Texas Bluff. Linda Warren

Verne had passed away. He’d come back to get rid of the Wild Card, but then his high school buddies had met again and they’d persuaded him to fix up the old place and to stay. Of course, Rachel had more to do with that than his friends. But they were back together playing poker just like when they were teenagers.

      “Luke.”

      He turned to see his friend Cole.

      “Hey, Cole,” he responded, glancing at the old saloon. “It’s looking good.” Cole Lawry was now a building contractor and Jake had hired him to do the renovations.

      Cole pushed back his Dallas Cowboys ball cap. “Yeah. Since I’ve gone into business for myself I don’t have as much time as I’d like, but it’s getting there. Pretty soon I’ll need your muscles to hoist some beams.”

      Luke frowned. “Haven’t you heard I’m an injured vet?”

      “Yeah, right.”

      They were both grinning as they walked to the side door.

      Cole was the quiet one of the group. His dad had committed suicide when Cole was young and growing up had been hard for him, too. The friends had played poker as a way to escape their rotten lives. Cole had never strayed from his roots farther than San Antonio. He’d gone though a bad divorce, but he’d found happiness with a newcomer to River Bluff, Tessa Jamison, a woman who’d come to town to find out if Cole was the father of her sister’s baby. They still laughed about that. Cole was also the responsible one. He and Tessa were now living together and putting the finishing touches on Cole’s house. They were very secretive about their wedding plans.

      His friend Brady Carrick had a tug-of-war relationship with his dad, who was always pushing him to excel. And Brady had. He’d played for the Dallas Cowboys and had a stellar career until he’d busted up his knee. After a failed marriage and a stint of playing poker in Vegas—much to his dad’s disapproval—Brady was back in River Bluff proving he had what it took to train a winning horse at his dad’s Thoroughbred training facility, Cross Fox Ranch.

      Brady was deeply in love with Molly Davis, a waitress he’d taught to play poker. She’d even made it to the U.S. Poker Play-Offs Quarter Finals in Vegas, thanks to Brady’s tutoring. They’d all gone to watch the event. Molly was now working in the office at Cross Fox, and living there, too, but there was no word of a wedding yet. Luke knew it was only a matter of time.

      A new friend, Cole’s brother-in-law, Blake, had joined the group. Blake had been in prison in a foreign country for a number of years, and he and Luke connected on a level that only the two of them could understand.

      Blake and Annie were already married and expecting their first child. The Not So Wild Bunch, as Annie had named them, were becoming the Family Bunch.

      All except Luke.

      He was the loner.

      Shoving his hand into his pocket, he ran his thumb over the raised surface of his dog tags. He never played poker without them. His time in Iraq would forever be emblazoned in his brain, in his heart and in his soul. The wild Luke had grown up fast. He’d become responsible, dedicated and loyal. Men had depended on him for their safety.

      For their very lives.

      But through the hell, bad conditions, lost lives and the horrors of war, he’d never forgotten Becky. The pain of hurting her had never lessened.

      Neither had the pain of losing her.

      Now he just wanted to make it right.

      The responsible Luke had to make it right.

      Becky was talking to him without the anger. That was a big step forward. It had taken six months to break through her defenses. Not that he’d actually broken through, but he felt there was a crack now where before there had been a solid wall.

      “Luke, Cole,” Brady said when they stepped into the back room they used for their games. The small space was still shabby and run-down, but the guys didn’t mind. An old battered oak table with scratches and notches took pride of place. That was all they needed. And beer.

      He spoke to his friends and looked at Hap, Harold, Ed and Ron, Cole’s ex-boss. “You old-timers ready to play?”

      Blake glanced at his watch. “I don’t want to play too long. Annie’s at her mom’s having dinner.”

      “Tessa’s there, too,” Cole said, “and so are Molly, Rachel and Becky. You don’t have to hurry. They’ll be talking into the wee hours.” Cole grabbed beers out of the old clunker refrigerator and passed them around. “Rachel’s giving Tessa some decorating tips on the house. I told her whatever she wants is fine with me.”

      “You’re such a sap.” Harold took a swig of his beer. “Stand up like a man and tell her how it’s going to be.”

      Brady laughed. “Yeah. Like you do with Sally.” Sally was known to lead Harold around by the nose.

      “That’s what I’m telling you young guys. Set the rules now or in thirty years she’ll be chewing on your ass every night like one of Hap’s old hound dogs.”

      Hap looked up. “Knut, my hounds wouldn’t touch your ass.”

      A round of laughter followed.

      Blake opened the silver box with the cards and chips. “Harold, I hope I never have a marriage like yours. Wait—” he held up a hand “—I know I’ll never have a marriage like yours. I go to sleep every night with my hand on Annie’s stomach. In the morning our child wakes me by kicking against my hand. It’s an awesome feeling and I know that’s never going to change. The feeling, I mean, not the pregnancy.”

      Jake pulled out a chair. “I never thought I could get so wrapped up in a child. Never really thought I was father material. But Becky’s giving Rachel more exercises for Zoë and we will do them religiously. Rachel and I are going to make sure she has the best life possible.”

      If anyone was wilder than Luke, it was Jake with his leather jacket and motorcycle. For him to make such a statement about Rachel’s Down syndrome baby was a revelation in itself.

      “Man, I can relate to that.” Brady popped the top on his beer. “I didn’t think I could love another man’s kid so much, but Sammy feels like my own. Of course, I’m pretty crazy about his mom, too.”

      All his friends had found their soul mates and Luke wondered if he’d be the only one in limbo. The only one unable to move forward.

      He wasn’t sure he was still in love with Becky. But he knew without a doubt that to move forward he had to put the past behind him. So far he’d been unable to do so. That was his struggle and it drove him every day.

      “I hope you guys don’t mind,” Harold said, plopping into a chair, “but I invited someone to join us.”

      Jake shuffled the cards. “We’re not partial to whose money we take, are we, boys?”

      “Nah,” Cole replied, taking a seat. “Who is it?”

      “Guy does my taxes. You boys probably know him.”

      “Who—” Before the rest of the sentence left Luke’s throat, the door opened and Danny Howard stood there. Becky’s ex, and the last person Luke wanted to see or have at the poker table.

      The room became painfully quiet. Luke could actually hear the gush of the Medina River outside. Or was it the rush of blood in his veins?

      Four pairs of eyes stared at him, waiting for his reaction.

      He and Brady were the only two standing. Brady leaned over and whispered, “What do you want to do?”

      “Nothing,” he whispered back, and walked over to Danny and held out his hand. “Hi, Danny, I don’t believe I’ve seen you since high school.”

      Since you stole my girl. Since you made my life a living hell.

      “Yeah. It’s been