[ emma manages to keep her expression composed enough that she doesn't look entirely smug, but now that it's a bit clearer she's not so far behind, she simply follows his instructions. it takes a few times, and she initially struggles with keeping the cards from falling perfectly back into the same pile before she manages to separate them into halves again.

she looks up to faraday again once she's done it, finally replying, ]

Matthew.

[ she holds the deck carefully for the next step, her expression only slightly more distant. thinking about her now-dead husband would do that, because in reality, she didn't bring him up often, didn't like the reminder. he was on her mind regularly enough that she didn't much feel a need to draw him into her conversations — and it still aches a bit to remember that he's in the town's cemetery, rather than her bed tonight. ]

When we were travelin' to come here, some nights he'd be playing cards with the other men. Hearts and the like. I asked him to show me, and he did. Simple as that.