Chapter 12
“Well, look who decided to show up.” From his chair at the poker table set up on his screened in porch, Judd jerked a thumb toward the house. “There’s beer and pizza.”
Mitch saluted him and the rest of the gathered players before heading inside. He deposited his own six-pack in the fridge and grabbed one of the cold long-necks before loading up a paper plate with pizza from Speakeasy and carrying it back outside. He took the chair between Liam and Reuben Blanchard, who wore the dealer’s hat.
“The prodigal son returns!” Liam crowed. “We were beginning to think you’d abandoned us.”
Mitch so wasn’t about to address the fact that he hadn’t actually been to poker night since before his trip to Europe, so he’d take the ribbing as his due. “Yeah, yeah. It’s good to see y’all, too.” He twisted off the top and took a pull on his beer. “Cam’s got a City Council meeting. Ethan coming?”
“On babysitting duty,” Darius Greeley announced. “We picked up a speeder with a rap sheet the length of my arm. County’s coming to pick him up, but they couldn’t get here until tomorrow, so somebody had to stick around the station. Ethan drew the short straw.”
“Looks like it’s just us tonight, then. Let’s get this party started.” Reuben began to shuffle. “Where you been, Campbell?”
“Busy.” Understatement of the century.
The ex-SEAL cut Mitch a glance. “That got something to do with your pretty new roommate?” He said roommate in a tone of air quotes.
Irritation prickled, but Mitch knew he couldn’t rise to the bait. “That setup was Grammy’s idea. You know nobody says no to her.”
Judd picked up the cards he’d been dealt and studied them. “Seems to be working out. You’ve been spending an awful lot of time at home.”
He’d have been there tonight if not for the fact that Norah had sweet-talked Tess into teaching her how to make the agnolotti. But this was good. He needed to reconnect with his pals and get at least a few things back to the status quo.
“We’re working on a project for her dad. Repurposing the old Heirloom Home Furnishings factory.” Mitch relaxed a bit as he told them about the project and studied the flop against his own hand. He discarded two cards and took two more. “Plus, I’ve been catching up on everything that got put on hold during my vacation.”
“Speaking of, you finally gonna tell us about that trip?” Liam asked.
Reuben added the turn. “Yeah, you were gone almost a month. Where all did you go?”
Mitch didn’t see the harm in talking about it now. “It was a blast. Rhett and I were in Paris for the conference for a week. Then we worked our way through Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria before heading over to the UK.”
“Oh, how was that? My wife is pushing me for a British vacation next summer. She’s obsessed with The Great British Bake Off and wants to do some kind of food tour of the region.” Darius changed out three of his cards. “Raise.”
Mitch met the bet and tossed in a couple more chips. “It was good. We toured London extensively, the Lake District, Cambridge. Headed down to Wales, and up into Scotland.”
“Yeah? Did you make it up to the Highlands?” Judd raised the bet again.
Reuben turned over the river.
“Yeah. It’s gorgeous.” Mitch studied his hand. Queen high flush. He could work with that. He adjusted his final bet and added some more chips to the pot. “Bunch of distilleries to tour. Loch Ness and all that.”
“Any sightings of Nessie?” Liam teased.
“No, but lots of old castles. The fact that so many of them have survived is amazing. Some have been restored to fully functioning estates for the tourists, so you can see how they used to live way back when. And there are plenty of dudes in kilts to make the ladies happy.”
Liam grimaced. “I don’t want to encourage that. Riley might make me wear one.”
Judd leaned back in his chair, eyes narrowed in consideration. “I don’t know. Seems like there might be something to be said for easy access.”
“You are not wrong. I tried one on while I was there, just for the hell of it. It was surprisingly comfortable.”
Everybody laid down their cards. Mitch scanned the hands. Looked like Darius was raking in the pot. Damn him.
“Tess couldn’t talk you into buying it?” Judd asked.
Mitch snorted, remembering that whole negotiation. “Oh, she tried, but—” He cut himself off with a curse.
Judd dropped his chair back to all four legs and pointed at Liam. “Called it. Pay up.”