A Hand of Spades

Chapter 12. Party Party Party

The past few days have been a flurry of activity. Things at the Stella are calmer, Hoyt has been mostly absent or his temper reduced to a quiet simmer. There's no word on Cori. The girls at work have learned not to mention her name.

Any time I catch a glimpse of Tex, he's pacing the front porch of the safehouse. No one offers me any updates and I'm too nervous to ask. I'm especially hesitant to talk to Cash, not that I even could.

Cash was gone when my fever broke, and he's returned to the familiar pattern of avoiding me unless absolutely necessary. I've dedicated myself to not thinking about the time he spent sitting on my bed, speaking to me in a way that was gentle. I am especially not thinking about the soothing way his hands tugged on my hair, or the rumble of his laughter, the ghost of his breath on my forehead.

"Cowboy to Space Cadet, come in." Tex's voice draws me back to reality with a jolt. The small deck at the back of the house is a recent discovery, and my new favourite place to sit and think. It's only a few feet wide, but there's enough room for an old folding chair and a table. I sit in the early afternoon and drink my coffee facing the treeline.  It's here that Tex has found me, the cup in my hand grown cold.

"Did you need something?"

"You gave me a right good scare." He sighs, leaning against the deck's wooden railing. "Couldn't find you for a moment and you weren't answering when I called you."

I offer a reassuring smile. "Sorry. Guess I was lost in thought."

"You've been coming out here a lot."

"I like it."

He eyes the ancient plastic folding table, stained greyish brown from years outside. "Really?"

"I like the trees." I say, suddenly defensive of my new habitat.

"Sure." He sounds skeptical, but there's a teasing tone in his voice. "You're definitely not avoiding a certain someone?"

"I think he's avoiding me, Tex, not the other way around."

He flashes me a knowing smile. "I was talking about me, Janey."

"Oh." I turn my immediate embarrassment into irritation. "Well that doesn't make sense. Why would I be avoiding you?"

"Why would you be avoiding Cash?"

"Don't change the subject now that you've brought it up." I huff. Tex nods, his smile dissipating. 

"I thought you might be avoiding me because of Cori. Cash said you thought she looked scared of me, and I wanted to make sure you weren't thinking I was a danger to you or Blister."

A knot of shame boils in my stomach. Tex has been good to me in the time I've been here. Of anyone, I should have trusted him the most.

"I didn't mean to accuse you of anything"-

"You didn't. It's just complicated between me and Cori." My pulse quickens, thinking he's going to reveal something, but then his expression turns playful again. "But you'd know all about complicated, what with you and Cash"-

"Tex!" I stand up so abruptly I bump the little folding table, jostling my cup of cold coffee all over my jeans. I just miss grabbing the Home Sweet Home mug and it shatters on the wooden floor of the deck.

The brief silence that follows is broken by Tex's poor attempts to stifle his laughter. 

"Now look what you made me do." I giggle, bending down to pick up shards of broken cup.

"Me? That was all you, Clumsy." He kneels next to me to help, still snickering. "Now I understand how you managed to slice your leg up climbing a fence. You'd better change before the big gathering."