Jake wiped his brow with a bandana and pushed his hair back. He tried to do this every time so that he wouldn't tip anyone off if he was truly nervous. Like this time. A Jack of diamonds, a two of clubs, a six of hearts, a seven of clubs and an Ace of diamonds. House rules, he could exchange three cards. Was his truck really worth this hand? Too bad there wouldn't be another.
"Mr. Winston I do believe its your turn to call?"
Jake was still deep in thought. The truck door slamming shut as Grace started the long walk back to town. The vision of tears in her eyes made his jaw clench. The way she kept one hand protectively over her belly made his knees buckle ever so slightly under the table. Was this hand really worth the truck?
"Some people just can't get it together. Jake are you one of those people?"
Grace had asked him that question that very morning while he was drinking his coffee and looking at the blank lines in the checkbook.
What was he really worried about losing? He had circled back and pleaded with Grace to get back in the truck, but he knew at one of these times that she was in for a walk and he was in for a long quiet ride home. She turned off onto a path the truck couldn't fit down. Problem was there wasn't much of a home to walk back to anymore. The tornado had taken out their house and its not like he could afford insurance. His dad always said insurance was for suckers anyway. The FEMA trailer wasn't bad, if only Grace would get used to it.
"Jake, if its too rich for you, you can fold, but you're already all in so..." The fat man said.
Jake looked at the piles of hundred dollar bills in the middle and sitting on top of it all were his truck keys.
"FEMA's just handing out checks man! Go get yourself some of that cash!!!" his friend Benny had chided. Wasn't too bad. FEMA gave you a trailer to live in, MRE's to eat and a check.
"Don't worry about the fine print on the back, dude, just cash it!"
Four pairs of eyes around the table were looking at him. Three pairs anyway, as Chaz (as he called himself) wore reflective aviator glasses.
"Grace, we're doing fine. Joe says that they're going to start building those houses again up on the bluffs and he said he'd make me foreman this time!"
"And what do we do when those houses are built? If they get built? You really think people want to move here? We need a plan Jake. We're going to be a family and we need more than just you pretending to be a foreman."
"What do you mean pretend?" He could feel his cheeks flush. "Its not like I have a college degree or anything. We can't just up and move to a city and I can find work."
"Why not? We could leave this town. We could sell your dad's house and with the money we could get a fresh start somewhere."
"I don't want to sell my dad's house. Its a perfectly good roof over your head too."
Its amazing how much crow tastes like chicken.
Jake took the two, the six and seven and laid them on the table.
"Hold your horses, I'm still all in. Give me three cards."
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