Four of a Kind by Valerie Frankel Read Free Book Online Page A

pang of shame. “I would
love
a Diet Coke,” she said to Carla, who went through the kitchen’s swinging door to get it.
    The refreshment business concluded, Bess said, “I have some input about the Diversity Committee calendar. A few Parents Association members brought up the idea of having a multicultural food festival or bake sale. We can raise funds and use the money to draw a great lecturer, or a whole panel of experts on Islam or the Middle East …”
    Robin groaned. “Can we put the agenda on hold for one more meeting? I think I can speak for Alicia and Carla when I say that we’re still in the getting-to-know-each-other stage, and not ready to start banging out ideas just yet.”
    Alicia nodded. “I concur. Although I really do want to work on it at some point.”
    Carla nodded. “Me, too.” She then dropped a cellophane-wrapped deck of cards in the center of the table. “Brand new pack,” she said.
    Bess said, “Wait, one more thing before we start. I have presents!” She reached into her oversized leather tote and handed out small wrapped boxes to each woman. Tearing away the red wrapping paper, Robin felt excited, giddy. A present! How unexpected.
    Alicia said, “A computer game?”
    They all had the same gift. A small box. The cover photo: a man’s hand, deftly revealing the top corner of the king of hearts and king of clubs, a pile of chips on a field of green felt. The title:
World Class Poker with T. J. Cloutier
. T.J.’s stamp-sized photo appeared on the lower right corner of the box—the poker-faced, aviator-glasses-wearing “champion” didn’t look too happy about it.
    Bess said, “I thought we could learn how to play Texas Hold ’Em for real. Real rules, strategy. Make it competitive.”
    “But I like our relaxed version,” said Alicia.
    “I just thought that, if we’re going to do this, let’s do it right,”said Bess. “Learning poker as an essential skill, like playing piano or speaking a second language.”
    Carla said, “I don’t have a lot of spare time to play games.”
    Robin watched Bess’s face fall so low it nearly hit the floor. It was horrible to watch. Shot down again, plus a fight with her daughter tonight, too. Robin hated to see disappointment on anyone’s face. She’d seen enough of it on her mother’s. “At some point, we should
absolutely
learn to play the right way,” Robin intoned. “And thanks ever so much, Bess, for buying the CDs.” Honestly, if playing by the rules made Bess happy, Robin was fine with following suit, not to belabor the card metaphor, even in her head.
    Alicia took the cards and unwrapped the cellophane. She put the jokers aside and started shuffling the stiff cards. “So we’re betting with chips now?” she asked. “No more playing for dirt?”
    “She can’t wait to talk about her sex life,” said Robin.
    Alicia kept her head down, focused on shuffling. She was embarrassed, but pretended not to be. This revealed to Robin that Alicia possessed the skill of Taking It. Robin wondered where Alicia got her stiff-lip training. The hard way? Or was she born with it?
    The petite brunette dealt the cards. Each woman had two facedown cards. Alicia slapped down the five communal cards.
    Checking her blinds, Robin smiled to see a pair of sevens. “Start talking anytime,” she said to Alicia.
    “Remember how I said my husband Tim and I haven’t had sex in two years?” asked Alicia. “That’s not entirely true. It’s been two years, one month, two weeks—”
    A sound from upstairs. A curious boy, Carla’s older son—Manuel, was it?—appeared at the top of the steps. Fourth-grader Zeke lurked behind his taller brother.
    Manuel said, “Ma, we finished the book.”
    “Good,” said Carla. “Take showers, and then go to bed.”
    It was just after eight o’clock. Bedtime was on the early side in Carla’s house of rules.
    Manuel said, “Because we’ve been quiet, as a reward, I thought we could watch a half hour