Chapter 7

Tricia was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable she found herself to be as the tournament progressed. She’d half expected the guys might not take her seriously because she was a woman but that didn’t seem to be the case. Most were friendly and the ones who weren’t were not friendly to anybody. A couple of the guys nearby even flirted with her a little which made her feel good. It also made her smile thinking how nuts it would drive Matt. He tended to be a big flirt where she really wasn’t but when a guy flirted with her and he saw it he would accuse her of egging the guy on and try to make her feel like she’d done something terrible. She’d learned to pretty much ignore him figuring that she wasn’t doing anything and besides Matt himself was doing what he accused her of doing.

That was how the tournament progressed throughout the afternoon. She played a hand when she got cards. Watched the players at the table always to try to figure them out better and in between all that her mind drifted all over but mostly to thoughts of Matt and Matty. She really thought little about Jaime which, when she realized it, surprised her.

Late in the afternoon she heard the Tournament Director announce that at the end of the current level there would be a forty five minute dinner break. Tricia pulled out her cell phone, surprised to find out how late it was. She was thinking about that and not listening so at first she missed the fact that somebody was talking to her.

It was the guy sitting to her right. He’d introduced himself to her shortly after sitting at the table but she could only remember that his first name was Rick. She guessed he was around forty and if she’d been asked to describe him she’d have had to say he was ‘average’. Average height, average weight, Average everything. He did play good poker though and she’d learned to watch out for him if he played a hand in front of her.

She’d also found him very nice with a dry sense of humor she really liked. Rick wasn’t one who’d flirted with her. He’d just chatted back and forth from time to time about different things.

“Excuse me,” Tricia said. “I wasn’t paying attention. What did you say?”

Rick smiled and said, “I just asked you if you had plans for dinner. It can be tough to get anything in the forty five minutes they give us when all these people flood into the few restaurants available.”

“I hadn’t thought about it,” Tricia admitted. “I didn’t even know it was that late.”

“You did seem to be concentrating very hard,” Rick said. “That’s not a bad thing. You’re doing very well.”

“Thank you,” Tricia said. “Now about dinner. I am hungry now that I stop to think about it. I guess I will just order something at the table.”

Rick laughed. “I hope you don’t want it soon. There are right around 400 people left in this and when you add that on top of all the other people in the casino who will realize it’s dinner time I can guarantee you that the kitchens are all busy for the next hour or longer.”

“You have a solution?” Tricia asked.

Rick looked at his watch. “The local pizza place I called a bit over a half hour back will have a pizza outside my door in five minutes. I need to be there to pay them for it. There will be more than enough if you would like to share it with me.”

Tricia looked at him wondering if this was just an excuse to get her to his room. That didn’t make a lot of sense considering they only had forty five minutes.

Rick smiled, reading the expression on her face correctly. “I swear I’m not asking you in to see my etchings my dear. I am hungry and we are going to be here a very long time tonight. We need food.”

Tricia laughed, partly that he’d read her so well and partly at the way he had made light of it.

“Honest Tricia,” Rick said. “If you’d like you can wait in the lobby and I’ll bring it back down.”

She shook her head. “That’s ok. I think I can trust you. You strike me as a nice guy and pretty harmless.”

Rick gave a curious sigh as he motioned her to follow him. His room was in another wing of the hotel but otherwise identical to hers. The pizza delivery showed up just as they did and Rick paid for it, refusing Tricia’s offer to pay half. They took it into the room and tore into it hungrily, not wasting time on talk until it was pretty much all gone but crusts to gnaw on.

“You said this was your first tournament but you seem awfully comfortable,” Rick said looking at Tricia. He was sitting in one of the room’s two chairs with his shoes off and his feet on the bed. Tricia was in the other chair with her shoes off and her legs curled under her.

“I said it was my first big tournament,” Tricia said. “I told you I won a satellite to get the buy in so it’s obviously not my first one. I’ve also played some in casinos nearer home up in Canada but they didn’t even have a hundred players.”

“Ahh ok,” Rick said. “I thought you seemed like you’d played a fair amount. You’re doing pretty well. I’ve seen you make some good plays. Frankly I wish I was either on the other side of you or on another table all together.”

Tricia laughed uneasily. “I’m not sure how to take that.”

“I meant it as a compliment,” Rick told her standing up and putting the empty pizza box near the waste basket. “I know you are a good enough player to realize that I’d rather play after a strong player like you than in front of them.”

Tricia stood up and stretched. “Yeah I understand. I’m glad you’re on my right. That way if you raise I can just fold.”

Rick laughed. “Yeah unless you re-raise like you have twice now.”

“Well I had better hands than you did,” Tricia said with a smile and a shrug.

“If you keep it up we are going to find out and one of us is probably going to be in trouble.”

“Just keep folding to my re-raises and you’ll be fine,” Tricia said with uncharacteristic cockiness.

“Listen to you!” Rick said delightedly. “You give them an inch and they take a mile.”

“Damn right. Don’t you forget it.” Tricia said and then laughed. “Don’t worry I’m not nearly as sure of myself as it sounds.”

“Could have fooled me. We need to get back now though I guess.”

They continued to make light small talk as they left Rick’s room and went through the lobby toward the casino.

“Looking for somebody?” Rick asked.

Tricia felt herself blush realizing she had been looking for Jaime a lot less discreetly than she thought. “Boy I can’t put anything over on you can I?”

“Well I am good at reading people,” Rick said. “But if it’s none of my business just tell me to butt out.”

Tricia shrugged. “Somebody I used to know may behere. I’ve gotten a couple of notes so far but I haven’t seen him. I was actually supposed to meet him tonight at 8:30”

“Well that may not work out,” Rick said. “I have a feeling you’re going deep into this tournament. I hope he will wait or you can try again another day.”

“Thanks,” Tricia said. “I’m not sure I want to meet with him though.”

“Oh?” Rick said, obviously curious and encouraging but also obviously not wanting to pry.

“It’s somebody I’ve not seen or heard from for eight years,” Tricia said with a shrug, watching Rick’s face as she told him. She decided she might as well keep going. “It’s somebody I had a brief affair with. We got caught, or I did. It was a real mess.”

“And he’s here?”

“Well I guess,” Tricia said briefly telling Rick about the cards. “I would know those cards anywhere so they have to be from him. I just can’t figure out why he sent it now. Maybe he was trying to tell me not to come here because he would be here.”

“More likely he was hoping you would come,” Rick said. “That would be my choice if I was him.”

Tricia looked at Rick in surprise. “That’s sweet but I don’t know. I also don’t know what to do if that is what he wants. I don’t know that we could just pick it up again. I don’t want to. I don’t think I do anyway. Shit life is complicated sometimes isn’t it?”

They re-entered the poker room and Rick gave a wry smile. “you can say that again. I could tell you a thing or two about a complicated life. Good luck deciding what to do.”

“Thanks,” Tricia said. “And good luck to you the rest of the tournament. Thank you so much for dinner. I love pizza.”

“You’re quite welcome. I was happy not to eat it alone. Good luck to you to Tricia.”

They took their seats waiting for the tournament to resume. Just before it was time a young guy came bouncing up carrying two racks full of chips and sat down in the seat across from Tricia.

He took one look around and said, “Come on people. Smile! Did everybody have too much for dinner? I like a happy table!”

Tricia couldn’t help but chuckle. His humor was pushy but somehow you had to like it. Then, as the clock ran down on dinner break he turned his hat around to face the front and reached up with his hand.

Just as the Tournament Director said, “Shuffle up and Deal” the guy’s hat lit up with the same words. Tricia found herself laughing along with the rest of the table and happily settled in for what she hoped would be a long night now that she was feeling pretty good about her chances.