Page 20 of The World She Never Knew Existed

She cringed when she heard John refer to Zeke as “the boy.” John very seldom addressed Zeke by his name.

“Zeke’s suitcase is packed and he is ready,” Clara said.

Clara knelt down to hug her son and said, “You be a good boy and have a lot of fun with your father this weekend. I’ll pick you up Sunday.”

“You can pick him up at my place,” John insisted.

“No. We’ll meet at our regular place at four,” Clara said.

There was no way in the world that she was going to meet John somewhere in private, especially alone.

John growled deep in his throat, before he said, “Fine. The usual place at four.”

He grabbed Zeke’s hand and led him out of the café, without another word. Her heart broke when Zeke looked briefly over his shoulder at his mother.

8

Dillon

Dillon smiled at the young tourist who paid for the t-shirts she bought for all her family members. She probably spent a month’s salary on the shirts. He hoped that her family would appreciate the gesture.

He watched her leave his store, holding the door open for someone else to enter. Dillon’s heart sank as he watched Raf’s tall form enter. A visit from Raf was never a pleasant ordeal, although the man was always polite. Dillon could feel the hidden darkness behind the façade.

“Hello, Raf. What can I do for you?” Dillon asked.

“It looks like business is good,” Raf said.

“It was today,” Dillon replied. “She bought t-shirts for all of her friends and family back home.”

“That’s nice of her,” Raf said. “So, listen, I heard that you have a poker game going on here every so often.”

“Where did you hear that?” Dillon asked, instantly on high alert.

Raf laughed and said, “I hear about everything that goes on in town.”

Dillon waited to see what Raf had to say about the games.

“I’ve been bored lately, and I thought that joining a poker game would be fun,” Raf said. “I would love to join yours.”

“I don’t think that you would like mine,” Dillon said. “We’re just a group of friends who get together and shoot the breeze. We usually play for peanuts – literally, or just chips that, at the end of the night, have no cash value. It isn’t a high stakes game that you can get into at one of the casinos that would get your adrenaline running. Besides, as far as the game goes, the table is already full. We don’t have room for another player to sit at the table.”

Raf looked very disappointed that Dillon wasn’t going to let him play poker with Dillon and his friends.

“If someone drops out or gives notice that they aren’t going to make the game, I’ll let you know,” Dillon said, almost feeling sorry for the man. “But you would have to bring your own peanuts.”

Raf nodded and said, “Sounds good. I’m sure that I would be able to scrounge up peanuts from somewhere.”

Dillon highly doubted that the man had ever touched peanuts in the actual shell. He probably would have been horrified if he had gone into one of those restaurants where people spit the peanut shells on the ground after cracking them open with their teeth.

They talked about the weather and the tourist season for a few minutes, and then Raf left the store.

“If you weren’t such an asshole, I might feel sorry for you that you don’t have friends to sit around and play poker for peanuts with,” Dillon said.

After making sure that Raf had left, Dillon called Jesse.

“I just had the strangest encounter with Raf,” Dillon said. “He came in and said that he heard that I hosted poker games every so often. He wanted to know if he could come and play with us.”

“How did he find out about them?” Jesse asked.

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