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“SO, JASON TELLS us you’re real good at poker,” Kenny said as they all took their seats around the poker table he had in his basement. They always had the game at Kenny’s house. He and his wife, Jill, had started the regular game a couple years ago. Jill used to play with them, but she’d gotten sick of the “swagger,” as she’d called it. Jason didn’t blame her. It’s not that they tried to be mean, but she had been the only woman at the games and borne the brunt of the smack talk. When she’d gotten pregnant, she’d decided pregnancy didn’t go well with boys trying to one-up each other.
She’d also banned cigars. Jason would rather have suffered through the cigar smoke if Jill would have kept playing, but he didn’t blame her for bailing on them. Dell and Burton in particular could be real assholes when they were winning.
To Jason’s delight, Marsie took her time answering. She acknowledged the comments with a raised brow, but instead of responding, kept her stick-straight posture as she peered at each face around the table, over the top of her glasses, even. He didn’t know what she was looking for. If he had to guess, she wasn’t looking for anything, but she was giving them a chance to notice her tight bun, the sharp lines of her face and the prim set of her lips.
Finally, she set just the tips of her fingers on the edge of the table and said, “I put myself through graduate school playing poker online,” with as much starch as he had ever heard come out of her mouth.
“I would say I’m—” she paused for effect, because Jason was sure she knew the word she wanted to use “—not anywhere near one of the best. But I did all right.”
God bless his friends. Jason could practically see them trying to figure out what category Marsie belonged in. She wasn’t warm and friendly, so she couldn’t be put in the Jill-grouping, with women who were maternal and to be adored. They weren’t looking past her cardigan to notice that she was hot, so she couldn’t be slotted in the Venus-side of their understanding of women. She wasn’t backing down, so they couldn’t dismiss her as mousy and easy to push over.
She looked them in the eye like an equal. She didn’t brag and she didn’t bluster.
Dell and Burton, who needed to be taught a lesson, clearly both decided that they couldn’t easily categorize her, and so she wasn’t anything they needed to worry about. Kenny, the only married one in the group, twitched his lips, caught Jason’s eye and shook his head. He was not going to be fooled. Ian, the football coach at a local high-performing high school with a powerhouse of a female principal, raised an eyebrow. He was holding back any judgment until he saw Marsie play. There was a reason his school’s team was one of the best in the state.
As for Marsie, she was clearly enjoying herself.
As per usual, Dell collected the money and passed out the chips. Kenny dealt the first round of cards. Also, as per usual, Jason’s were terrible. Dell’s weren’t any better. He was curling his upper lip, despite being told several times that it was a dead giveaway that he had no cards. Dell was hardworking and the first person Jason would call if he had a body to bury, but sometimes the man didn’t think for shit. Kenny used to have several easy tells, but Jill had trained him out of them. Burton scratched his head if his cards were either good or bad, so he was only an easy read if, like now, he didn’t move. Ian drew on the table with his finger as if he were making a play for his quarterback to study.
Marsie’s face was blank and she was studying each person at the table, even—Jason realized when she caught his eye—him. He winked and she smiled.
When it was time to bet, Marsie had completely rearranged her face. She looked unsure. Cautious. Suddenly, she looked less like she could turn into a sexy librarian at any moment and more like she wanted to disappear into her seat. The corner of her mouth went up. Then the other. And finally, she slid a matching bet across the table.
Jason folded after the flop. He didn’t have the cards, and he wanted to watch what Marsie was doing. He’d asked her to play because he was sure she was good, and it would be fun to watch his friends lose their shirts.
