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Chapter Thirty-Nine

J oe zipped up his jacket against the wind and headed toward his truck. Tonight was poker night at Mark’s house. The weekend at the cabin was the respite he and Claire needed, but it didn’t last long enough. They had been back a week.

He, Mark, Luke, Pete, Hank, and whoever else was free tried to get together once a month to play. He hated leaving Claire after making sweet love to her all afternoon, but she was going out with the girls, so he was back to being with just the guys. He missed her already.

“Yo.” Mark greeted him at the door, and they did a fist bump.

“I guess no one else is here yet.” Joe looked around the comfortable living room.

Mark wasn’t a fancy guy, but he had two sofas facing each other and two leather chairs around a square coffee table.

The room was painted an off-white and had no pictures, pillows or throws, other than a big-ass TV on the wall currently tuned to a game.

It was a comfortable room that opened into a large dining room that held a table and eight chairs .

“Not yet. Pete and Hank are coming together and running late. Jake is going to grace us with his presence tonight, and Luke’s coming from the office. I hope Ben is coming. I haven’t heard from him yet.”

“Great.”

“Grab a beer and help me set up.”

Joe grabbed a beer from the stocked fridge. Setup was a snap.

Mark took the sandwiches out of the fridge.

“Did Sam make them?” he asked, knowing full well Sam was not a domestic goddess.

“Am I still breathing?”

Joe chuckled. Sam probably would have kicked Mark’s ass if he asked, although he did see a softer side of her when she was with Mark.

She was a force to be reckoned with at work and intense at play, but her relationship with Mark worked.

He wondered if they would ever get married or if they liked the status quo.

He shrugged. He could barely keep his life straight at the moment.

Mark put the poker chips and cards on the dining-room table and pulled out a chair. He gestured to the other chair. “Take a load off.”

Joe handed him a beer and sat down.

“So…” Mark took a sip of beer, put it down. “How are things going with Claire? Is she settling in? Happy?”

Was Claire happy? Joe thought she was. Remarkably so. Working with the shelters had helped heal some of her pain. She was painting again and loved her job.

“Yes, she is both settling in and happy.”

“No bad memories of Keith?”

Joe shook his head. “Not that I know of. She hasn’t said anything to me. I don’t know if she confided in the girls or not.” There was only that one time Claire had a nightmare, but he’d been able to settle her down .

“Sam has only mentioned in passing that Claire enjoys working at the shelters and being able to support them financially.”

“I know she gets great pleasure from helping. She likes taking the self-defense lessons there, and I’m glad she’s taking them. Working at the gallery helps too.” It made him happy that Claire was flourishing at the gallery. Her paintings reflected her happiness. Her being happy made him happy.

Mark tapped his fingers on the table. “I hear Hank is going out with one of her co-workers. Hillary something. How’s that going?”

“Humph.” Hillary gave Joe the creeps, but he didn’t want to say anything to either Claire or Hank.

They both appeared to be enamored of her.

But he thought she was sly, sarcastic, and only out for herself.

But then again, he thought that about most people, so who was he to judge? “You’ll have to ask him.”

The doorbell rang. Hank and Pete walked in, arguing about who was going to kick whose butt. A typical conversation for them. Luke, Ben, and Jake were close behind. Mark told them to get something to drink and grab a sandwich before they started playing.

“So, Marlee tells me things are going well with Claire,” said Ben. “Any plans to make it official?”

Joe gave him his death stare, the one he used when he was in the SEALs. “I’m not sharing my love life with you yo-yos. Get your jollies from someone else.” They all laughed.

“Well, then, Hank, you’re in the hot seat. I hear you’re dating Hillary,” Mark said to Hank. “Is she the one for you?” He gave him a wink.

They all guffawed because Hank wasn’t looking to settle down any time soon. He liked the ladies. They had gobbled down the sandwiches, and Hank was shuffling the cards.

“Funny.” Hank gave him the finger. “No, I like her, rather I like the sex, but she’s not into relationships, which is fine by me.”

Jake chimed in. “She’s the one that works with Claire, isn’t she?”

“Yeah,” replied Hank. “Why?”

“Oh, I’ve just seen her a couple of times in the bar with that shady lawyer.” He frowned. “Kimble. No…” He shook his head. “Kaiser. He comes in occasionally and does business at the bar. Can’t stand the guy.”

“Kaiser?” Hank thought for a moment. “Don’t know him. I wonder why she’s meeting him?”

Pete lightly punched him in the shoulder. “Jealous?”

“As if. We’re just fuck buddies right now.” Hank took a bite of sandwich and a guzzle of beer. “Who she sees is her business. Now enough of my love life. Will you miscreants get down to the business of playing cards? I’m feeling lucky.”

Joe snorted. Lucky, my foot. Hank had a twitch when he had a good hand. The only one not leaving with any money tonight would be Hank.

But he wondered why Hillary would be meeting with this Kaiser dude if she wasn’t up to no good. Maybe tomorrow when he went into the office he would ask Phil Donovan to check him out. One thing for sure, he would be keeping his eye on Hillary.