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“Skydiving!” Her face lights up “You guys should all go skydiving together Have you ever been?”

“No, but it looks like fun”

“Well, that’s estion Stay positive, drink plenty of water and skydive” She grins “I wish I could stay, but I need to go find another game”

“Yeah, I guess I should sleep at some point; I have an early workout” I look down at roan “Where are you headed?”

“Aria”

“I’ll drive you”

“Okay, thanks”

“How about you?” I ask as alk to my car “Have you ever skydived?”

“One ti my dad alanted to do, so when he died, I did it as kind of a tribute to him”

I click the button on my key fob to unlock my car door and open it as I say, “I’o was that?”

“Thanks It’s been eight years My dad…he taught me to play poker”

She gets into the car and I close the door, realization dawning Gia plays poker because she learned it from her dad I wonder if she plans to play for the rest of her life

“Your dad et into the driver’s side

“He was”

“Did you lose him suddenly, or was he ill for a while?”

My question is met with silence, and when I look over at Gia, her expression is pained

“It’s not so I like to talk about,” she says softly

“I’m sorry I shouldn’t have pried” I look over my shoulder and pull into traffic “My mom died when I was thirteen, from colon cancer Even all these years later, it still feels raw sometimes”

“I’m sorry you lost your mom”

“Yeah, it was a hard tiet along with ain?”