The Gamble

by Kristen Ashley

  “Right,” Jeff stated then his eyes went to Mindy and his set face changed entirely before he said softly, “See you tomorrow night.”

  “Okay,” Mindy replied back, just as softly, the pink again tingeing her cheeks.

  “Kami’s comin’ to the Station from work,” Max told Jeff, stopping to look at his watch before finishing, “in about half an hour, that good?”

  “Yeah,” Jeff replied on a nod. “I’ll tell Mick.” Then Jeff looked at the table at large and said, “Later,” and he moved away.

  I watched him go then twisted back and leaned clean across Max toward Mindy.

  “Tomorrow night?” I asked and watched Mindy’s cheeks get even pinker.

  “He asked me out,” Mindy whispered, leaning into me and my hand reached out and snatched hers.

  “That’s great!” I whispered back but my whisper was excited and kind of loud.

  Mindy looked at me a second then leaned in further and queried, “Do you really think so, Neens?”

  I nodded effusively.

  “Seriously?” she pushed.

  I squeezed her hand. “Yes, sweetheart.”

  Mindy bit her lip then released it and stated, “I don’t know.”

  “Why not?” I enquired and she got closer, her eyes going to the side to take in the table and mine did too.

  Everyone, except Max, who was forced to be a silent part of it due to the conversation happening pretty much in his lap, and Becca, who was watching us and grinning, was studiously avoiding our exchange.

  I looked back to Mindy when she asked, “I think… don’t you think it’s, uh… too soon?”

  I leaned further over Max and squeezed Mindy’s hand again before answering. “My lovely, you can decide to start living your life in a month, or two, or six, or next year and that’d be perfectly all right, it’s up to you.” She nodded and I continued, “But my question to you would be, why wait?” I watched her swallow and finished, “Life’s short, Mins, but you need time, you take it. Jeff will understand.”

  “Uh… I don’t know if he will. He was kind of…” She paused, searching for a word, then found it and shared, “Determined when he asked me.”

  I noted that the way she said this was far from an objection. My eyes slid to the side and up and I saw Max watching us, his lips pressed together and my eyes slid back to Mindy.

  “I’ve noticed macho mountain men can be that way,” I told her.

  She leaned closer to me, her eyes doing a quick glance to Max then she whispered very low, “Even though I felt funny… you know, talkin’ to him seein’ as, you know, he was there… but…” She hesitated and I could barely hear her when she finished, “It was kinda hot.”

  “I bet it was,” I replied, she tipped her head to the side in question and I went on. “Been there, sweetheart, done that.”

  Max started chuckling and Mindy and I both jerked back and looked at him.

  “You want me to move?” he asked.

  “Would you, darling?” I asked back.

  Max hooked a hand around my neck, pulled my temple to his mouth, kissed it and got up which was obviously his answer.

  I got up too, grabbed my latte mug and scooted Max’s chair back a bit before I sat in it. Mindy scooted hers back too. Becca got up suddenly, walked around the table and sat in Jeff’s vacated chair.

  “What’s goin’ on?” she asked.

  I looked from Becca to Mindy and both Becca and I leaned into Mindy as I demanded, “All right, sweetheart, tell us everything.”

  Mindy gave me a tentative look then she gave me a hesitant smile, she swung it to Becca then she leaned in close, Becca leaned in close and Mindy told us everything. And what she told us about Jeff was definitely hot. But it was also, even more definitely, sweet.

  After Mindy was done, Becca noted, “I’m thinkin’ Jeff isn’t a dick.”

  I was thinking Becca was right.

  “Neens?” Mindy called and I looked at her.

  “My advice, my lovely?” She nodded and I said, “Be honest, take care of you first and if Jeff doesn’t take care of you along the way, then move on.” Mindy nodded again but I wasn’t done. “Though, I figure, he’ll take care of you along the way.”

  “I figure that too,” Becca put in.

  Mindy bit her lip then noted, “The timing sucks.”

  My eyes slid to Max who was taking a drink of his coffee and listening to Arlene jabber then they slid back to Mindy and I replied, “Trust me, sweetheart, timing isn’t everything.”

  Mindy looked at Max then at me then she grinned.

  * * * * *

  We were back at the A-Frame, my stuff was in the house, the groceries unpacked and I’d just slid into the oven my world famous nachos (this wasn’t strictly true, I hadn’t won a competition or anything, but I called them that anyway because they were really good) smothered in kidney beans and hamburger meat spiced with taco seasoning and a mixture of three cheeses (cheddar, Colby and Monterey Jack, the latter two they didn’t have in England) on which, after desired cheese melting, I would load salsa, sour cream and fresh jalapeños with tomatoes for Max which he told me he loved but I hated. We were now tidying up the prep dishes as the cheese melted into the corn chips in the oven.

  This was after, at the café, Max and I ordered club sandwiches for a late lunch.

  It was also after Kami came down to the Station on a prolonged break from work to tell Mick that after she and Shauna decided not to go to Curt’s funeral, she’d driven Shauna to Kami’s house. Shauna had come around to her place that morning rather than Kami picking her up. When they went back, Shauna got out of Kami’s car, said good-bye and she’d see her later like always, got into her car and left.

  Kami also explained that she hadn’t been to Shauna’s house in weeks. She’d done this somewhat stiltedly which meant she was now embarrassed that she didn’t see it for the cover up it was. But, honestly, how would she know? No one would think their friend was a murderess.

  Lastly, she explained she hadn’t heard from Shauna even after she’d left several messages and a number of texts (by then I figured about a thousand) but, in Kami’s words, “If that bitch fucking calls me, you’ll be the first to know.”

  Then we left the Police Station and on the wooded sidewalk Kami let rip a five minute rant about Damon, what he did to my face and the incident outside The Dog two nights previously.

  This, unfortunately, reminded Max that he’d found out about this incident for the first time during me giving my statement to Jeff and I knew he was less than happy then but he didn’t say anything in front of Jeff. Also unfortunately, after Kami burnt out her ire, she left me with a Max who’d been reminded he hadn’t been happy.

  I watched her go, having seen the look in Max’s eyes and thinking for the first time since I met Kami that I desired her continued presence.

  Max’s hand curled around the back of my neck then it used my neck to curl me to his front. I tipped my head back to look at him and braced.

  “Forgot to tell you this, babe, with Jeff and all and considerin’ this shit’s a onetime deal what I’m gonna say won’t matter since this isn’t gonna happen to you again but…” his face got closer, “anyone, a guy, a woman, a fuckin’ Martian traps you against a car and gets in your face and the first person you tell ain’t me and you wait more than two seconds to tell me, it’s not gonna make me happy.”

  I started to defend myself, saying, “Max –”

  He cut me off. “No response required.”

  I really wanted to make a response and further I wanted to make a response about him telling me I couldn’t make a response. However, he was, as usual, annoyingly right. I should have told him. So I pressed my lips together and I pressed them together tightly. Max watched me for several long seconds then his eyes dropped to my mouth.

  Then he asked, “You gonna explode?”

  I unpressed my lips and answered, “Maybe.”

  It was at that moment Max burst out laughing a
nd at the same time my mother called. I decided a good evasive maneuver was to answer my mobile which I did only to have her shout on the phone at me for ten minutes about my disappearing act, ending her tirade telling me she and Steve were at Drake’s and would Max and I “grace us with your presence” (her words) for a drink.

  Since we were within walking distance, Max and I met Mom and Steve at Drake’s. Then I calmed Mom and Steve down when they saw my face. And, shortly after, Mom and I had a heated discussion about the fact that Max and I weren’t going to some fancy seafood restaurant a town over with her and Steve that night.

  “I don’t have anything to wear,” I’d finally snapped.

  “Nina!” she’d snapped back in horrified maternal affront (Mom style). “I taught you how to pack better, surely. You always bring something nice. I don’t care if you’re staying in a shack in the Adirondacks. You come prepared for a nice night out!”

  “I already used my fancy outfit when Max and I went to The Rooster,” I informed her.

  Mom had a ready answer which, by the way, was also an oft-used answer to nearly all Mom’s problems. “Then we’ll go shopping.”

  “I’m tired Mom, I got beat up last night,” I reminded her. “I want a cozy night in.”

  She waved her hand around and stated, “Good seafood will take your mind off all that. You love seafood.”

  “Mom, we’re in Colorado. You eat steaks here and buffalo burgers and, I don’t know, elk or something. You don’t go to a seafood restaurant.”

  “I do,” Mom retorted.

  I looked at Steve. Steve shrugged.

  Mom caught my look at Steve and gave in but the way she did made that Max Unhappy Shimmer fill the air. “Okay, you’re tired then I’ll make you two dinner at Max’s house.”

  I opened my mouth but luckily Steve, likely noting the shimmer, intervened.

  “Nellie, let Nina and Max have a quiet night.”

  “I can do quiet,” Mom replied.

  Steve stared at her, brows raised and even Mom knew she had no hope of making the case for being able to do quiet.

  Then Mom looked at me and her face fell before she whispered, “I never see you.”

  I sighed, leaned into her and took her hand. “Yes, but soon I’ll be a short plane ride and a two hour car ride away, not a continent and an ocean away.”

  Mom’s face grew gentle, her eyes moved to Max, naked gratitude filled them and she looked back to me.

  “Right, tonight you and Max get a cozy night, tomorrow I get you.” She looked back at Max and asked, “Deal?”

  “Deal,” Max replied in his gravelly voice.

  I started to release her hand but she held on tight and gave my hand a rough shake. “And Nina, sweetie, you ever run away from Max again and get yourself beat up, you’ll answer to me. Is that understood?”

  Apparently I hadn’t calmed Mom down about my face so in order to do that, I used my other hand to cup her cheek, leaned even closer and I promised on a whisper, “Understood.”

  She smiled at me, released my hand, I dropped my other one, we finished our drinks without any further drama and Max took me up the mountain.

  Which brought me to now, tidying up the prep dishes with Max, in his kitchen, a new drama, at least for me.

  This was because, firstly, Max was helping me tidy up. Niles could, if pressed (repeatedly), fill a dishwasher but mostly he ignored the dishes until his cleaning lady did them once a week. If I cooked for Niles, I did the clean up because Niles’s efforts were halfhearted at best and, if I let him try, it annoyed me so to avoid being annoyed, I just cleaned up.

  Max was a natural.

  Okay, so he didn’t wipe down the counters, he was more a rinse and load man, but he also was capable of putting away food which was a clear plus.

  This drama was, secondly, because it dawned on me that this was my future, making dinner and tidying up with Max.

  Why something this simple seemed overwhelming in a weirdly spectacular way I had no idea, but it did.

  It was so spectacular, I was standing, the sponge in my hand after wiping down the counter and staring unseeing at Max, deep in my thoughts when he called, “Babe?”

  My body jolted and I focused on him.

  “What?”

  “You all right?”

  Yes I was all right. I was so all right, I had the desire to fling the sponge aside and throw myself at him bodily and show him how all right I was.

  I didn’t do this. I just moved to him then around him to get to the sink and rinsed the sponge, saying, “Yes, just tired.”

  Max moved in behind me, curling an arm around my middle and using his other hand to shift the hair off my shoulder. Then I felt his lips at my neck and his hand slid up to my ribs.

  “You haven’t been favorin’ this, Duchess, that mean it feels okay?”

  His hand, I realized, was over the boot bruise, a location, I also realized, he’d clearly memorized for he’d honed in on it with pinpoint accuracy.

  My stomach melted yet again and I nodded, admitting, “A twinge here and there, if I move too fast, but mostly yes, I’m okay.”

  “Good,” he muttered against my skin and then moved away.

  I sighed happily and squeezed out the sponge, putting it on the edge of the sink.

  Max got out plates, I got out the nachos. I loaded up our plates and gunked the chips up with all the extras while Max got us both a beer.

  Then we took them into the living room where Max had started a fire. Even though it was snug, we squeezed into the chair together. I put my beer on the table and Max wedged his between his thighs, his stocking feet resting on the ottoman, ankles crossed. I curled facing him with my feet in the seat of the chair, my calves pressed tight against his lounging hip and we ate with plates in hand close to our faces.

  “Do you think Shauna and Robert killed Curtis and the PI?” I asked after swallowing a big, delectable bite of loaded corn chip.

  “No,” Max answered and I stared at him.

  “You don’t?”

  He shook his head and shoved nachos in his mouth.

  “Evidence is indicating it’s her,” I pointed out.

  Max swallowed then unwedged his beer and took a pull.

  Wedging it back, his eyes came to me. “Believed it the other day, what you said. Now, the drywall dust? That I don’t believe. Someone’s framin’ her.”

  “Really?”

  He lifted a chip heavy with meat, cheese and fixings and replied, “Really.” Then he stuffed it in his mouth and after chewing but before swallowing, he noted, “Your nachos are better than your fish pie.”

  “You think?”

  “Absolutely,” he swallowed and finished, “fuckin’ great.”

  I smiled, pleased beyond reason that he liked my nachos. It felt like he’d told me he thought I could rule the world while carrying on a successful career as a supermodel.

  “Thanks,” I muttered, suddenly feeling timid though still pleased and I looked at my plate and scooped up a chip.

  “Duchess,” he called and my eyes went from my chip to him to see he was grinning at me. “Honey, you gotta know you can cook.”

  “Um…” I mumbled and he shook his head.

  Then he turned his attention back to his plate, murmured, “Cute,” and scooped up his own chip.

  I decided, since he was being nice and I still wasn’t used to that, to change the subject.

  “So, why does the drywall put you off the idea of Shauna doing the deed?” I asked and put my chip in my mouth.

  “Woman isn’t stupid,” Max muttered after swallowing and while digging out another chip.

  “You found out she was fooling around with Curt while she was with you,” I reminded him.

  “She wanted me to, thought it’d make me jealous,” Max told me.

  “Oh,” I whispered and picked up another chip.

  “Shauna wouldn’t be sloppy. That’s sloppy. Clearin’ out her house and not cleanin’ away evidence?” Ma
x shook his head, grabbed his beer and muttered, “Sloppy.” He took a drink, I twisted to get my beer and twisted back.

  “So who did it?” I asked.

  “Who knows? Someone who hated Curt, someone who hated Shauna and town’s full of them.”

  This was true and one could almost feel sorry for the both of them.

  But only almost.

  I sipped beer then queried, “And Kami?”

  Max looked at me. “Kami, I figure, got fucked. For whatever reason, Shauna was ready to move on, maybe with this Robert guy and, seein’ as he stands to lose everything he hitches his star to hers, Shauna wouldn’t care who she ripped off to keep livin’ the good life without workin’ for it, ‘cept on her back.”

  “Even Kami?”

  “She’d take advantage of Harry, who isn’t my most favorite person right now but he’s always been a good guy, she’d take advantage of Kami.”

  “But Kami’s her friend, has been for years.”

  “If you think about it so have I and so have Bitsy and Harry, she fucked us all without blinkin’.”

  “Did you ever give her money?” I blurted and only his eyes sliced to me, his head still faced his plate and I whispered, “Sorry, dumb question.”

  “I ain’t stupid either, Duchess.”

  “I know that,” I said quickly.

  “I know you do.” He scooped another chip, shoved it in his mouth, chewed, swallowed and continued, “Though, we went out, she never reached for her wallet.”

  I bit my lip and twisted to put back my beer.

  When I righted myself and studiously turned my attention back to my plate, at the same time vowing the next time we went out to dinner that I’d at least reach for wallet, Max spoke.

  “Different, babe, totally.”

  My eyes went to him. “Sorry?”

  What he said next told me he’d read my face again.

  “I was just fuckin’ her, you’re my woman, totally different.”

  “I wasn’t your woman when we had buffalo burgers… or steaks at The Rooster for that matter.”

  “Yeah you were, for both. Especially The Rooster, babe. We fought about you movin’ out here on the way there.”

  Okay, I had to give him that one.