“How did you…?” I began, then realized Jason would never tell me how he’d managed to pull off such a trick.
“Excellent,” Allan said. “I didn’t see that one coming.”
Now wearing a grin of his own, Jason took the stack of cards and slid them across the bar toward Allan. “Your turn, Mr. D’Alessandro.”
And instead of demurring, Allan picked up the deck of cards and shuffled them, almost as gracefully and efficiently as Jason had. Where he’d picked up that particular skill, I had no idea, but I was beginning to learn that he had an infinite capacity to surprise me.
Once he was done shuffling, he set down the deck. “Belinda, could you please cut the cards twice?”
I nodded, then did as he instructed, squaring the deck when I was done. After I removed my hand, he fanned the cards toward the b
