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No, Karl stopped himself from thinking that. Vivian was doing the family a favor. He could be gracious and take her at her word that she hadn’t actually cheated. She was carrying his child. They both shared the responsibility; he didn’t have to be an ass, not even in his thoughts.
“Would you like me to get you some more hot water for your tea?”
“Are you staying?” He couldn’t blame her for the doubt in her voice. He came for family dinners, but hadn’t been in the habit of just dropping by to chat.
“Sure. I’ll stay, at least until Vivian gets back from Healthy Food.” The work he had to review wasn’t going anywhere. His mom had just had a heart attack. He could spend the afternoon with her. “I’ll even fix us lunch.”
“Vivian put a list of good post–heart attack food on the fridge. None of it is kielbasa and pierogies, but what she’s fixed so far hasn’t been terrible.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
WITH CAREFUL PLANNING, Vivian had managed to avoid Karl and the accusatory set of his jaw recently. Texting served as their primary means of communication, and he only visited his mom when the house was otherwise empty. As far as visits from her son were concerned, for Mrs. Milek (“Call me Susan, you’re going to be the mother of my grandchild”), her heart attack had been a stroke—no pun intended—of good luck. Vivian had been under the impression that Karl was a dutiful son, only he seemed to have been just dutiful, nothing else. Now, instead of only visiting his mother for the expected Sunday dinner, Karl had taken to dropping in daily for tea and a chat.
Though she felt a little guilty thinking such a thing, Susan’s heart attack had been lucky for Vivian, as well. Instead of being at loose ends, Vivian had a job and a place to live—all without being a burden to a judgmental prig. She was being useful, and it felt good.
For the first two days Susan had been nice to her strictly because of the baby. Then Vivian lost to her at backgammon several times and taught her cribbage. Whatever problem Susan had had with her before the heart attack disappeared completely with the card games. They now played several games of cribbage almost every night before bed.
In their first game of the night, Susan dealt first. “Pawel, Karl’s father, and I used to play card games all the time, but of all my kids, only Leon enjoyed them. I miss sitting around a table like this.”
Vivian put down a four, a solid opening card. “I know more games.”
She had gotten a job dealing because she’d been playing cards all her life. Her father had tried to teach her how to count cards while they were playing Go Fish, but the concept had been beyond the thought processes of a five-year-old.
“Karl said you were a dealer in Las Vegas.” Susan put down an ace. “That’s where he met you.”
“I was a dealer. And he met me at a bar.” She put a ten on the table. “Fifteen, for two.” Vivian counted her two spaces on the board. “Remember, don’t make a five when we’re counting. There are too many tens in the deck and those are easy points.”
“Pawel always used to win at card games, too. But I could beat him at backgammon.” Susan had beat Vivian at five straight games of backgammon. “Though he would never play bridge with me.”
“Bridge was one game I was never able to get good at.” Vivian counted two points for a pair and one point for the “go,” then waited for Susan to put down another card. “My dad and I moved around too often to find a regular foursome, and it’s not really a Vegas game.”
Based on the cards she’d seen and what could be left in the deck, the only card Vivian had left would probably give Susan easy points.
“I have some girlfriends who I play with. You can take my place and I’ll teach you the tricks. Then you can teach us to count cards at blackjack for the next time we go to the casinos.” She laid down a card with a triumphant smile. “Fifteen-two and a run of three for a total of five.”
“Susan!”
“What?” Susan looked up. “I counted the points correctly.”
“Karl would be horrified if he knew I was teaching you to count cards.”
