Card Shark
Vex
“Maverick.” Basil walks up and fist-bumps me. “Man, we missed you on the course today.”
“You mean you missed winning another grand from him.” Montgomery ambles in. “Prue the prude. You’re looking lovely, as always.”
What did he just call Dahlia!?!
Montgomery slings an arm around her shoulders, and she cringes away.
I’m going to kill him.
Why hasn’t Basil stepped in? Brothers are supposed to protect their sisters.
“How is your wife?” Dahlia asks.
“Don’t be such a prude.” Monty lets her go, which is the only reason he’s still breathing.
Though I’m not sure he will be for long.
“We’re divorced. She got the house and the kids, and I got my freedom.” Monty takes a long pull of his drink.
Dahlia moves towards me as I place my body between her and my new enemy.
“Now you and I can get together.”
“Not funny Monty. You’re talking about my sister.”
“Whatever. Your sister is hot, even if she dresses like a prude.”
If he calls her that one more time, I’m going to put my fist through his teeth.
“Dinner’s ready.” Dahlia’s dad walks into the room.
Monty and Basil file out quickly while Dahlia and I linger behind.
“Don’t kill him. Monty is just being Monty,” she whispers. “He’s had a hard life and went through a bad divorce.”
“There’s no excuse to touch a woman without her permission.”
Dahlia leans up and whispers in my ear, “I love you.”
There isn’t time for me to respond the way I want to.
“Maverick, you can sit right there next to Dahlia.”
Good. There’s no way I could stand seeing her sit next to Monty. I pull out the chair for her to sit down, and it takes all my self-control not to brush her hair off her shoulder. This is going to be a long meal.
“I was so excited that Dahlia came home that I couldn’t stop myself from making her favorite meal.”
Monty and Basil sneer at the plate.
“Do we really need to eat rabbit food?” Basil glares at his sister.
Rabbit food?
“Don’t worry, I made the rest of you something to eat, but Dahlia loves vegetable curry.”
What? “Did you just say Dahlia’s favorite food is vegetable curry?”
“Why do you ask?” Eugenia gives me a pointed look.
Because as far as I know, your daughter’s only two food groups are sugar and chocolate. “Because it’s one of my favorite foods.” And I need to find out why your daughter didn’t mention her love of vegetables .
“Say you aren’t a vegetarian like Prue. A guy your size can’t live without protein.”
Even Monty’s voice irritates me. He needs to stop talking to or about my woman. “Vegetables provide protein.” This is going to be a long meal.
***
“Buy in is a dollar” Dahlia’s dad puts a new deck of cards down on a poker table.
“I say we up the stakes.” Monty sits down across from me. “In honor of our guest.”
“You know, we never play for more than a dollar in my house.” Dahlia’s mom sits down in the dealer’s spot. She opens the box and shuffles like a professional.
“I’ll be right back.” Dahlia stands up.
She doesn’t have any pockets in the dress that I’m having a hard time keeping my eyes off of. “I’ve got Dahlia’s dollar. Why the low stakes?”
“That’s all Mom.”
Dahlia sits back down next to me brushing her arm against mine. Not distracting at all.
“She wanted to teach us responsibility and help us avoid a gambling addiction. We’ve all won and lost over the years. Losing your allowance at eight years old was painful. We’d have to do extra chores to earn it back.”
“Dahlia was the only one to do those extra chores. Montgomery always gave me some of his money.” Basil lifts the corner of his cards that Dahlia’s mother just dealt out.
“Yet you managed to avoid a gambling addiction.” Dahlia doesn’t even look at her cards.
“That’s because I always lose.” Basil pushes two chips into the middle.
“Without a poker face, you’ll never win.” Montgomery slides three chips into the middle.
Dalhia’s father folds .
Dahlia slides three chips into the middle.
I lean over and whisper, “Aren’t you going to look at your cards.
“Dahlia isn’t allowed to look at her cards until after the flop. Otherwise, no one stands a chance.” Basil pushes his cards into the center. “Prue got Mom’s card-playing gene.”
“Speak for yourself. I do just fine.” Monty sips his beer.
“Card playing gene?” That’s such an odd description.
Dahlia’s mom shakes her head and the room goes quiet.
It’s time to watch and learn.
***
“How? How did you do that?” Dahlia stares at my cards. “That hand is practically impossible.”
“Practically.” I leave the chips in the center of the table even though they’re all mine.
“You need to play Mom. Just don’t let her hustle you.” Dahlia nudges me.
“She’s had the entire evening to figure out my tells. Hustling her would be practically impossible.” Which is partially true. If I hadn’t sprinkled a few fake tells in there. The win against Dahlia came down to the cards dealt. I didn’t have a clue what she was thinking. Then again unless she’s suffering or happy, I rarely have a clue what’s going on in that beautiful brain of hers.
“I’m sure Maverick doesn’t want to play again this late.” Eugenia stacks the cards up.
Do I? Not really. But curiosity wins out. “One hand would be fine.”
“What are the stakes?” She leans forward.
“Dinner. If I win, you invite me for another delightful meal.” Which will give me another excuse to endear myself to your family.
“And if I win, you need to take my daughter out on a date.”
Dahlia gasps. “Mom. ”
“Deal.” This couldn’t be any easier. But I need to ensure that I lose to a woman that seemingly never loses. “You’ve dealt all night. Shall I deal for us?”
She raises an eyebrow at the unorthodox suggestion. “Thank you.”
There’s an art to stacking the deck. And even more of one when it isn’t a new deck.
Both are skills I possess. All eyes watch me as I shuffle. The cards slip out of my fingers in the exact order I want.
***
“Dahlia, may I pick you up for lunch tomorrow?” It’s odd asking the woman I love out for dinner in front of her family who doesn’t know we’re together, but the charade is necessary.
“Um…” She looks at her mother. “I… um… guess.”
My beautiful Dahlia has been attempting to process me being here all night… I’m going to find out later if she loves the idea or hates it.
“Why don’t I walk you to the door?”
There’s something about the way Dahlia’s mother says it that makes me nervous.
“Um… Bye… It was nice meeting you… Maverick.”
Dahlia is so cute. “I look forward to our next meeting.” Which will be sooner than you might think.
As I step out of the front door and onto the stoop, I say, “Thank you for having me to dinner. The food was wonderful.”
Eugenia steps out with me and shuts the door. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. Watching you play poker this evening was insightful. In the years I’ve played poker professionally, I’ve only seen a few people stack the deck as well as you just did.”
She made me ?
“And I only saw one other person lose on purpose. Now it isn’t surprising that you’d want to go out with my daughter. She’s a kind and beautiful woman. But what I found very interesting is that my daughter touched you, a total stranger, all the time. The smiles she gave you were warm and familiar. Now it’s possible that it was love at first sight for her.”
I wanted Dahlia from the first moment I saw her. But no mother wants to hear those words.
“On the other hand, what single man in his right mind spends three times the market value for a house in a family neighborhood? What man plays golf badly, but smiles the whole time with my husband, happily losing their hard-earned money?”
A man with more money than sense, it seems.
“I also found it interesting that every time Montgomery spoke to Dahlia, your eyes shot daggers at him. And every time he took a step in her direction, you moved between them. And every time he called her Prue, your fists clenched.”
“For an extremely observant woman, you missed that Dahlia hates Monty,” I can’t keep the sneer out of my voice when I say his name.
“Everyone hates Montgomery. He’s a pompous jerk and always has been even as a child. But he’s also Basil’s only friend, so we all tolerate him.”
Tolerate… “If he touches her again without her consent, I’ll break his fingers.”
“Excuse me?”
Why didn’t I hold my tongue? Now she thinks I’m a monster.
“What do you mean, he touched my daughter without her consent?”
“He wrapped an arm around her and called her ‘Prue the Prude’ while she cringed away.”
Eugenia paces up and down the walkway, muttering to herself, “That little… Basil is just going to need to find another friend.” She turns to me and stops. “Let’s stop playing games. I know you’re in love with my daughter. And I know she’s in love with you. I also know you aren’t the businessman you’re pretending to be. There’s a lethal side of you hiding under the facade you’ve been pu tting up. I won’t ask what you do, because we both know it’s not quite legal, whatever it is. I only have one question for you. Does my daughter trust you?”
“With her life.”
“That’s good enough for me. Dahlia has always… well, almost always, been able to see through people.” Eugenia takes a step forward. “But if you hurt her, I will kill you. My daughter has endured enough pain to last her several lifetimes. You won’t add to that.”
What had Dahlia endured? “I would rather die than hurt her.”
Eugenia nods. “I expect you two will make this official quickly.”
“Yes, ma’am.”