Betting Hearts by Dee Tenorio Page A

know what I was looking for.”
    “I’ll bet.” Kid or not, every girl but her who made basic eye contact with Burke Halifax magically lost all communication with her brain. It never failed. Cass put the movies back in the bag. She had a feeling she’d rather he got porn.
    Five minutes after Burke dropped her off at home, Cass finally gave in to the inevitable. With Burke, she’d bluffed about her family. They weren’t likely to take her makeover any better than Burke had. Eddie might ask her if she were trying to get raped and Hayne would make jokes until his voice ran out. It was too cold to stay out on the porch with only two bags of movies to keep her warm. She opened the door to the familiar smell of Hayne’s beef stew, her father’s popcorn and the sounds of Wheel of Fortune .
    In the twenty-five years since Lora Bishop’s death, almost nothing in the old two-story had changed. The paint—while retouched over the years—was still the same beige, the couches were still the same not-so-comfortable tweed and the carpet was the same brown, green and orange not-so-shaggy shag. The pictures still hung in the same spots or sat on the same shelves. Knickknacks had yet to be rearranged, habits had yet to be removed. Her father still fell asleep on his beaten recliner. Hayne still left his jacket on the banister knob. Sometimes it was nice to be home.
    Now wasn’t one of those times.
    “Hey CB, that you?” Hayne’s voice called from the kitchen, accompanied by a clattering of pots. “Was wondering when you were coming home. Heard you tied one on at ShakyJake’s—” He walked out of the kitchen in mid-laugh, which turned into mid-choke at the sight of her.
    Cass smiled weakly. She heard the squeak indicating herfather was turning in his chair and swung her gaze toward him.
    “Holy — ”
    “What in the hell happened to you?”
    Ah, the sound of appreciative men. “I…um…had an allergic reaction.”
    “To what? Dad, look at her hair!”
    “I’m looking, son.” Eddie stood up, something resembling a smile pulling at his sun-browned mouth. “Is that a dress?”
    This was positive. A tremulous smile forming without her permission, Cass dumped the bag of videos over the back of the couch and did a quick turn for him. “May Belle gave it to me. She said it was one of hers back when she was a starlet in Hollywood.”
    “Explains all the room at the top,” Hayne snickered, leaning a shoulder against the corner of the kitchen wall and crossing his arms across his too wide chest.
    Cass wished she still had one of May Belle’s shoes. She’d throw it at him. “Shut up.”
    “Wouldn’t your mama have loved to see you like this,” her father went on, oblivious as always to their bickering. “Look at you, all prettied up!”
    Cass’s irritation with her brother melted away at Eddie Bishop’s shining eyes. He crossed the room and wrapped his big arms around her in a bear hug. She was used to those, her father felt better about hugs than he did about most other mushy emotions. She patted his still hard back as best she could.
    “You almost look like her, with your hair like that, ‘cept you got a little too much Bishop on the nose.” He pulled away, looking down at her with deeper assessment. “Hey, what happened to your face?”
    Cass felt her cheeks flame. “Allergy, remember?”
    Eddie nodded. Then he smacked her shoulder the way he would have on any other night. “Where’ve you been?”
    Just like that, back to normal. Cass wasn’t sure whether to be annoyed or relieved. She headed for the stairs, hoping to put on something a little more comfortable and with a lot less draft, but Hayne answered for her and stopped her dead in her tracks.
    “She’s been hiding out at Burke’s. Don’t worry, she was safe.”
    Turning around, she watched her father settle back into the chair and the Wheel and Hayne go back to stinking up the kitchen by over-spicing the food. “What do you mean safe