So far, he’d doubled the money he’d made that day by playing poker that night. Which meant Easton’s sister felt obliged to take it all in one fell swoop.

It wasn’t ideal to play with only the three of them—Easton, Ash, and Rick Harding—but Graham was having a hard time making it to game nights lately. The “break” he was on wasn’t so much of a break as Jonah had implied. Easton had seen the amount of paperwork stacked in Graham’s place.

“Bring Zoey next time,” Easton suggested to his sister as Rick dealt out the next hand. “We could use some fresh blood.”

They’d gathered at one of the tables near the bar, in case Rick needed to help a customer. Currently, the pool hall was empty, even though it was open. If someone wanted to come in, no one was stopping them, least of all Rick. But in the meantime, there were cards to play. Money to lose. And in Ash’s case, money to take.

“If I bring Zoey,” Ash said, “she and Graham will spend the whole time making googly eyes at each other. At least Rick and Lana can maintain a semblance of decorum. Usually.”

Rick chuckled at her comment. “Lana’s been gone for almost two weeks. My decorum was officially shot days ago.”

“Eww.” Ash made a face. “I didn’t need to know that.”

Rick had been dating the socialite turned Moose Springs property owner since Christmas, and from what Easton could tell, the two were getting serious, fast. Rick had an almost constant smile on his face these days, especially since Lana had agreed to pack up her longtime suite at the resort and move in with him.

The massive condominiums next to the resort were Lana’s…or technically, they belonged to the company her family owned. No one really wanted the condos there, bringing in a more permanent type of tourism, but Easton understood Lana’s reasoning behind them. Both Lana and Graham wanted the best for Moose Springs, even if they were at odds as to what that meant. Trying to enforce restrictions on Lana’s condos took up the bulk of Graham’s focus these days…and the bulk of all that paperwork.

Even though Lana had set up her permanent office out of Moose Springs, she still traveled a lot for work. Rick was a homebody, although he’d accompanied her a few times overseas. Easton didn’t know how they managed to make the separation work, but every time they were together, it was clear both were incredibly happy.

Happy was good. Not being lonely was even better. Easton wasn’t lonely. But he wasn’t sure he was all that happy either. Lately, he’d felt like something was missing. Something more than a game of cards with friends could fix.

“Why isn’t Jonah here?” Ash nodded her chin to Rick. “Two cards.”