Cross.”
Nora smiled. “Hi, Frieda. It’s nice to see you.”
“You’re looking a little better than the last time I saw you.”
Nora laughed. “I hope so. We got arrested after a long swim in the ocean, and I was wearing a uniform four sizes too big that I’d stolen.”
Nora and I took the two open seats. They were opposite each other, which worked for me. Frieda wasn’t the only one who would enjoy the view today.
I pulled my wallet from my pocket and opened it, but Frieda motioned no with her hand. “Day games are for fun with friends. We only take live action at night.”
“Oh. Okay.”
She gathered two stacks of chips and pushed them across the table to me. “But we do have a jackpot at the end. Big winner for the day gets to pick one thing from anyone at the table. Can be the shirt you’re wearing or a ride home. We keep it simple.”
I looked down at my watch. “They can pick anything?”
She smiled. “Don’t worry about that fancy thing on your wrist. We have a twenty-five-dollar max value. But you better hope Rowan here doesn’t win. She’s been known to take a kiss.”
Rowan flashed a yellow-toothy smile. I might’ve preferred to give up my watch.
CHAPTER 11
Nora
I WAS Anervous wreck when we arrived on Exuma the next day. I’d booked a different hotel than the one my father owned, not wanting to be stuck there if things didn’t go well. I still didn’t have a plan for what the heck I was going to say when I saw him—assuming he was even at the hotel today. But it seemed like one of those things in life you couldn’t plan. Whatever was going to happen would happen.
Louise had offered to come with me, but I needed to do this alone. So after we checked into our hotel, she went to relax at the pool. Beck wasn’t able to get a flight home until tomorrow, so he’d decided to join us on our boat trip to Exuma. He was in his room doing some work, and I was supposed to be heading four miles down the road to the Sunset Hotel. But I’d made a pit stop at our hotel bar about an hour and a half ago, and I hadn’t worked up the courage to go any farther just yet.
I was on my second glass of wine when a deep voice startled me.
“Back so soon?”
Beck.
I let out an exaggerated sigh. “I haven’t left yet.”
