Page 45 of The Pocket Pair

Winnie slides her fingers to my wrist for a moment. “Congratulations! You are not a zombie. Yet. Let’s raid your freezer, eat on the couch because Chevy never wanted me to, and then watch something a little less murdery than Criminal Minds.”

CHAPTER 14

Chevy

I barely yank my hand away as Pat leans across the pile of poker chips, trying to grab my phone. “No texting at the table, deputy,” he says.

“Sorry.”

I drop my phone in my lap and check the smart home app one more time before clicking the phone off. I think it should be warm enough in the house. If it’s working. It has to be—it’s a smart home. Fancy high tech stuff. It worked last month, but the weather has been so mild lately, I haven’t had to adjust it.

I picture Val shivering on my couch, and I open the app again and turn the heat up another degree.

“It’s your bid,” Collin says, giving me a pointed look.

“Right,” I say, picking up my cards while trying to remember what game we’re playing. Hold ’em? Omaha? Five-card stud?

I move the cards around in my hand like I know what I’m doing. Usually, that would be true. Tonight, however, at the Graham Fam poker night at Pat and Lindy’s new place, I’m totally useless. I might as well be trying to read tea leaves. “I’ll check.”

James clears his throat next to me, a low rumble that’s almost a laugh. “I already bet twenty-five.”

“In that case, I fold.” I shove my cards toward the center of the kitchen table, relieved to be out of this hand.

Big Mo tosses a chip in the center to call James’s bet and Collin does the same. But just as Collin adds his chip to the center, his phone lights up in the front pocket of his dress shirt.

“I said no phones!” Pat moves quicker this time and plucks Collin’s cell right from his pocket. Pat makes a face when he sees the face on the screen. “Oh. It’s your girlfriend. Or ex-girlfriend?” he adds hopefully, but Collin shakes his head, glaring as he tries to grab his phone.

“Girlfriend—current. Give it back, Patty.” There’s a warning in Collin’s tone, but Pat ignores it, moving the phone out of reach.

“Well, I can fix that for you in a jiffy. Let me just shoot her a quick text …”

“Don’t you dare send Liza a message.” Chairs scrape across the floor as Pat’s fingers fly across the phone screen and Collin grabs for it.

“Boys,” James says in a warning tone, but he’s completely ignored.

Even if Tank were here, he’d have no better luck trying to head off this fight.

Pat jumps up, tipping his chair over. Collin’s cards scatter as he begins chasing Pat around the table. Beast, the half-blind Pekingese, continues snoring on the sofa in the family room, but Amber jumps up, tail wagging in typical yellow lab fashion as she trots behind Pat and Collin.

I, for one, don’t mind the distraction because it gives me a chance to check my phone. The app says my house is heating nicely. So why can’t I stop obsessively checking?

“Do you have a problem with your thermostat?” James asks, peeking into my lap where I’ve opened up the smart home app again.

I notch the heat up another degree before clicking off the phone again. “It’s just a new system. I put in one of those smart homes with an app. And this is the first really cold day since that freak snow.”

Sheet Cake has what I’d call balmy cold winters. We get freezing days, sure, but a lot of sunny days too where it might creep into the sixties. We had some flurries the week before Christmas, the first sight of snow here in six years. I got my smart home set up the next week, just in time for the weather to warm up. We spent Christmas in short sleeves with sun on our faces. Because that’s how life works.

“You’re not home, but you’re turning up the heat?” James asks.

“I just want to make sure it’s functional in case I need to return it.” The return date has long passed. But James doesn’t need to know that. Or anything else.

“So, it’s the smart home you’re concerned about?” James takes a slow sip of beer, watching me carefully.

It’s hard not to crumple like a house of cards under his gaze. “Yep.”

“You’re not worried about whether or not the person in your home is warm enough?”

Am I really THAT obvious? I stop just short of asking, What person?

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