Thursday, September 27, 2007

Chapter 18

Tricia was already sitting at her table when she saw Jaime walking toward her talking to a tall guy who looked familiar to her. She realized that she knew him from ads for the internet site that was sponsoring Jaime but she couldn’t quite remember his name.

She caught Jaime’s eye and he said something to the guy he was with and they turned slightly, making their way over to where Tricia was sitting.

“Good morning Tricia,” Jaime said. “Are you all ready for this?”

“I think so,” Tricia said.

“Tricia this is Kevin James,” Jaime said, introducing them. “Kevin this is Tricia Bateman.”

“So I do get to meet Jaime’s friend Tricia,” Kevin said shaking her hand.

Tricia looked at Jaime questioningly. He shrugged. “I had to talk to somebody and Kevin is a good friend.”

“Don’t worry Tricia he only said good things about you. He also told me to watch out if we end up playing together and that he would be pulling for you even against me. That seems grossly unfair since I got him his sponsorship deal. Doesn’t that seem unfair to you?”

Tricia couldn’t help but giggle, completely put at ease by Kevin’s banter. She shook her head. “No it’s not unfair at all. Of course he’s going to pull for me.”

“Well I can see I’m out numbered. I will just hope we don’t meet until the final table then,” Kevin said. “Good luck Tricia.”

Kevin left them and went to his table where he immediately began talking to the players already there.

Jaime saw Tricia’s gaze still on Kevin. “He does like to talk doesn’t he?”

Tricia smiled and nodded.

“I had to talk to somebody Tricia. I told him about us but I had to try to get things straight in my mind.”

“I understand,” Tricia assured him. “We’re going to have to get where we can see each other at these things. I have a feeling this isn’t going to be my last one unless Matt changes his mind.”

“You’re doing great so far. I hope our talk last night didn’t screw up your head for today.”

Tricia shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’m nervous but it’s because this is by far the largest buy-in tournament I’ve ever played. I still wonder if I shouldn’t have just sold the entry chips. I don’t know if I have any chance to cash at all.”

“Of course you do!” Jaime said. “You did great in the other event you played and basically it will be the same players. Just do what you know how to do. I’m going to get out of your way now but I’ll try to keep an eye on you as much as I can. You’re going to do great!”

Tricia smiled as Jaime left. She was thinking that it was really nice to have somebody there rooting for her. It made her wonder if Matt would ever do it. If Matt could ever do it. That made her think about what would happen if Matt ever came and realized that Jaime was there as well. She pushed those thoughts aside, trying to focus instead on the upcoming tournament.

After the tournament started Tricia settled down quickly and felt like she was doing pretty well. She was still in the tournament at the first break and ran into Rick as they both walked toward the rest rooms.

“How are you doing?” Rick asked.

Tricia shrugged. “I’m hanging in there. I think I’m playing ok. It’s not like I’m being out played or anythingI just have not got many cards to play and the blinds are still small so there is no pressure yet. How are you doing?”

Rick beamed at her. “I’ve almost tripled up. I got on a fantastic run and I’ve got just over $7,000 in chips right now.”

“That is fantastic!” Tricia said giving Rick a hug.

Rick laughed and said, “Thanks but don’t squeeze too hard. I had too much coffee this morning!”

“Well I’ll let you get where you were headed,” Tricia said with a grin. “I like the fact that this is one place where the men have to wait in line and the women usually don’t.”

“It’s not fair,” Rick quipped. “But you wait more women are playing these things and the lines for the ladies room will get long too!”

They went their separate ways and on the way back Jaime found Tricia and they talked about the tournament as he walked her back to his seat before going to find Kevin before the tournament resumed.

The next couple of hours went along unspectacularly for Tricia until she got involved in a hand with pocket Aces thinking she was doing good to get all her chips in against an opponent she regarded as relatively weak. When they turned their cards over she saw she was a prohibitive favorite. Then she could only watch as the flop came down good for her opponent and his weak hand sucked out on her and put her out of the tournament. She sat there stunned for a moment, unable to believe she had actually lost. Then she got up despondently and made her way toward the exit of the tournament room.

She felt an arm drape around her shoulder and then heard Jaime say, “You did good Tricia. I know itsucks to go out early but it happens.”

She looked at him feeling like she was going to cry. “I guess but I was so sure I was going to double up. I’d have been in good shape then. Did you see the crap he called me with? What was he thinking?”

She had gone from despondent to angry in a blink of an eye. She saw Jaime momentarily startled and then saw him smile.

“What the hell are you smiling at?” she demanded.

“You’re going to make it,” Jaime said, grinning. “Yeah you got knocked out of this tournament because some pinhead made a bad call. That will happen but more times than not you will win in situations like that. When you walked out you looked like you were ready to quit. If you can go from looking like that to looking like you’re ready to claw his eyes out then you’ll do ok.”

“It still sucks,” Tricia said. “What the hell am I suppose to do Jaime? I did everything I know how and I still lost.”

“You said it Tricia,” Jaime said firmly. “You did everything you could. That is all you could ever do. You were at a stage where you needed chips badly, you had a hand that was unquestionably the best hand at the time. You pushed that edge. That is how you win at this game. Ok so it didn’t work out this time, that is why they call it gambling. The odds are on your side though. If you keep playing and you keep doing the right thing you will win. It worked for you when you cashed the other day. You must have been all-in several times, maybe even with the worst hand not the best.”

Tricia shrugged. “Well it still sucks.”

“Hell yes it sucks!” Jaime agreed, chuckling. “Maybe that’s why they call it a suck out. I’m really not sure. Plenty of people went out ahead of you today and they didn’t all go out because they made a mistake. Many of them went out, just as you did, because they did the right thing, their opponent was an ass but a lucky ass. You can probably find some of them in one or another of the bars if you want to talk about it.”

The way Jaime said itTricia knew he was teasing her but also knew he was right. She couldn’t help but grin. “I don’t want to go to a bar and talk to a bunch of losers.”

“Would it help to talk to me?” Jaime asked.

“You know I was thinking about that,” Tricia said. “I was thinking that I am liking the people I’m meeting here. I’m starting to see that if I come regularly to these things I would end up with a whole other set of friends.”

Jaime smiled at her. “Well if you read my journal you know I call them my poker friends. Some, most, will never be more than that but it’s great when you’re away from home at one of these things to have somebody you can talk to, somebody whose shoulder you can cry on when you get beat. Somebody to cheer you on as you win.”

Tricia nodded, looking at Jaime, studying his eyes. “Jaime do you think we could be just friends…maybe even just poker friends?”

She could not read Jaime’s reaction to that. He kept his face impassive.

“Well I think I could. Do you think you can. You’re the one who tried to drag me off to your room last night.”

Tricia’s jaw dropped open in shock and she immediately began to sputter a denial angrily until she saw him smile and heard him say. “Do you have any idea how close I was to taking you up on that? It would have been wonderful Tricia…and it would have, I think, screwed everything up.”

Tricia shook her head at him and took a deep breath. “Do you mean it? You were really tempted?”

“Don’t doubt it for a moment Tricia,” Jaime said. “For eight years I toldmyself that if we saw one another again the spark would be gone. At best we’d just be friends, maybe just acquaintances. Then I saw you that first time and knew I was wrong, at least as far as I was concerned. You then let me know without a doubt that you felt it too.”

“Then why not Jamie?” Tricia asked quietly. “Why not?”

“Don’t you remember how much pain you were in the first time?” Jaime asked softly. “Honey you obviously wanted to save your marriage. You had not lied to me, you told me from the beginning you had no thought of leaving Matt, you just wanted more, something he wasn’t giving you. We tried that…it almost cost you something you found you wanted more.”

“But shit he’s back to the same pretty much except now I have a son to raise with little help.”

“And you have Matthew Junior to think about now too,” Jaime said. “Not only that but I have him to think about. I promised you that I would never again do anything that could cause your marriage harm. I may have done that just by being here but I had to be here so maybe that doesn’t count. I’m going to honor that promise even though in so many ways I’d love to just chuck it out the window.”

“Shit Jamie,” Tricia said. “Life sucks sometimes.”

“Life is pretty good baby,” Jaime said softly. “Matt trusts you enough to let you come play poker like this without harassing you with constant demands to know what you’re up to. You’re doing something you obviously like and are very good at. What happens if Matt finds out you met me here and we picked up where we left off? Do you think you’ll be at another one of these?”

“Maybe he won’t find out.”

“He won’t find out it was me.” Jaime said. “I’m sorry Tricia but I won’t have that on my conscience. I felt guilty enough about the first time because I still feel that was more my fault than yours.”

“The hell it was.” Tricia said. “How many times did I have to tell you that you never made me do a damn thing I didn’t want to do.”

“But I gave you the opportunity. I made it easy.”

“Well hell Jaime. There are probably thousands of guys out there that would have done the same thing if you hadn’t.” Tricia pointed out and then realized exactly what she’d said.

“So if not for me you’d have just fallen in bed with the next guy on the list?” Jaime asked sarcastically.

“Shit Jaime you know I didn’t meant it that way but lets be realistic. We said we were not really looking but we both know we were ready for it. If it hadn’t happened with you then, yes, it probably would have with somebody else. You know how that goes since you’d done it with somebody since me. Two somebodies apparently.”

Jaime shrugged. “You’re right of course.”

“So can we at least be poker friends?” Tricia asked. “I can do it if you can do it.”

“We’re going to have to try Tricia. It would be a total pain in the ass to have to avoid you at these and besides I want that much at least.”

“I agree we have to try,” Tricia said. “I have enjoyed meeting Rick and Sandy and Gary but it will always be easier to talk to you. Not only are you a better poker player than they are but you were a very good friend and I want to keep that.”

“Will you tell Matt?”

“I don’t know,” Tricia said. “Not while I’m here. Probably I will when I go home. Shit that may mean I never come back to one. Do you think I should?”

“You know him best but look at it this way we didn’t do anything. Hell I’ll give you my phone number…have him call me. Have him come with you to the next one. You’re good at this Tricia and you obviously enjoy it. I’d like to see you keep doing it as often as you can.”

“Well that still won’t be more than maybe three or four a year,” Tricia said. “I’ve been thinking about that too and I don’t see bringing Matty on the road and he will be in school soon. I don’t want to spend too much time away from him.”

“Well you’ll have to work that out with Matt and Matty.”

“Yeah.”

“So friend,” Tricia said after taking a deep breath. “Would you like to play some with me? I’d like to have you watch me for a bit and let me know what you think.”

Jaime gave a mock shudder. “Watch a 4/8 game? That’s like watching paint dry.”

Tricia elbowed him in the ribs. “You brat! I know you like low limit still unless you’ve been lying in your journal.”

He laughed. “Come on. I’ll be glad to play with you for a bit.”

No comments: