Unruly Magic (4 page)

When I got to the end of my drive I almost faltered, but just then two people I recognised as Annalise’s friends drove up and parked and waved to me so I went in with them as it would have been rude to just turn around and walk away. Plus, I’d have looked like an idiot. As I went in, I couldn’t help look over my shoulder before I shut the door, the same feeling of being watched as I’d felt earlier teasing me. I shook off my paranoia, pushed thoughts of Chyler to the back of my mind and shut the door.

A game was already underway with six players sat in solid concentration around the circular dining table. For tonight, it had been covered in green baize and there were several stacks of cards as well as a bunch of coloured poker chips. I hadn’t the faintest idea what was a good hand or not so I hung back to talk to Annalise as she introduced me to faces I didn’t yet know. I nodded politely, said my hellos and had my hand pumped enthusiastically a couple of times. It seemed people didn’t move to Wilding often and, small towns being what they are, everyone knew who I was already and that I’d taken the house across the road. I guessed no amount of wards would have staved off the locals from knowing that. However, I wondered if I should do something about containing that information and made the decision to think on it some more later. I didn’t know if I ever wanted it getting out where I lived especially as I’d spent months trying to live as anonymously as possible in a small town where everyone knew everybody and my English voice stuck out like a sore thumb.

“Can you play?” asked Annalise and when I shook my head, she carried on, nodding at the table as she spoke. “Gage learned to play when he was real little and he’s pretty damn good. He keeps trying to teach me but it’s really not getting in here.” She tapped her head and rolled her eyes vacantly.

“You’ve known each other a long time, huh?”

Annalise looked at me quizzically and nodded. “All our lives, hon’.”

“How long have you lived together?” I asked her to be conversational as she took the wine bottle and motioned that I should follow her to the kitchen.

Annalise looked at me like I had gone a little mad as she uncorked the bottle and poured a glass for me, then for her. “Well, except for a few years here and there, all our lives too. Our parents left the house to both of us when they passed.”

“I thought you were...” I started then choked back the words as I followed her back out to the living room. Realisation hit Annalise at the same time and she hooted so loudly with laughter that the players broke concentration to turn and look at us.

“Stella, oh Stella,” she howled and tears started to run down her face as she bent almost double, holding her wine glass steady in the air so she wouldn’t spill any liquid.

“What’s up with you?” asked Gage looking up from his cards, then from her to me, a frown pitting his forehead. Some of his hair had spilled forward and he brushed it back with his free hand, then reached for the beer bottle, touching it to his lips.

“Oh my,” Annalise snorted, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands. “Stella, here, thinks we’re ... you know ... hah!”

“You know ... what?” Gage flicked his eyes to his hand then back to us. I knew he understood when he choked on his beer, earning himself a thump on the back from the player next to him.

I felt myself redden as eyes turned on me when Annalise finally breathed, “Stella seems to be under the impression that we’re married, or living together, or something.”

His coughing fit over, Gage grimaced. “Gross,” he muttered and looked at me like he couldn’t fathom why I would think such a thing. Finally he rolled his eyes and busied himself looking at his cards with more attention than they could possibly deserve.

“Why would you think that, honey? Gage is my big brother.” Apparently it was the funniest thing Annalise had ever heard.

“Well...,” I started. Then, I wondered, why had I thought that? I’d gotten their post in my mailbox once or twice and they had the same surname, Garoul, so when I added to the equation in that they shared a house and didn’t look much like each other – though when I thought about it now they had the same shaped eyes – I had jumped to a huge conclusion that they were some kind of – what? Couple? Lovers? – when it had never occurred to me that they might be siblings. Apparently I was a ginormous idiot. “I just assumed,” I finished lamely, a hot flush burning my cheeks.

“All this time you’ve been thinking we were ... eugh! I don’t even want to finish that thought.” Annalise laughed as she handed me her glass so she could break open a bag of chips to up-end in two big melamine bowls. She put one on the table for the players and then another on the side table by the sofa.

The man next to Gage, the helpful back thumper, took one look at the cards he’d been dealt and folded, tossing them on a table with a shake of his head. “You’ve the luck of the devil,” he moaned as Gage put his hands around the small pile of poker chips, pulling them to his side of the table.

“Can’t deny it,” grinned Gage with a broad smile that would melt an igloo. The good-natured man got up and freed his seat for another player and came over to stand by Annalise. Her whole face lit up as she looked up at him.

“Meet Beau,” she said and Beau, who looked more like a Butch with his bulging arms barely restrained by a check shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He had on blue jeans with worn patches over the thighs, and his blond hair was cut close to the scalp. He reached over and pumped my hand. “Beau just got out of the Marines and has moved back to Wilding,” added Annalise.

“Welcome home,” I said, wincing a bit as he crushed my hand in his strong grip.

“It’s good to be back,” said Beau and I noticed that he had gently looped his arm around Annalise’s waist. A-ha! Good job I had had my explanation before I’d seen that or I would have been thought they were having an affair. That would have been mortifying, not to mention completely confusing.

“We’ve missed Beau over these past few years,” Annalise added, her eyes still fixed on him.

Beau looked at her fondly and I wondered if there had been some history between them. “I was glad to come back and find Annalise still here.”

“Couldn’t keep away,” she murmured.

It seemed that Beau was a popular guy, judging by the reactions he was getting from the room. He was by no means my type, if there was such a thing, but he was broad and tidy looking with an amicable personality that matched his easy smile. For a big man, he seemed gentle around Annalise, who was rather petite, and I liked that. Annalise seemed to bring out a sisterly quality in me and with her easy nature, I liked to see people being nice to her.

“Why don’t you play a game?” suggested Annalise signalling Beau’s vacated chair at the table.

“I don’t know the rules,” I admitted, feeling like a lame ass. So far, this evening was excruciating for me even if I was trying. I felt like I was stood on the edges of fun, not quite able to lean forward and grasp the feeling. I felt like my social ineptitude was rolling off me in waves, but I put my game face on anyway so I didn’t disappoint my friend.

“Gage,” she called. “Did you know that Stella cannot play poker?”

Gage sat back and looked at me. “Get out. Everyone can play poker.”

“I can play Gin Rummy,” I confessed weakly.

Gage rolled his eyes. “That is a game for retirement folk. Come over and I’ll teach you the basics then we can have a game.”

I looked to Annalise and Beau for my get out clause but they were busy making eyes at each other, so I just nodded and took up the spare chair. Seeing that I was a newbie, the other players made their excuses and headed into the kitchen for beers. I looked after them, feeling uncomfortable. “Now I feel like I’ve ruined the game.”

Gage shook his head as he shuffled the deck. “They just couldn’t accept that they were all out of chips. They’re probably on the first step of drowning their sorrows right now.”

“That sucks.”

“They’ll probably win it all back next week.” Gage grinned, dimples popping on each cheek, and I couldn’t help smiling back.

Gage showed me the basic plays and we played a couple of easy rounds with our cards face up on the table so he could tell me what to do. I was getting the hang of it but only if I really thought about it. At least it gave me something new to think about, something that wasn’t wrapped in sadness or involved in coming up with new and inventive ways to aid my search.

“Ready for a real game?”

“I guess.” I pulled a face.

“Are you going to play to win?” Gage cocked an eyebrow at me as he swept the cards up and started to shuffle, letting the cards ripple in his hands in a fancy move.

“I’ll do my best.”

Annalise had sidled up behind me. “How about you put stakes on it? You’ll play better if you’ve got something to lose,” she suggested, which didn’t strike me as helpful but it did draw a little crowd round us and they murmured their agreement. I wasn’t sure if they just wanted to see me lose or, hope against hopes, watch Gage’s luck run out. I felt like I was being initiated and crap, was I about to make an idiot of myself. At least this evening had a general theme.

Gage looked at me thoughtfully and nodded. “Want to put a stake on it?”

I knew I didn’t have a hope in hell of winning so I thought for a moment and came up with the most ridiculous ask that I could, simply because I knew it would never happen. “I win, you paint my house.”

The little crowd murmured their approval while Gage considered his request. Annalise winked at me. Heck, it was a good job their house looked freshly painted or I would probably be doing that for the next few weeks. I hope he didn’t ask me to do his laundry. There was a line to be drawn, after all.

“I want Stella,” he said, at last and then got thumped on the back by Beau who whooped. Gage’s cheeks pinked under the stubble. “I mean an evening out. Dinner, maybe.”

“Like I cook?” I asked, not sure if he wanted me to feed him. I could do that. Badly. I was pretty sure his sister fed him well, which meant ... oh. I started to blush.

“Like a date,” he confirmed, “but you can cook if you want. Or we can do something else, like see a movie.”

“Oh, lord,” muttered Annalise and bent to whisper in my ear. “Take pity on him, sweetie.”

“Best of three?” I asked, starting to hope that maybe there was a slim chance he would paint my house because I was not handing over a date and he nodded. It was a good job I was no cheat or I would have considered having a surreptitious magical rummage in that card pile.

“Okay, then.” Gage shuffled the cards, clearly showing off a little as he took one hand up high and let the cards rain down into his other hand, then he spun five cards out each with a flick of his thumb. I picked mine up. I had a full house. Unbelievable. And I hadn’t even been tempted to me to use magic to get the right cards. I was on a lucky streak all right.

“Deal?”

I shook my head.

“Fold?” Gage asked hopefully.

Again, I shook my head.

“Me neither on both counts. Show me what you’ve got.”

I laid my queens and twos out on the table and waited. The banter had gone out of the room. Apparently our stakes were far more interesting. Gage sighed and tossed his cards down. He had one pair. Win to me! I grinned, feeling a rush of energy crest and flow inside me.

“What colour would you like your house, hon’?” giggled Annalise with a little snort.

“Best of three, remember,” said Gage, looking a little surprised at my starter’s luck but otherwise not bothered. He eyed me like he was trying to see inside my head and I dropped my gaze to his hands.

“Deal,” I said, my confidence taking a little leap of its own. Gage reshuffled the pack and dealt again, his eyes meeting mine in challenge when I raised them for the briefest of moments. Picking up my cards, I held them to my chest and fanned them out. I didn’t have a single match. Either Gage’s hand had to be just as bad, or he was a clear winner. I wasn’t sure what play to make so I just shook my head. After a tense minute, he laid his out first. We were level one-on-one. My heart thudded. It’s just a game, I reminded myself. Besides dinner with Gage would not be horrible, even though this was the longest conversation we’d had to date. What would we talk about? Perhaps I could just look at him, I thought, which made my heart thump surprisingly fast.

“I like steak rare,” Gage teased.

“I’d like my house white,” I rebuffed, a small smile playing on my face.

On our third and final set, Gage laid off the fancy moves, shuffling quickly and thoroughly, before dealing our final hands. I waited a moment before picking up my cards and then fanned them in my palm. My opening hand was four tens and an eight. Four of a kind. I was
so
going to get my house painted. I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face as he sighed and shook his hand out on the table. I laid mine down eagerly and heard a whoop go up behind me. My eyes widened just for a moment then I looked down. All clubs, all in the right order. All his. That had to have higher points than mine. Crap. And my heart sank when one of Gage’s buddies high-fived him.

Annalise patted my back in commiseration. “If it helps at all, he does chew with his mouth shut and he knows how to use cutlery.”

Great.

“Tomorrow night?” said Gage, with a nod of his head, and before I could answer, before I could tell him that we didn’t have to, he’d scraped back his chair and headed off to the kitchen. And just like that I had a date.

I couldn’t be churlish and cross because not only would that be pathetic but I didn’t want to embarrass him, not in his own house and not in front of his sister and friends. Besides, I’d accepted the bet, even when I knew I was unlikely to win, so I just plastered on what I hoped was a magnanimous smile, pushed my chair back and left the table to make way for the real players.

For another hour I hung around and was polite and exchanged conversational tidbits with Annalise’s friends and made polite enquiries to the people I had met before and took their poker jokes on the chin. A couple of the ladies quietly congratulated me and said they’d have played badly for a date with Gage too. I wasn’t quite sure what that was all about. Sure he was good looking and seemed to work hard, but he hadn’t said more than thirty words to me in six months, and we were neighbours. Maybe they liked the strong silent types. Personally, I hoped he’d bone up on his conversational skills before we were stuck silently gawping at each other like morons. I hoped our faux date wouldn’t be excruciating.