“Just to clarify, Kira calls me Willy Fiddler because I’m a urological surgeon – not for any other dodgy reason. But as far as me being a fun sponge – Kira, last month you tried to take Millie on a ‘field trip’ to a sex club,” Martakis said this with obviously well-practiced patience. “I think I’m justified in voicing some concern.”
“I didn’t actuallyknowit was a BDSM club,” Kira mumbled. “And we didn’t end up going in anyway.”
“Only because you were the only one who was willing to take your top off to fit the bloody dress code the bouncers demanded!”
“Next time we’ll all get ourselves some PVC cat suits – I bet they’d let us in then.”
“This is why I’m not allowing any more unsupervised field trips,” Pavlos said. “Welcome to Hell, Henry.”
Kira rolled her eyes. “We’re going to ease Henry into Book Group. No field trips for the moment.”
“Okay,” Henry was smiling. Smiling. I almost dropped the kettle. “Not sure I’m up for a sex club at the moment anyway. Listen, you never told me which book we’d –”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Kira cried, as if the idea of actually discussing literature at a gathering specifically designed for that purpose was completely insane. “We’re playing poker.” She slapped down on the table a deck of cards that she’d extracted from her cavernous purple bag (the thing actually had fringe stitched onto it – I wasn’t sure I’d seen anything like it since the early nineties).
“Ki-Ki,” Libby said shaking her head. “You’ve never played poker in your life.”
“Well,Henrylikes poker,” Kira told her. “Don’t you Henry.”
“I_”
“He nearly died then gave up all his old friends, so he hasn’t played inages.”
Silence descended on the kitchen and I felt my hands clench into fists. This bloody woman was like a bull in a china shop.
“Hey, Mr Broody Face,” Kira called out to me and I blinked in surprise. “Stop stewing over there and come over. I’ll deal you in.”
“I haven’t got time to–”
“Afraid you’ll lose, big bro?” Henry asked, and I shifted my gaze to my brother. “You always were crap at cards.” His eyes were teasing and there was just a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. It was the happiest I’d seen Henry all week. I sighed. Maybe joking about near death experiences was what Henry needed? Whatever that crazy lady over there was trying, it seemed to be working.
“Fine, one round,” I relented, pulling out a chair opposite Kira and next to Camilla, then crossed my arms over my chest as I sat down.
*****
Kira
I was staring across at Barclay Lucas with narrowed eyes. We were five rounds in and I was finally going to beat the sexy bastard.
“I win!” I shouted, laying my cards on the table triumphantly. “I haveallthe Royal family and an ace. Eat that sucker!”
“Kira,” Pav said, giving me his patented ‘Kira is a Complete Nutcase’ look. “Where to start? You’ve just laid downeightcards when you were only supposed to ever have five. None of your face cards are in the same suit. You don’t evenhavea jack. I’m afraid you don’t win. If anything, you’re disqualified.”
“What?! Why am I disqualified?”
“You cheated.”
“I did not cheat.”
“You haveeightcards, Kira. How is that not cheating?”
I bit my lip and looked to the side. “Well, I just kept a few from the other rounds, in case they might come in useful. That’s not cheating – it’s being opportunistic.”
“Thatisexactlywhat cheating is, you dullard. Bloody hell, you didn’t even have the wherewithal to swap the cards out with your shit ones.”
“Face it, Ki-Ki,” Millie said with her soft voice, patting my hand. “You’re notgreatat poker.”
I blew out a breath as I threw my cards down in disgust. It was just typical that Willy Fiddler would have to be a stickler for the ‘rules’, and ruin everyone’s fun like the fun sponge he was. Barclay laid down his cards then with an extremely smug expression on his face.
