Page 83 of Texas Hold Em'
I forced a smile. “I’ve seen Mason in action. He’s a fighter and he has proper motivation. They all do.”
Suzie nodded, but it didn’t look as if my words had reassured her. She nuzzled her chin into her blanket and sniffled. “I’m glad my brother has finally decided to trust you.”
Minutes before they left, Jackson had come up to me, shook my hand, and thanked me for what I did the night before. Apparently, Brody had given him a play by play earlier this afternoon and told him that I’d held my ground and followed through. Finally, I had Jackson’s full buy-in.
I no longer had to prove myself.
His approval might have felt better if it hadn’t come seconds before I watched Tex drive off to fight a madman.
Sam returned with a pack of playing cards. She sat down and began shuffling, but within seconds, she messed it up and the cards went flying.
Sam went to her hands and knees and started picking them up.
Suzie slid off her chair. “Here, let me help you.”
Suzie tucked the last cards into the box and set them on the coffee table while Sam pushed smoothly to her feet and suddenly swayed. She took two hurried steps backward to brace herself against the porch railing before lowering herself slowly into the closest chair. By now, Suzie was already on her feet and making a fuss, asking Sam what was wrong.
“I stood up too fast is all,” Sam said, waving Suzie and her concern away with one hand. “I’m okay.”
“I’m going to get you some water.” Suzie disappeared inside.
Even though both of the women were well versed in stressful evenings at home while waiting for their men to return—or not return—their nerves still showed. I’d been sitting here thinking I was the only one of us coming apart at the seams, but Sam’s sudden dizzy spell after her need for a distraction reminded me that we were all human, and we were all in love, and waiting around like thissucked.
Maybe I could do my part and help distract them after all the help they’d given me over the past weeks.
“So how did you and Jackson, you know, start seeing each other?” I asked.
Sam glanced up at me with a creased brow, but she managed a smile before sinking deeper into her chair. Suzie came out of the house with a glass of water and pressed it into Sam’s hands. She drank thankfully, draining nearly half the glass in four steady gulps. “He and the boys were regulars at my bar for a long time before anything ever came of Jackson and me. My father knew him better than I did and used to serve them and let them stay late whenever they wanted. Having them around back in the day used to be something that kept people safe. Now… well, now things kind of feel like they’re the other way around, don’t they?”
Suzie and I both nodded absently.
Sam sighed. “I didn’t see him for five years when he joined the military. William took over as President for those years and I still saw the whole crew, Suzie sometimes too, but in those days, we never really liked each other.”
I tried to picture what they might have been like five years prior. Suzie would have been quite young, just becoming a young adult.
Sam laughed lightly. “She used to roll her eyes every time I walked into a room.”
“I thought you were a priss and wouldn’t be able to handle my brother, okay? In one sense, I was trying to look out for you. I thought he’d chew you up and spit you out.”
Sam lifted her chin proudly. “And it turns out he just loves me more than anything in the world. I’m the one who chewed him up and spathimout.”
Suzie giggled and got comfy in a chair beside Sam. “You can say that again. My brother thinks the sun shines out of your ass.”
Sam blushed and grinned, a proud and content young woman, and as I watched, her hand fell to her stomach. At first, I didn’t think anything of it. At first, I thought she might still be feeling a little off balance and therefore nauseated.
At first, I thought it was just a coincidence that she rubbed in a slow and affectionate circle.
Sam caught me staring at her hand and immediately did something to keep both hands busy. She sipped her water and watched me over the rim.
I tried to move on without bringing attention to it. “So Jackson came back from Syria and you guys hit it off pretty quickly?”
Sam nodded hurriedly. “Mhm. I saw him the first night he came back to town because, well, he’d just found out about his brother’s death, you see.” Sam reached over and put a hand on Suzie’s wrist. She gave the other woman’s arm a comforting squeeze as she spoke of William. “He was really struggling. Every man expects to lose brothers when he goes to war. He never expects to lose the one at home while he’s away. It rocked him. Changed him forever.”
Suzie couldn’t meet my eye. “It changed all of us forever. It started this whole mess.”
“Anyway, I guess things started off between Jackson and me because I had a bar I let him into after hours where he could process and have peace and quiet. And food. He wasn’t eating. I don’t think it even occurred to him in those first few days to eat. But I made sure he had a meal a day. Truth be told, I don’t know why I really latched onto him in the beginning. I suppose I was hurting too. I’d lost my dad and felt alone for a really long time. Jackson made me feel seen.”
Her hand was back on her stomach. I frowned. Sam turned bright pink.
