Katie had played cards before. Rummy, even. But never quite like this.
The Sweet family treated Continental Rummy like a contact sport. Alice presided from her end of the table with thebenevolent authority of a referee who wasn’t afraid to call fouls. Cassie shuffled with the kind of casual expertise that should have been Katie’s first warning. And Garret—Garret approached the game with an intensity that suggested national security depended on his next card.
Katie glanced at her cards, then glanced up, speaking to anyone at the table. “What are we doing now?”
“Two runs of four.” Alice smiled at her guest.
Runs. That was like a straight, which meant four cards in a row of the same suit. Too bad she seemed to have all pairs. Two sevens, two fours, a pair of kings, a nine of spades, and a three of hearts. Where were the dumb pairs in the last round when she’d needed them?
Beside her, Josh rearranged his cards for the third or fourth, or was it fifth time? Sitting so close, with every shift, his elbow brushed against hers. At first, she’d barely noticed, but now, she had a rising urge to lean into his touch. How crazy was that?
Another round of play and Katie found herself biting down on her back teeth. Between the free draw and the discards anyone would think she should be able to piece together at least one run of four but so far, no such luck.
Josh’s elbow rubbed against hers again, only this time, the pressure remained warm and solid against her as he leaned in and whispered, “You doing okay?”
Not wanting to say something stupid like,dang you smell good, she opted to simply nod, and just for the hell of it, rearranged her cards in no particular order.
Another round and across the table, Garret went down first. Again. Except, she was pretty sure he still held more cards in his hand than the original eight.
“Show-off,” Carson muttered good-naturedly.
“It’s strategy.” Garret flashed a toothy grin.
Pointing her nose in her brother’s direction, Jillian rolled her eyes. “I’m pretty sure the idea of going down is to have fewer cards in your hands than you were dealt.” Now she shook her head. “I don’t think your strategy got the memo.”
Katie had to bite down hard on her lower lip to stop from laughing. First at Jillian’s jabbing remark and then at Garret’s crestfallen expression. These folks sure knew how to raise the drama on an ordinary card game.
“Ha, ha,” Garret quipped back, carefully watching the cards played in the next two rounds. When Jillian went down, still holding a couple of cards in her hand, Garret grinned a little wider, practically bouncing in his seat when his turn came around and he placed two cards on Jillian’s hand. “Read ’em and weep.”
Chuckling quietly, Cassie shook her head. “Don’t count your winnings yet.” In two swift moves, she laid down both runs of four and without a single card left in her hands, grinned up at her brother-in-law. “I believe the expression is… read ’em and weep.”
Katie had to cover her mouth with her hand to stop from laughing. Losing the game or not, she was loving every minute of the evening. Her entire life, this was what she’d been missing—the teasing, the noise, the way they all poked at each other but never with real malice. Growing up an only child had been quiet, peaceful, but lonely in too many different ways—until now.
Next round, shaking her head, Katie tossed a chip into the pot, stole a card and mumbled softly, “I feel like I’m subsidizing the family winnings.”
“I know how you feel,” Josh muttered back.
Determined to get the three sets of three of a kind before anyone else went down, she rearranged her cards and made a single mistake of glancing over at Josh, catching a wide smile and eyes focused on her not his cards. Her breath caught andthe noise of the table faded—Alice’s laughter, Garret’s groan as Kade went down, Jillian’s triumphant cheer. It all blurred into background static.
“And I’m out.” Grinning wider than ever, Cassie set her cards down, scooped up the winning pile of chips, and leaned back.
The moment gone, Katie blinked. “How do you keep doing that?”
Kade slung his arm around his wife’s shoulder. “She counts cards.”
“She what?” Katie knew her mouth was hanging open.
“Vegas card dealer,” Carson spoke as though that explained everything.
Shaking her head, Cassie leveled her gaze with Katie. “My former career is not relevant. I’ve always been really good with numbers and learned to count cards as a kid in foster care. I remember every card played and don’t pick up spare cards because the math doesn’t work. Not if I’m patient.”
“Don’t you ever pick up cards?” Katie asked meekly.
“Sure,” Cassie shrugged. “If the math is there.”
“Math,” she chuckled softly. Who knew a degree in mathematics and statistics would be totally useless in a simple family card game.
By the last round of twelve cards, Katie couldn’t believe lady luck had finally found her. Three runs of four and she had a good start to all three.
