Page 109 of Payoff Pitch
Bailey mentioned to me once that she and her father arethe ones who made dinner for her family since her mother was never sober enough to do so.
Kamryn and Harper are playing cards at the kitchen table while Bailey and her father work together to make the meal. They move around each other as though they’ve done it a thousand times before. It’s endearing. The mutual affection they share is clear.
I’m trying to be helpful, but I’m in the way more than I’m not. I decide it best to simply stand back and observe.
I catch Kamryn talking about a full house. I snap my head toward them. “Are you teaching her poker? I thought you were playing Go Fish.”
Kamryn rolls her eyes. “Go Fish is for babies and it’s mindless. Any idiot can play. Right, Harper?”
Harper nods. “Yeah. Any idiot can play Go Fish. Kam says that poker is a thinking person’s game and I’m too smart to play kid’s games.”
I see their father smile at the interaction. “I taught the girls how to play poker when they were around Harper’s age. Maybe even a little younger. Their minds were always way more mature than their years. They took to it quickly.” He chuckles. “They’ve hustled quite a few decent players out of cash over the years.”
I smile as I look at Bailey. “I didn’t know you played.”
She raises an eyebrow. “You never asked.”
I mouth, “Brat,” to her and she winks.
I admit, “I suppose I didn’t. We’ll have to play sometime.”
I catch her smirk while looking down. “You don’t stand a chance, Mr. Montgomery.”
Chris nods. “I’m telling you, Tanner, the girls are very good. Better than I am at this point. And Kam can count cards. I always swore I’d take her to Vegas one day.”
Kamryn yells out from the table, “We should all playafter dinner. It will be better for Harper to learn in a big group.”
I nod. “Game on. I play with a group of clients every few weeks.”
Kamryn scoffs. “Clients as in Layton, Cheetah, Vance, and Daylen? Those morons wouldn’t know a good hand if it smacked them in their faces. Dad played a weekly game when we were really little. Then he started bringing us, and we’d wipe those nimrods clean. They never knew what was coming. Suckers. They stopped inviting him after a while.”
Chris smiles as he shakes his head. “They stopped inviting me because you two hustled them out of their paychecks. And you were nine. They saw two young girls and assumed they knew nothing. The girls would tank the first few games and lose a few dollars. Then they’d insist on upping the ante with their modeling money and take those guys for hundreds of dollars.” He chuckles as he says it with a huge dose of pride. I don’t blame him. I’d feel the same if it were Harper.
Kamryn and Bailey share bemused looks. Kamryn says, “We did it in college too. All the time. That’s how we made beer money. It was like taking candy from a baby. Men are idiots. Always underestimating the Hart girls.”
My lips twist. “Hmm. Perhaps we should play with candy instead of cash tonight.”
Bailey giggles. “Are you scared of little ol’ us, Mr. Montgomery?”
I admit, “A little.”
Bailey looks around like she’s searching for something and then innocently says, “Can you grab me the big spatula, Daddy?”
Without thinking, I answer, “Sure,” at the exact same time their father answers, “No problem.”
Bailey’s eyes immediately widen. Kamryn spits out in laughter and mutters, “Holy shit.”
Harper gasps, fortunately blissfully unaware of what just happened. “That’s ten dollars in the swear jar, Kam.”
Kamryn grins widely as she pulls a ten-dollar bill out of her pocket and hands it to Harper. Staring straight at me, and with a wide grin, she announces, “Totally worth it. Best ten dollars I ever spent. We used to have one of those swear jars growing up. Right,Daddy? To be clear, I meant Chris Hart, not you,Mr. Montgomery.”
I mumble something about being used to Harper calling me Daddy. I can’t look Chris in the eyes right now. I feel like he’ll see right through me and know all the dirty things I’m doing to his daughter.
After a slightly awkwarddinner where I could practically see Chris’s eye twitching, we’re playing poker now. Bailey told him she’d drive and that he should enjoy some of my good whiskey and cigars. It seems to have relaxed him. That, or he’s doing a better job masking his warranted contempt for me.
He looks around my man cave. “This is a great setup, Tanner.”
“Thank you. It’s my sanctuary. I’m a bit of a workaholic and—”