Penny glanced at Brett. “The guys who jacked up your knee?”
Brett nodded and emptied the pint, making sure the six bowls were evenly filled. He turned and threw out the carton as Penny pulled six spoons from the drawer and picked up two bowls to take to the table.
“At least I didn’t hurt more than your pride.” She winked at Brett as she passed.
“My ribs beg to differ,” he murmured, and his voice seemed to hum through her bones.She’d been sitting on his lap, and as brief as it had been, she’d reached for him. He knew it, and she knew it.If they hadn’t been interrupted, would she have done more than that?
Penny set the first two bowls in front of Kelty and Emma, then went back for the others. Brett took dessert to Tyler and Sean, and she brought the last two bowls for them. They all sat around the table, and Brett dumped out a bag of Nestle Smarties.
“Will these work?”
“Little late now to ask that question, don’t you think?” Kelty ran her hands through the chocolate morsels. “You are all going down.”
Sean pulled the deck of cards from their carton and started dealing.
“I haven’t played Texas Hold ‘em in a long time,” Penny admitted.
“Good. I don’t think my ego can take another hit tonight.” Brett picked up his cards, and Tyler quickly reminded her of the rules and gameplay while Emma divided the Smarties evenly among them.
Penny bowed out the first few hands, happy to give up her few buy-in candies. As the rounds progressed, everyone had their moments of glory. One hand, Kelty went all-in with her pocket queens only to be bested by Emma's straight. In another round, Tyler managed to bluff his way to victory with nothing more than a pair of twos.
“I don’t think I can trust you anymore.” Emma shook her head and scooped up the cards in a huff. “You’re too convincing.”
Tyler laughed. “You weren’t complaining when I convinced our contractor to bring down the cost of installing the hardwood floors.”
Brett reached out and stacked the empty ice cream bowls. “Wouldn’t have worked on me, buddy. I know your tells.”
“This pile of Smarties says otherwise,” Tyler gloated. “By the way, we still want you for the build-out on Tepper Place.”
Brett exhaled. “I told you, it’s not a big enough project. We’d—”
“Dominic could spare his team for a weekend, don’t you think? Just to get the framing done?”
Brett stood and carried the dishes to the sink. “You can take it up with him, bud. I’m staying out of this.”
Emma leaned over as Tyler launched into another argument. “Kelty told me you’re looking for a job in the northwest. Any luck?”
“I submitted a ton of applications. No bites so far.” Penny played with the Smarties in front of her, organizing them by colour.
“It sucks. I remember that feeling. We were scrambling for contracts when our studio closed down at the beginning of the year.”
“You’re a designer, right?” Penny asked. Kelty had told her about Emma over the years, but she hadn’t paid close attention before having a face to put with the name.
“Food stylist and now a project manager for these properties,” Emma answered. “Remind me how you and Kelty met?”
“Kelty went to UBC. We met in anatomy our first semester.”
“Wait, you took anatomy?” Emma spun toward Kelty.
Kelty grinned. “Undetermined major for a year and a half.”
“And then you ended up doing business?”
Kelty sighed. “Goes to show how well anatomy went. If Penny hadn’t been there to help me study, I would’ve failed that class.”
She wasn’t exaggerating. Kelty’s parents had pushed her to go into a medical field, but all the memorization had given her heart palpitations. Kelty figured out she was a big-picture person. A strategist. She was good with numbers. Not so great with body systems.
“Good to know Brett’s physical therapist isn’t a hack,” Tyler teased.
