page33 (1/2)

“What the hell,” heup his cards

“YOU ARE A SHARK,” Margot cried an hour later, after he’d cleaned theain

“Yeah,” Katie agreed, throwing the last of her chips at Matt, who ducked, laughing

“I never said I didn’t play cards,” he said, raking the chips across the table He’d played a lot of cards More, probably, than any one man should, thanks to his father

“Who taught you?” Margot asked, squinting at hiar

“My father,” he answered honestly, stacking the chips without looking at the girls The sers, the stacks of blue chips in front of hi with other players around a table, taking stock of each other all while pretending not to—it all coalesced into a bittersweet nostalgia “He taught me how to play poker, tie a perfect Windsor and play Rachmaninoff”

“Sounds like an interesting childhood,” Margot said, her voice quiet He glanced at her and iretted it Card players and their all-too-knowing eyes

“My father was an interestingto dip into areas he had no business dipping into with these woe I worked for a civil engineer in the suh to pay for next year’s tuition”

“You’re not really a handyot asked, apparently detererous areas of conversation

“I’ve been a lot of things Right now I’lancing at Margot from under his lashes, “you’re not so bad yourself”

An understatement—the woman was a player down to her toes

“Thank you,” she raciously

“You could head out to any casino and h to fix this place up”

She glared at hione

Oops, he thought

“What’s Rach her chin into her hand “Is that another game?”

“He’s aof those thunderous notes and the huge Russian drama of those concertos “I used to play the piano”

“Piano!” Katie cried, perking up “We—”