“You’d better shuffle that deck a little more when I’m at the table,” he said, chewing on a smile.
“Oh, here we go,” Sharon said with an eye roll. “Do you know how long I’ve been hearing this sort of competition between these two?” She wasn’t yet smiling, but Carrie could tell that she had loosened up a bit seeing her brother join them at the table. It really seemed like Adam was trying, and maybe Sharon could sense that.
Bruce opened the beers and set them in front of each person as Carrie studied her cards. The game was much more difficult to play with Adam near her. She took in his hands when he reached for his beer, how the bottle set against his lips as he took a swig, the way he leaned back casually in his chair. She wanted to focus, but his presence was making it tricky. Before she knew it, she’d played most of her cards and nearly finished her beer.
Adam, who could easily peek over and view Sharon’s cards, allowed his gaze to shift to Sharon’s hand as he leaned back in his chair. It was subtle, but Carrie could see him thinking. He set down a run, and as he did, Sharon perked up, her shoulders rising in interest, and Carrie knew by his face what he’d done: Adam had just helped his sister win the game. When her turn came around, Sharon added her two cards to Adam’s run, and smiled—a big, happy smile.
Walter tossed his cards onto the table in mock annoyance. Then, he pointed to Adam, who had three cards remaining. “Ha! She got you!” he said. But as they were dropping their cards onto the table to clean up, Carrie noticed that Adam’s cards were a perfect run. He’d held onto them on purpose. He could’ve won, but he chose to help Sharon win instead.
Adam caught Carrie looking at the cards, and smiled sheepishly. He locked eyes with her and she couldn’t look away. It caused a rush of excitement so strong that the hair on her arms stood up. She discreetly rubbed her arms. She wondered if anyone else noticed how long they’d been looking at each other, or the smile twitching around his lips. It was almost like he wanted to tell her something, like someone with a secret that was almost killing him to keep quiet.
He finally pulled his eyes from her, but only because Olivia was standing in the doorway. She had on the white nightgown with pink roses, her bare ankles and feet peeking out from beneath. Her hair was down with strands puffed out in every direction. She rubbed her eye with the same hand that held her blanket. “I had a bad dream,” she said to her daddy. “Can Carrie lie down with me?”
Carrie worried. In front of his whole family, Olivia had asked her father for the nanny to put her down to bed. While normally, in a healthy family situation, this may have been laughed off, Carrie knew what it implied in this particular instance, and it made her concerned for Adam. She had never felt anything quite like this before—a mixture of worry for Adam that his feelings would get hurt, mortification for him because his family had been witness to his daughter asking for the nanny instead of him, sadness for Olivia that she preferred the nanny to her own father, and the embarrassment that the family must feel knowing why Olivia had chosen Carrie.
“I don’t mind if your daddy puts you to bed tonight. It would be okay with me,” Carrie offered from her spot at the table, trying to improve the situation.
Olivia padded over to Carrie and crawled up onto her lap, her pink blanket trailing down to the floor. “But I want you to put me to bed. Not Daddy.” Carrie knew that even though Adam had given a little of himself tonight, it wasn’t enough to make a big change. Olivia had a bad dream. She wanted someone she knew could comfort her, and her father had never been that person.
The silence in the room was palpable. Mostly, she worried for Adam. She didn’t want him to pull back after he’d come so far. He’d been positively happy tonight, and she didn’t want anything to ruin it. He really needed a boost after he’d chosen family over work, and this was not helping. She felt his loss of face in front of his family. They all knew the truth—that he didn’t spend enough time with his children.
Carrie took in a deep breath to clear her mind. Once again, she had to go with her instincts. “I really like talking to your daddy,” she said carefully. “Do you think he could come with us? For me?” She waited on pins and needles, hoping that Olivia would answer favorably. One never knew with children because they weren’t interested in the social delicacy of the situation. They just answered honestly. Carrie was relying on Olivia’s natural sociability here.
“Okay,” she said, pushing herself off Carrie’s lap. She hopped down and took her hand. Then, together, they walked over to Adam, and Olivia took his hand as well. Carrie glanced back at the table to get their reaction. Had she done the right thing? Everyone seemed pleased with Joyce and Sharon smiling the biggest of all. Carrie could feel the tension lift right off her shoulders as the three of them walked Olivia upstairs to her room.