"Mr. H, you want I should put these away?" Max asked.
Jonathan had been quietly sitting on the plane with Jennifer curled up with her head on his shoulder. He gently stroked her arm and watched the way his thumb moved over her freckled skin. He lifted his head to look at Max, who was holding a deck of cards.
"Ah…" Jonathan didn't quite know how to answer that. Usually he and Max always played cards on flights if Jonathan wasn't working. Or even if he was working, they'd play for a little while anyway on long trips. But Jennifer was with them now. And Jonathan wanted to spend his time with her.
He felt guilt settle in the pit of his stomach. Obviously things would change with Jennifer in his life now, but until this moment, Jonathan hadn't felt like he'd had to choose between Max and Jennifer. Max had been, as he usually was, content to go off on his own and gamble a bit or do some shopping or run errands or whatever else. Jonathan had been free to devote every possible moment to Jennifer, and he hadn't thought anything of it. Now, though, he felt pulled in two directions.
Perhaps he wouldn't have felt that way if it weren't the late night they'd had. Jonathan had managed to get tickets to see Diana Ross for him and Jennifer, and they went out dancing afterwards. It was their last night in New York, so they wanted to celebrate. And celebrate they did. There were photographers snapping their pictures as they went into the theater and as they went from nightclub to nightclub. He and Jennifer would probably be all over the society pages of New York. But Jonathan hadn't bothered to look at a paper this morning.
All that fun had gotten them home around three in the morning, and they both fell into bed only for Max to wake them at seven so they could have breakfast and finish packing Jennifer's things before going to the airport. They wanted to fly out early so they'd get to LA with some of the day left still. Jennifer had figured they'd nap on the plane.
And that's what she'd been doing, dozing in his arms as he quietly thought about her. It seemed to be all he did nowadays, think of her and how he hadn't known he'd spent his whole forty-five years of life waiting for life with her. A life that they could actually start to build together now that they would be in California to stay.
Jennifer stirred at the sound of his voice and Max's. She sat up and stretched her neck and shoulders. "Max, is that a deck of cards?" she asked. Her face immediately lit up.
"Yeah," Max answered. "You wanna play?"
"I'd love to. What's your game?"
"Max and I usually play gin rummy or poker. We can do poker with three," Jonathan offered.
"That sounds great. Do you have a set up chips or do we just play with cash?" she asked.
Jonathan couldn't help but smile. Another wonderful thing he got to learn about her. She played poker and wanted to play with real money.
"Mr. H doesn't usually carry cash, so I just keep track of the pot with a pen and paper," Max explained.
"I've got a weekly game with some buddies, though, and we use chips and settle up after," Jonathan added.
"Oh yes, I remember you telling me about that. In fact, I believe that was how you tried to flirt with me that first night we met. You said you're not a gambling man, but if you were, you'd put a lot of money on me being the most beautiful thing in any museum, if I recall correctly."
Jonathan laughed. "So I did. And I stand by that."
"Except you obviously are a gambling man, Jonathan," she reminded him again.
"That's a good line, Mr. H," Max complimented. "And probably a good bet, too."
Jennifer smiled at the compliment but did not respond to it. "Max, do you play with Jonathan's buddies, too?" she asked.
"Nah," he answered. "I usually keep the food and drinks going at those. The kind of poker I like to play is a little more high stakes."
She nodded in understanding. "Like that all night game you had at the Ritz?"
"And Max goes to Vegas once a year, too."
"Well, I'm not really a very good poker player, but it is fun. You keep track though, Max, and I'm sure I'll owe you in no time," Jennifer said.
"We'll take it easy on you, darling," Jonathan placated.
She whipped her head around toward him. "Don't you dare! I'll never learn if you do that," she scolded.
Jonathan held up his hands in defense. "Alright, whatever you said." He sat up in his seat and looked across the table to Max. "Deal us in."
Jennifer hadn't been entirely truthful when she said she wasn't a very good poker player. It was the truth in that she wasn't really very skilled. She had an awful poker face most of the time, and she was more interested in playing the game than being strategic about when to fold or predicting what kind of hand an opponent might have. She'd heard somewhere that in poker and in bridge, you play the hand of the person opposite you. Jennifer just played her own hand and enjoyed herself.
But not being a good player did not mean she was likely to lose. For some reason, Jennifer Edwards always seemed to have extremely good luck playing cards. After all, it wasn't skill that led her to be dealt three queens in the first hand. It certainly wasn't her knowledge of the game of poker that gave her a straight flush in the second hand. And it definitely had nothing to do with what she did or didn't know about how Max or Jonathan were playing that gave her a full house in the third hand.
"Miss Edwards, I'm startin' to think we're getting' hustled by you," Max lamented as he threw down his two pair and wrote down the pot she won in that last hand.
"Yeah, what was that you said about owing us in no time?" Jonathan teased.
Jennifer scoffed, "Is it my fault the cards keep coming to me?"
Jonathan just scowled in response. Jennifer watching him shuffle the cards with a grumpy expression on his face.
"Would you rather I not play with you anymore? I'm having fun, but I don't want to upset you." She glanced over to Max, who shrugged, entirely unbothered. Jennifer looked back at Jonathan and awaited his response.
He sighed. "You're not upsetting me, darling, I promise. From what you said, I thought you were going to ask me if a flush beats a straight. Instead, you're mopping the floor with us."
Jennifer furrowed her brow. "Does a flush beat a straight?" She genuinely wasn't sure. After all, she'd gotten a straight flush, which she knew beat most anything. But if Max had gotten a straight and she'd gotten a flush, would he have taken the hand?
Thankfully, Jonathan chuckled at that. "Yes, a flush beats a straight. If you think about how difficult it is to have the cards do that in a hand of five, it makes more sense. A pair is just having two cards cooperate. Three of a kind needs three cards to cooperate. A full house needs all five cards to cooperate, as do a straight and a flush."
"Oh I see," she interjected. It was all making much more sense to her now. "But there are thirteen cards in each suit, so getting five in a row of any suit is easier than getting five of those thirteen in your hand. Right?"
"Exactly right," Jonathan said. "I knew you'd get it. You're very smart."
"I am, yes," Jennifer agreed. She took her the five cards Jonathan had dealt to her and fanned them out in her hand. Ace of clubs, four of diamonds, five of spades, nine of clubs, and jack of hearts. Absolutely nothing.
Since it was her turn to bet first, she checked to Max. He bet a buck, and both Jonathan and Jennifer called him.
"What do you want, darling?" Jonathan asked.
Now this would take some thinking. She had an ace and a jack, and she should probably keep those in hopes of a pair of either or both. But she also had that four and five, so maybe she could try for the straight. Or she could keep the ace and nine of clubs and go for the flush. All of it was highly unlikely. With a frustrated sigh, she tossed down the four, five, and nine. "Three, please."
Max took two and Jonathan took two. Jennifer looked at her new cards. Ace of diamonds, four of spades, and nine of hearts. She could have had a pair of fours or a pair of nines of she'd kept either of those. But at least she had a pair of aces. Oh, how frustrating!
"Your bet, Jennifer," Jonathan reminded her.
Just to make things interesting, she bet two dollars. Max called. Jonathan raised to three dollars. Jennifer called, as did Max. You almost couldn't fold with just three people. And besides, it wasn't as though they were playing with big money.
"Four sevens," Jonathan announced proudly.
"Aw jeez!" Max grumbled, tossing down his two pair—kings and queens.
Jennifer placed her cards down, feeling a bit disheartened at her poor showing of a pair of aces.
"Finally!" Jonathan exclaimed. "That's more like it!"
"I can see someone's used to winning," Jennifer laughed.
"He usually wins most things," Max told her.
"Not gambling, Max. I don't usually win gambling."
"Just in every sort of game?" she pressed.
"Sometimes," he said modestly.
"And in life?" Jennifer added pointedly.
Jonathan's expression went soft. "Since meeting you, that's sure what it feels like."
Jennifer couldn't help grinning at that. "Oh darling, what a sweet thing to say. Feels like that to me, too." She leaned in and kissed him.
Max interrupted their romantic moment to ask if they were going to play cards or not. From there on, everyone's luck changed. Jennifer won another couple of hands, but not many. Jonathan made a few clever betting plays. It was Max, though, who ended up wiping the floor with them.
Jennifer was glad when Jonathan mentioned being hungry, causing Max to go get them some lunch. If the game had gone on much longer, she was worried how much she'd be in the hole for.
After lunch, they all took naps and woke up refreshed. And before they knew it, the plane was descending into Los Angeles. They touched down and gathered their things, ready to head out.
"Welcome home, Mr. H," Max announced as he opened the cabin door.
Jonathan took Jennifer's hand to lead her out of the plane. The Los Angeles air was a little thick with the smog, but it wasn't so bad. She was used to the grime of New York, which was just as bad.
"And welcome to California, Miss Edwards," Max added, leaving the plane behind them.
Jennifer turned to tell him over her shoulder, "It's home for me now, too."
"Well, you did just get here," Jonathan said, tempering her enthusiasm. She knew he was afraid that she wouldn't like it or that she might change her mind or want to move somewhere else.
But she just shook her head. Jennifer put her free hand on his chest, her fingers just brushing against the chest hair coming out of his open shirt. "My home is wherever you are, darling. With you, I'm always home."