Page 118 of The Sounds of Her

“I was never any good at ballet. I do jazz, lyrical or interpretive.”

“I’m impressed. You should dance for me sometime.”

Her eyes roll and she looks away, her hands wringing. Something about this bothers her.

“Mom never wanted me to dance, she didn’t think it was worth my time. She made me stop going to my lessons when I was seventeen. I never stopped dancing, but I only do it when I’m alone. My dance teacher lets me use the space when classes are over. It’s something I do when I’m stressed or irritated. Or anxious.”

“It helps calm you?” I fucking hate her mom.

“Yeah. What about you?” she turns it around on me, uncomfortable with the focus on her.

“I’m obsessed with soccer, I’ve followed the Red Bulls for years.”

“Sports,” she rolls her eyes. “Original. Something people don’t know about the real Archer Harris.”

“I barely have time to do anything between all the stuff we have going on daily. But… er…” I close my eyes. “Okay, I can do magic.”

“Magic?” she laughs.

“Hey, it’s a noble craft,” I poke her knee. “I’ll have you know I was good at making stuff disappear, drove dad crazy.”

“I’m pretty sure magic wasn’t involved,” she smiles.

“You got a deck of cards?”

“I think so. Are you gonna do a card trick?”

I lift a brow. Brooke hops up and I admire her legs as she goes back to the entertainment unit and opens a draw. After moving some things around, she comes back with a pristine deck of cards and hands it to me, sitting back down to face me.

“Prepare to be astounded,” I waggle my brows.

Shuffling the cards, I note how she is watching me, scrutinizing every move I make, and I smile. She’s determined not to let me get one over on her.

She checks the deck for me when I ask and without her noticing, I make a note of the card on the bottom of the deck. The two of hearts, which is now my key card. She hands them back and using the coffee table I shuffle the cards some more, always making sure the two of hearts stays at the bottom.

“You’re pretty handy with those,” she says begrudgingly, seeing how well I shuffle.

“I play poker a lot.”

“Ah, the infamous poker nights at Jordan’s. Don’t you always win?”

“Not always…” I grin. “But a lot. Pay attention.”

“Bossy.”

I spread the cards out on the table and ask her to pick one, making sure not to show me. She does, hiding it behind her hand with her shoulders scrunched up. It’s adorable. I tell her to keep hold of it and I make three piles of cards in front of her, then ask her to choose a pile and place her card on top.

When she chooses, it isn’t the pile with my two of hearts at the bottom, so I pick that up first and place it on top of her selected card. Then I gather up the rest of the cards.

She is watching like a hawk, but she will never get it. I start to make small stacks of cards, face up, knowing the two of hearts is about midway through the pack.

When I come to the two of hearts, by design of the trick, the next card is the one she picked. It’s the four of spades. I start a new pile and, while doing that, I count the cards in my head, so there is enough to spell out ‘four of spades’ after her card. Then I make two further stacks to throw her off.

“What are you up to?” she asks.

“It’s magic,” I grin again.

Picking up the piles in a way that has the one with the cards I need to spell the words out, then the one that has the four of spades at the bottom, I pile them, so her card sits on top. After it’s all set up, I split the pack again and show her a random card, the queen of hearts.

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