Page 34 of Just One of the Groomsmen
Phew.
“What’d you do?” she asked.
“I drew up a binding legal agreement with concessions on each side. Fair rules about boundaries and fences. Fines they pay to each other if they break ’em, and with any luck, peace and their friendship will be restored, and the pig won’t end up on anyone’s dinner table unless Faye agrees to it.”
Which she never would, even though the pig had started off with that fate. Somewhere along the way, it’d become a pet.
The trash talk got going as they threw in money and converted it to plastic chips, and Ford took charge of the cards, shuffling them thoroughly before dealing.
Lexi asked how often they played poker, which led to talking about their history, from back in the day when they used to play Whiskey Poker—one communal hand, which meant a bigger chance of super-high hands—to when they’d switched to Texas Hold’em to be more “legit.”
Tucker nudged her from the left side—still felt weird for him to be there instead of to her right. “Remember that night when the wins and losses were so even that we kept on playing till we basically passed out?” He pulled the top card off the deck and added the turn to the other three.
Addie fought to keep her face neutral when the three of diamonds gave her two pair. “Of course I remember. We woke up to your parents and mine over us.”
“Oh yeah,” Tucker said. “Because we hadn’t cleared sleeping over in the houseboat, and their first assumption when they woke up and found we weren’t in our beds was that we must’ve died.”
Usually she’d let her parents know when she planned on staying the night, and while there was occasionally some blowback about her needing to spend more time at home, they were mostly cool with it.
That night they’d gotten caught up in the game-that-wouldn’t-end, and she only vaguely recalled stumbling to the double bed where she and Tucker had crashed out.
“It’s your turn,” Addie said to Lexi when she didn’t make a move.
“Right.” Lexi met the bet, and the crinkles between her eyebrows made it clear she was thinking hard, only she was staring at Addie instead of the cards. “It was just you and all these guys?”
“Once in a while, we held some mild parties with a few more people, but as soon as everyone else cleared out and the poker games turned serious, it was always the five of us.”
“I…” Lexi shook her head. “Never mind.”
Addie’s muscles tensed. “Go ahead and say whatever you’re thinking. I’ve probably heard it before.”
How she should act like a girl; how she’d never get a date hanging around the guys; how it made other girls unable to trust her—she had never understood that one, but it seemed to be true enough.
“Well, if a girl in my high school stayed overnight with four guys… It wouldn’t be very good for her reputation. Everyone would assume… You know. One girl, several guys, all-night parties.”
For the second time that night, heat settled into Addie’s cheeks. “Funny enough, I never heard rumors like that. But you know that song about not giving a damn about my bad reputation? It was pretty much my theme song.”
“Most people knew us well enough they didn’t say stuff like that, though.” Ford flattened his cards to his chest and shifted in his seat to more fully face Lexi. “See, Murph hasn’t been a girl in years.”
Addie’s mouth dropped open. “Hey! I’m still a girl!”
Ford shrugged a shoulder. “Eh.” Shep and Easton gave about the same response, and Tucker remained stone-faced at her side, not contradicting it, which was basically the same as agreeing in this circle of friends—they’d never been shy about disagreeing or throwing in their two cents.
No wonder it took David so long to ask me on a second date. I’m not even a girl.
She checked her phone to see if he’d texted yet. He’d told her he was slammed these days, and that it might be late before they could get together. Still, when she didn’t have any new messages, her ego took another nosedive.
I’m dealing with a lace and satin wedgie for nothing.
What was I thinking, trying to be something I’m not?
She tried to keep her spirits up as they played the next hand, but with every minute the dentist didn’t text or call, they dipped that much lower.
Lexi’s shoulder bumped Addie’s as she leaned closer and whispered, “I forgot which is better, a flush or a straight?” She flashed Addie her cards as she asked, and a grumble went around the table before the guys could help it.
“It’s okay, babe.” Shep grabbed her hand, kissed it, then swept his gaze around the table.“Right?”
“Sure,” Easton said. “As long as Murph’s disqualified from winning this round.”
