Jillian turned, beaming like she’d been waiting for this moment her entire life. “Would you like to join us?”
They nodded eagerly. Within minutes, two more wandered in, drawn by the noise and lights. From the way Jillian and the aunts interacted, the new attendees did not appear to be locals. Just what everyone hoped for.
The newcomers settled in, more wine was poured, and while their candles set, they worked on another scent.
Stirring the wax once again, Josh glanced up at her. “Having fun?”
Katie really loved how a lazy smile often played at his lips. “Yeah. I really am.”
Still watching her more than the wax, his grin widened. “Me too.”
Now all she had to figure out was what the heck was she supposed to do now?
Chapter Nine
Josh wasn’t sure when he’d stopped listening to the clatter of tonight’s dinner dishes and started watching the way Katie laughed with Jackie. By the time it was decided that Monopoly was out and cards were in, he wished that he could just sit and watch her a little longer. Okay, maybe a lot longer.
Folks moved around the massive dining room table. Preston and Sara Sue excused themselves from the evening’s entertainment, as did Rachel and her husband, but the rest of the clan looked a tad too eager for Josh’s liking.
“Josh,” Alice pointed to a chair at the opposite end of the table, “you sit over there. Katie to your left, Carson to your right.”
People continued to shuffle around the table, making themselves at home. Jillian muttered something aboutthank heaven it wasn’t Monopolybefore taking a seat next to Katie.
“Continental Rummy,” Alice announced. “Only jokers are wild.” She looked to Josh and Katie. “It’s an easy game. Like Rummy, you have to make runs and multiples of a kind, we’ll start with two three of a kind. Six cards are dealt. If you want to draw a card when it’s not your turn, you toss a coin into the jar and pick up your card as well as a spare card for penalty. Once you have the required cards, you can go down, but you can’t place any cards elsewhere until the next round.”
Josh glanced around the table. Carson whistled as he organized his chips by color. Garret’s expression couldn’t have been more serious if he’d been preparing his tax return. Smiling at Alice, Cassie shuffled the decks. With this many people more than one deck of cards was required. With the ease of her former profession, Cassie shuffled the cards in sections before shuffling them all at once. Setting the cards to her right, Kade cut the deck and set the remainder in the center of the table.
Reaching for the first dealt card, Josh tilted his head slightly, leaning into Katie. “Ever played?”
Sitting stiffly, she seemed to nervously nibble at her bottom lip as she barely shook her head—another endearing habit he tried to ignore. “Not this version.”
“Me neither. Looks like we’re both in trouble.”
Josh picked up his cards, immediately spotting he had absolutely nothing worth keeping. Across from him, Carson already looked pleased with his hand. Meanwhile, Garret reorganized his cards for the third time with the concentration of a bomb defusal expert.
“First round is two sets of three of a kind,” Alice reminded them. “Simple enough.”
Simple. Right. Josh glanced at Katie’s profile as she studied her cards, bottom lip caught between her teeth again. That little habit was becoming dangerously distracting.
Garret drew from the deck and discarded. Play moved around the table. When it reached Garret again, he plucked a card from the discard pile without hesitation, rearranged something in his hand, and set down his cards with quiet confidence. “Down.”
“Already?” Jillian groaned.
“Math teacher,” Garret shrugged, not even trying to hide his smug smile.
Three rounds in, Josh had burned through half his chips buying cards out of turn. Katie wasn’t faring much better. Every time she reached for the pile, she’d mutter something under her breath that made him want to lean closer to hear.
Who was he kidding, even if she were silent, he’d still have to fight the urge to lean in closer. “Having trouble there?”
She drew yet another penalty card. “That one,” she nodded toward Garret, “is a card shark.”
“You heard him, math teacher,” Josh grinned. “Comes with the territory.”
“And I’m down, and out.” Cassie splayed her cards on the table, and leaning back, grinned like the Cheshire cat. Not a single penalty card. How had she… and then he remembered. His buddy’s new wife used to be a Vegas card dealer, but more than that, the woman had a memory for cards and numbers that could make them all very rich if she’d ever sit at the other side of a Vegas card game.
“Okay,” Katie shook her head, and setting down one card at a time, counted her points. “Maybe weshouldhave played Monopoly.” Calling out her points, she heaved a sigh and leaned back in her seat.
He couldn’t tell if her teasing was in earnest or playful fun, but either way, Monopoly or cards, the only thing Josh was sure of, was that he was no longer frustrated bywhyhe was here, he was just very gladherewas with Katie. And wasn’t that an interesting revelation?
