House of Cards
by Sherri Turner
Wordcount: 2045
Genre: Romance
Synopsis:
Everyone has a special talent. Mine was poker. But that was never going to get me a girl like Ella.
Hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades. Play them well and you may get what you want. Play them wrongly and they are unforgiving. And, of course, you always need a bit of luck on your side.
First 500 words:
You can only play the cards you’re dealt. That’s what my granddad taught me and I have to say it was good advice. Make the best of what you’ve been given and get on with it.
That’s what Granddad did. No education as such, no special talents. So he did a bit of this and that until he found a niche as a gardener, accepted his lot and just got on with it.
And that’s what I did, too. Though I do have a special talent, which made Granddad’s words even more appropriate. I was pretty rubbish at most things, never managed to settle to anything normal. It all seemed so boring. Whereas poker, well, that was another matter.
It wasn’t just the excitement of a big win, it was everything that went with it: the atmosphere, the risk, the psychological battles. I could work out the odds like lightning, but it was looking into another man’s eyes and knowing from his face what he held in his hand. That was what I did best and that’s how I won. Not always, of course, but enough for it to be a living. And I was lucky, as well. You have to have luck on your side, too.
As far as I was concerned it was a perfectly respectable means of earning my pay. It was only after I met Ella that things changed.
Now you may have heard stories of gamblers and casinos, martinis and glamorous women. They’re certainly not all true. But I have to admit to my share of girls and that was part of the fun. They didn’t want commitment or security. We were all after the same thing, so no one got hurt. And that was fine with me until, as I said, I met Ella.
I was walking home from a game one night, wallet full of cash, when I saw her getting out of a taxi. She caught her heel on the doorsill and literally fell into my arms. I looked down and saw an angel. No, really. She explained later that she’d been at a fancy dress party, but at the time it seemed like a sign. I would have thought she was an angel anyway.
I knew straight off that Ella wasn’t the sort of woman you met at a poker game. There was a sweetness about her that just shone out, and she was classy and clever and way out of my league. I could tell that just from those few moments.
Ella let me help her to her front door, but she wasn’t going to let me in. Who could blame her? I could have been anyone. I thought of asking for her phone number, but didn’t really want to show my hand yet. Anyway, I knew where she lived.
I left her there and continued on towards my own place. Nothing like the big house where I had left Ella.
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