Otherwise telling me she had a handful of hearts.
Eric threw a four of hearts, I tossed my five, and Tommy laid out a six.
As I collected the book, I did the mental math. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, king and ace of hearts were out.
When Brooke threw the queen, that left four.
Eric tossed an eight.
And I debated for a moment.
The only hearts left were the nine, ten, and jack. Tommy may have had one, but he may have been out too. That look Brooke gave me replayed through my mind.
I could throw off with my low club and give her the trick, but that risked Tommy trumping.
Holding Brooke’s gaze, I laid the five of spades on her queen with an apologetic expression. Nobody liked to steal their partner’s trick, but Tommy could be trumping them too.
Her shoulders softened slightly as she saw it, and she relaxed in her seat.
She didn’t think it was going to go anyway, and she was glad it was me trumping them.
Tommy tossed the jack.
Collecting the book with one hand, I threw out the ace of diamonds.
Tommy dropped an eight of diamonds.
Eyes locked with mine, Brooke laid out the nine of hearts.
Meaning she didn’t have a single diamond in her hand. Which could mean two things. She threw off a card she knew couldn’t win because she wasn’t trying to trump me, or because she didn’t have a spade thatcouldtrump me.
But she bet two maybe three, and that king of hearts had been her maybe.
If she didn’t have a single diamond in her hand, and she had a few spades, she would’ve counted those spades as books.
But since the king of hearts had been her maybe, that meant she had one she knew she’d get for sure.
The ace of spades, and she was holding onto it.
I shot her a smirk of understanding that she quickly returned, shrouding it with a sip of her drink.
Eric laid out a four of diamonds, and judging by his nonchalant gaze, he hadn’t realized she was trumping diamonds.
I tossed the king of diamonds as I collected the book.
Tommy tossed a three, and again, Brooke laid out a heart. This time the ten.
Presumably since hearts were also red, and they were both drunk, Eric uncaringly dropped a seven of diamonds, still not realizing that Brooke was trumping diamonds. The queen and jack were still out, though.
Grabbing the book, I tossed my three of clubs to confirm my suspicion. Since the ace of hearts and diamonds were out, if Brooke tossed an ace, I’d know it was her other for sure book.
But Tommy laid the ace of diamonds down instead.
Brooke put down a two, giving me a look as she did, answering my question without saying a word. Worry shined through her eyes, wondering if I was picking up what she meant. That the only face card she had left was the ace of spades.
I smirked at her behind my rum as Eric threw a seven.
A slight smile touched her lips in understanding too. But what she didn’t realize was that I had the king, queen, jack and ten of spades. Between the two of us, we had the five highest cards in the deck. As long as we held onto those five, we had our nine, and they’d be set two hundred behind us.