She motioned below. “What’s the yellow one?”
“Porsche 911. This year’s model. Right behind him is a red car… It’s one of the newest Ferraris. You can buy that one for a cool million. Oh. Man.”
She glanced below, at the car that had finally brought Maguire to his knees. He wasn’t drooling, but his tongue was all but hanging out. All she saw was a grayish car that looked like a long bug.
“The Pagani Zonda,” he identified it. “She can go from zero to sixty miles per hour in 3.2 seconds. I had a chance to drive one a few months ago. An idiot friend of mine bought one. Drove it to my place just to show it off, wanted to make me suffer.”
“Did you? Suffer appropriately?”
“Oh, yeah. Believe me, she’s a honey. She could park in my driveway any time.”
Finally, a chink in his armor. Carolina was charmed. “So…were you tempted to buy one?”
“Well…no. She’s wonderful. But she’s not exactly a car you could take for a trek in the mountains, much less drive in a snowstorm.”
“Was it bad news?” she asked.
“Pardon?”
“All those business calls this afternoon and then, just now. You looked…annoyed.”
“No. It was just some problems. Solving problems is what I do.” He straightened. “And right now we have a problem to solve together-which is to find out how you take to gambling.”
“That’s easy. I can tell you right now, I’m a wild gambler.”
“I’ll have to see that to believe it.”
“I’ll stake both of us, since you sprang for dinner,” she offered.
“I’ll stake myself, Carolina… but I’m all for you using your own money to play with. My thought would be to give you a little stake to get you started, until you learn what the games are about.”
“No way. I’m thrilled we’re doing this. But I’ll learn on my own money. Period.”
He shot her a look. “Whew. You’re getting tougher all the time.”
She was used to his teasing, but this time it itched. Just because she’d been through a stretch when she was overwhelmed didn’t mean she had no character or strength or skills. Just once, she’d like Maguire to see that she didn’t need or want to be treated like Waterford crystal.
By the time they reached the infamous casino, she was buzzed. Maguire cupped her elbow as he escorted her past fountains and lights, and into the heart of the casino. The buzzed sensation intensified, just from the warmth of his hand on her arm. From the way he walked next to her, as if they were a couple. From the way her pulse did musical scales-in several pitches-just from being this close.
“So…do you have any ideas which games you’d like to play? Or like to learn?”
“Hey, I can hold my own at a card table. Trust me.”
“I do trust you. The way I’d trust a lamb at a slaughterhouse. If you just wait here for a minute, I’ll get us some chips. You pick the game-anything you want is fine by me.”
“Baccarat,” she voted.
“Yeah, I watched that James Bond movie when I was a kid, too. You tired?” he asked swiftly when she stumbled.
“No!” It was possible, very unlikely, but possible, that she’d been wearing her new shoes nonstop for a little too long and her feet were a wee bit tired. But admit that to Maguire, and she’d never hear the end of it. “I’ll just wander around while you’re getting the chips, okay?”
“Sure, but stay in sight. This is safer than an alley in a big city, but there are still sharks here. They just look nicer. I want you to have fun-but we’re not putting you in any situations where you have to worry.”
She couldn’t have been less worried. She picked a baccarat table, and wedged herself between a woman draped in sapphires and a white-tuxed Japanese gentleman. There were no seats together, but Maguire had a spot at the end. The gaming table was one of the most crowded. The dealer, Carolina thought, spent more money on a hairstylist than she did. Was cuter, too.
She settled down on the velvet bar stool, not just prepared to have some fun playing the game, but to prove to Maguire that she wasn’t such a sissy or a wuss. Granted, he’d seen her in bad shape, but that was before. Days ago. Aeons ago.
It seemed as if a lifetime had passed since she’d known Maguire. There’d been life before she met him. And life since. And “life since” was all that seemed to matter.
The dealer shuffled, dealt. Maguire’s eyes met hers across the table. “The noise level bothering you?” he mouthed.
She shook her head, amazed at her own answer. Of course, all the casino noises were friendly, not scary. But it was only a couple weeks ago when she’d shrank from all noise. It was amazing to her-how much had changed. How much she’d changed.
The dealer dealt her a natural five-a potentially great card. She glanced at the chips Maguire had given her, and abruptly realized that her smallest chip was fifty dollars.
She almost had a heart attack. Got over it. And carefully bid a single chip.
Maguire picked up a face card in the deal, which in this game was the same as a zero. Still, anything could come through with the second card.
Carolina waited her turn. When the dealer sent her a second card, she shrieked-delicately-to reveal it was a four, making her two cards a natural baccarat. The dealer chuckled at her enthusiasm and paid her chips.
Twenty minutes later, Maguire burst onto the balcony with a grim face and alarmed eyes. “My God. Where have you been?”
“Just here. Enjoying the night.” She could see how worried he looked. “Hey, I’m sorry. I was trying to give you some space so you could play. And I was happy enough, just enjoying the sights and sounds from the balcony here-”
“But you just won. Why’d you tear off?”
“Because I won.”
“Huh? You won one hand.”
“Well, yeah.” She cocked her head, unsure what he was driving at. “I just made five hundred bucks on a single hand, Maguire. Why on earth would I bet again and risk losing that?”
He scooped an arm around her shoulders and shook his head. “C’mere, big gambler. I’ll buy you one more glass of wine before we pack it in.”
“I’ll buy! I’m the rich one tonight, remember!”
Oh, that smile, she thought. The hint of whiskers on his chin just made him look more roguish. He came through with the wine, and they both leaned back, inhaling the lights and warm night. “I saw another Porsche,” she told him. “Yellow like a banana. Or maybe like a yellow submarine.”
It was getting easier to woo smiles from him. Easier to get him to talk, let go a little. Eventually they wandered from the lighthearted to the more serious.
“You know what? I was thinking,” she murmured.
“Women shouldn’t do that. Men always get in trouble when that happens.”
“Oh, good. You’re scared.” She leaned against the balcony, felt the cool concrete against her thighs, felt the sparkle of moonlight and fairy dust from this magical place. From being with him. Here. Just the two of them. “Brace yourself.”
“Okay, I’m braced. Tell me what’s on your mind.”
“I’ve been working with special kids for quite a while. I love it. I love them.”
“Is this the scary part? Because I’m pretty sure I already knew this.”
“I’m getting to the scary part. Sheesh. Give me a chance. So. I’ve worked in two schools and four different summer programs. The job I had this last year was the best, but you know what?”
“I’ll bite. What?”
“Maguire…I can tell you why people didn’t notice what was wrong with Tommy. People in my field are programmed, we’re trained, to work with the problems that we understand the children to have. Most of the classes are understaffed and underfunded-but that’s not the whole problem. Money never is.”
“Money never is? How can you be an American and think money isn’t the solution to every problem? But go on. I have to hear where you’re going with this.”
