Two of my customers rise, gathering their chips.They’ve lost the last three rounds.
I can predict with ninety-nine percent accuracy when a customer will leave.Three rounds of losses have a fifty percent probability, while five or six rounds guarantee they’ll be moving along.Tonight I’m hot.No one stays at my table for more than a few hands.
My last two customers—middle-aged mother types—have managed to break even for a half-hour.The longest stretch so far.
Dealer shows a ten.Not looking good, ladies.
The woman with frosted blond bangs scrunches her nose.She whispers to her pal, her fake pink nails shining in the overhead lights as she cups her mouth.With a nod from her friend, she swipes the table, indicating a hit.
I deal her an eight of hearts and her lips press together in a subdued smile, but her eyes dart warily to my ten.
Her friend hits as well, then holds.
I flip my hidden card.Ace.
House takes all.
Again.
I’m even winning when it comes to getting Gen hooked up, so what the hell is wrong with me?What is it about Jaeger that has me on edge?
My tight ponytail is giving me a headache.Holding my hands over the table, I clap them together, and show my palms to the ceiling—and the creepy people watching from the surveillance system—before tugging the strands loose near my temple.
The pressure on my scalp eases, but the sledgehammer inside my head persists.Flashing my hands again, I show I haven’t pulled any cards from behind my ears and deal another hand.
A new customer sits at my table while I’m looking down, and the fine hairs on the back of my neck tingle.
Jaeger is seated in front of me, his shoulders practically taking up two seat widths.
My heart ricochets inside my chest like a pinball.I can’t control the smile that tugs at the corners of my mouth.
Stop smiling!I compress my lips in a straight line.
Jaeger doesn’t say anything at first, but when it’s his turn to hit, he swipes his hand and says, “What are you doing after work tonight?”
The first thing that comes to mind is that he’s hitting on me.Well, he’s hitting—for me to deal him a card—just not hitting onme.I need to stop thinking about him like a guy I might be interested in.I’m not interested in any guys.I have Eric.
I pass him his card.“Not much.Why, what’s up?”
Peering at the cards on the table, he says, “You and Gen feel like joining me and Mason for a Tahoe sunrise tradition?”
Sounds promising.
Jaeger, or it could be Mason, probably wants to see Gen tonight, and Jaeger’s checking in with me because she and I are a package deal.
I’m thinking champagne on the beach… He has skills, if this is how he’s going to play it.
“I’m game.What did Gen say?”I flip my hidden card and add a six to my seven.I deal myself another card.
A king?Dealer busts.
And just like that, my winning streak breaks.
The frosted sisters lost as well, and have already abandoned the table.Jaeger’s eighteen is the winning hand.
“She says she’ll go if you do.”He scrapes up his winnings.
See,I tell myself,he’s just checking in with me.He asked Gen out first.
