Single Wide Female: The Bucket List Mega Bundle - 24 Books (Books #1-24) (53 page)

Now that I’d given blood and overcome such a big fear, I was ready to cross off the next item on my list. There was one thing I’d always wanted to do, but never felt cool enough to pull off. With a little more confidence from overcoming my fear, I was ready to confront anything that intimidated me. I stood up from my chair and walked over to the wall mirror hanging in the hallway. I studied my own reflection.

“Alright, Sammy, it’s time to get your poker face on.”

I smiled. I’d been wanting to learn how to play poker for some time, but it always seemed too complicated for me to handle. Now I was ready to tackle it.

A beep on the computer alerted me to a new message on my blog. I grinned and headed back over. I was giddy with excitement as I sat down in front of the computer. Was it a new message from Blue?

Wish I could have been there to kiss your booboo. You were quite brave today, SWF, and I can’t wait to see where that bravery takes you next. I wonder if you’ll ever be brave enough to add me to your list?

Blue

I stared at the words with disbelief. Was he calling me out? Was he challenging me to add a date with him to my list? I smiled at the idea. Even though it made me happy to think of it, I also felt a pang of fear.

I knew I wasn’t ready just yet. I’d built up such an idea in my head of who Blue was, and how we would be together, that I knew if I didn’t prepare myself for our meeting, I might be disappointed. I loved having Blue as a friend, as a source of support. Why meet face-to-face and risk losing that?

I thought a moment and then typed a message in return.

Thanks, Blue. Your advice really helped me today. I guess we’ll just have to see if putting you on the list is in the cards.

I smiled at my own play on words and then turned off my computer. It was the only way I wouldn’t keep checking for a message back from him. I sucked my lollipop and plopped down on the couch. I was going to need my rest so that I’d be in top shape for my next bucket list item, which required some brain power.

Single Wide Female: The Bucket List

#15 Learn Poker

By

Lillianna Blake

Copyright © 2015 Lillianna Blake

Cover design by
Beetiful Book Covers

All rights reserved.

LilliannaBlake.com

Chapter 1

It’s always been fairly easy for me to get stuck in a rut. I get into a routine I like and that’s enough for me. Work, home, blog, Max— that was pretty much how I spent my days. My blog was always a fun way to express myself, and Max was usually plenty of entertainment.

I never really changed my pattern unless something happened to shake it up. But there were a few things that I thought I would enjoy and had never really gotten around to trying. There was always a good reason not to do any of them, or to focus on something else instead.

I put a few of those things on my bucket list. When I did, I’d hoped that it would make them more of a priority for me. I’d learned, over the past few months of exploring a list of activities, that trying new things could lead to entire new worlds opening up for me. I’d made friends with people I never would have met otherwise. I’d experienced neighborhoods, shops, and parks that I didn’t even know existed.

I was ready to shake things up again, and I knew exactly what to choose off the list to do just that.

I opened up my blog, Single Wide Female, to let my readers know what I was up to. If I was being honest with myself, it was really to let one specific reader know what I was up to. Blue.

Blue and I had never actually met in person, but his opinion on things had become almost as important as my best friend Max’s. I was ready to see what he thought about my next adventure.

There’s something about old black and white cowboy movies that has always made me feel good inside. It wasn’t the morals of the time, or even a particular film itself, but maybe just the way they entertained themselves.

There hasn’t been a cowboy movie that I’ve seen yet that didn’t include a scene or two of men playing cards. Usually the games took place in a smoky tavern atmosphere with the roughest, toughest men in the west at the table.

In modern times, very few people sat around and played cards as a way to entertain themselves. At least in my experience, it was quite rare.

I’d always wanted to be part of that kind of card game. Maybe it was to prove that a woman could be just as cutthroat, or maybe it was just because the idea of it was alluring. Either way it was something that I had always wanted to try.

When I added it to my bucket list, I thought it would be an easy task to accomplish. It would be fun and simple to learn.

As I shared my thoughts on my blog, I knew that it seemed like a simple task, and not up to par with my usual adventures. But I had a feeling that it was going to lead to quite an eye-opening experience.

After I posted my blog, I checked my e-mail. I scanned a news site, I popped on to a few blogs that I followed, and I pretended not to be waiting for a response from Blue. He was usually fairly quick to respond to anything I posted. Ten minutes later I was still waiting and starting to feel a little obsessive.

I decided to focus on learning poker, rather than waiting for Blue’s opinion about it.

I typed the word poker into the search engine. Several results came up right away. I opened up the first site on the list. It turned out to be an electronic poker gaming site. I was fairly certain that I would be able to learn everything I needed to know from it. How hard could it be?

As I was registering for the site, I found myself getting more and more confused just by the sign-up process. I kept mixing up my answers and wondering why a website needed so much information about me.

When I finally reached the point of actually playing a game of poker, I found myself inundated with requests from other players. This made me uneasy. Who were these other players? Were they sitting at home waiting for a newbie to log in so they could attack?

I figured it didn’t matter and continued on to selecting a game. Once I was part of a game I was prepared to take it slow and learn how to play; however, the other players were clearly in a rush. They were making bets and turning in cards so fast that I had no idea what was happening.

Before I knew it, the game was over, I had lost and I was more confused than ever. I decided to get off the poker website and see if I could just look up a tutorial on how to play poker. I searched for a step-by-step simple guide to poker. I clicked on what looked like a harmless instructional site.

Searching the Internet for any subject usually only leads to one thing. I knew this already, and yet I still did it. Lo and behold, I stumbled on to a strip poker how-to. I admit that I was slightly fascinated at first, but quickly closed the site when I realized that there was not much actual poker playing going on.

I took a deep breath. The entire process was getting a little frustrating. I did one more search for an explanation of how to play poker. This time it turned up the proper results. Unfortunately, it turned up millions of results.

I clicked on a few to see which I understood better, only to find that all three sites described different rules about poker. Who knew there were different kinds of poker? I certainly didn’t.

With a growl of irritation, I closed down my browser. It was clear to me that I was not going to get anywhere with this process. I needed someone who could teach me one-on-one. I needed eyes I could look into and hands I could watch dealing cards. That was my style of learning—visual.

Chapter 2

I finally gave up on the virtual search for poker lessons. It wasn’t working for me. I needed the real thing, with the cards in my hand and chips on the table. I wanted nothing more than to figure out the intricacies of the game. I could only do that with a real person in front of me. There was only one person that I could think of to do the job. I grabbed my phone and called Max.

“Hello, gorgeous.”

I smiled at his words. He always made me smile before I even got a word out. “Good morning, beautiful.”

“Oh, I’m beautiful, am I? Does that mean you’re taking me out to breakfast?”

“No. But I will cook you breakfast.”

“If?”

“If you come over.”

“And?”

“Please, Max. What makes you think that I want something from you?”

“Please, Sammy. What makes you think I don’t know you? You don’t call me beautiful for no reason.”

“I do too.”

“Nope.”

“Fine. I will make you breakfast if you come over and teach me how to play poker.”

“Poker?” He laughed. “Why would you want to learn how to play poker?”

“Let’s just say that it’s important to me. Next time someone says they want to play poker, I want to be able to say that I can play too.”

“It’s not the easiest game.”

‘It’s not the hardest either, is it?”

“Well, no.”

“So?”

“So what are we having for breakfast?”

“You have to come here to find out.”

“On my way.”

He hung up the phone. I was still smiling when I hung up on my end.

Max and I had a natural way of being with one another. It was true that my heart ached for more from him, but it was also true that he had made it clear he was not the least bit interested in me in a romantic way. It was something that I had learned to accept. The pangs of desire for him were something I had learned to ignore. I wasn’t letting any crush get in the way of such an amazing friendship. Having a friend that I could trust was much more important to me than having a relationship that might not work out.

I checked my blog one more time to see if Blue had posted a note yet. There were a few new messages from some of my other readers advising me on their favorite things about poker, but nothing from Blue. I was a little disappointed.

I typed a reply back to those few people and then turned off my computer completely. I didn’t want to think about Blue all day, and I didn’t want to be distracted by the computer. I was looking forward to spending time playing with Max.

After changing out of my pajamas, I started preparing breakfast. I did enjoy cooking. I wasn’t the best at it, but I’d learned a few things over the past few months—and dancing made everything taste better.

I picked up the remote for my television and turned on my streaming music channel. As my favorite song filled the kitchen, I began to dance around. Not only was it a way to make cooking fun, it was a way to get my morning exercise in too.

Lately the pounds had been dropping, and I was proud of myself for sticking to healthier eating habits. My exercise habits, however, could use a little work. So I started taking advantage of every moment I could find to integrate exercise with my activities.

By the time I had the pan sizzling, I had worked up quite a sweat. I managed to get all of the eggs cracked without leaving behind any shells. I grated some fresh cheese to toss in. I was feeling very into the process. I was just about to reach for the milk when my bare foot stepped in something very slippery.

It wasn’t until I was horizontal and heading for the floor that I realized I must have dripped a bit of egg white on the tile. I landed fairly harmlessly on the kitchen floor, but my ego was bruised. I grumbled as I got to my feet. I grabbed the mop and cleaned the floor quickly. Then I went right back to working on the omelet.

I’d just finished preparing the omelet when Max walked in the door. He was carrying coffees for both of us. I loved the scent of fresh coffee.

“Hi, Max.” I was cheerful as I walked over to him and took one of the cups.

“Morning.” He sat down at the breakfast bar that wrapped around my small kitchen. “Where’s my food, woman?”

“It’ll be in your lap if you start talking that way to me.” I waved the spatula at him as a warning.

“If you toss anything in my lap, no poker lessons for you.”

I sighed and swept his omelet onto a plate. When I set it down in front of him he smiled and rubbed his hands together.

“This looks divine.”

“Just remember, you’re working for your food.”

I sat down beside him with my own plate.

“What’s the green stuff in here?”

“Kale.”

“Why would you ruin eggs with kale?”

“It’s good for you. Just eat it.”

“I’ll eat it if you explain to me just how you got a cheese smiley face on your beautiful bottom.” Max offered me a charming smile.

“A what?” I peered over my shoulder at my own rear end and tried not to blush at his description of it.

Chapter 3

Max was never shy about letting me know how beautiful he thought I was, though I wasn’t convinced he really meant it.

Sure enough, there was a circular smiley pattern of cheese mushed onto the back of my pants. It was actually quite a good picture. I realized it must have happened when I slipped in the egg white and landed on the floor. Normally I would have been mortified. But around Max, I never had to worry about things like that. He always accepted me for my messy klutzy self.

“I better go change.” I frowned.

“Don’t change for me.” Max winked at me. I shot him a look of annoyance.

“You better teach me well after this.”

“I will. Oh, I will.” Max’s tone left me slightly concerned as I slipped into my room to change.

There was something about the determination in his voice that made me wonder if he was taking my request a little too seriously.

When I stepped back out of my room, I found that I might have been right to be concerned. Max was sitting at the dining room table with playing cards in front of him. He had pulled on a green visor and was carefully stacking poker chips.

“So you want to learn how to play poker?” He eyed me with a hard look. “What makes you think you have the make-up for a game like this?”

“Ha ha, Max, spare me the theatrics, I just want to learn!” I sat down across from him. I reached for the deck of cards to shuffle them but he playfully slapped my hand away.

“Don’t touch the cards, student.”

“Max?” I looked at him with disbelief.