“Shall I escort the queen to get her treasures?” I asked Sierra, putting my arm out like a gallant gentleman.
“Yes, you may, milord.” Sierra’s English accent was horrible and she and I both chuckled as we walked together toward the prize counter. I glanced back and saw that the girls were finishing Sierra’s game so they could get tickets for more prizes of their own.
“You won fair and square,” I told Sierra. “Good game.”
“It really doesn’t bother you that I won?”
“No,” I chuckled. “Why would it? You did much better than I did. You deserved the win.”
“Some men wouldn’t handle it quite that well.”
“Well, those men are douchebags.” I smiled down at her. “So, pick your prizes, my queen. What will it be?”
“I’m going to have to have a spider ring, of course. And I’ll get an eraser for each of my court. I’ll have about three tickets left after that, right?” Sierra laughed as she leaned over the counter to look at the little trinkets they had on display. The teenager behind the glass case pulled out the erasers and I watched Sierra pick through them to find the ones she wanted. “Go ahead and give me four more spider rings.”
The teenager pushed the box toward Sierra and she nudged it toward me.
“For you, Mr. Second Place,” Sierra said as she held a black plastic ring toward me.
I plucked it out of her hand and slipped it onto my pinkie before I held it out in front of me and moved my hand around as if to catch the light.
“For me? Awww. You shouldn't have!” Sierra laughed and I raised my eyebrows at the girl behind the counter and said in a theatrical whisper, “As far as proposals go, that was lacking some finesse, wouldn’t you say?”
The three of us laughed as Sierra gathered up her remaining tickets and walked with me back toward the girls. She put what was left of our tickets down on a nearby table and presented the girls with the cheap little gifts she had picked for them. Lexi, Leia and Holly all oohed and aahed appreciatively and then squealed with happiness when Sierra told them to split the remaining tickets between them and go exchange them for whatever they could get.
I watched the girls rush off with a smile on my face and realized that I was twirling my new ring around my finger unconsciously.
I had an idea. It was hopelessly insane and I hadn’t worked all the details out in my head quite yet, but it was stuck there.
I didn’t know if Sierra would laugh in my face or take me up on it, but I needed to get her alone and see what she thought about my plan. If she said no, it would be okay, but if she said yes our lives were about to be crazy.
I smiled when I realized I was hoping for crazy.
4.
ROWDY
“Holly, why don’t you take the girls up to your room and y’all watch a movie or something while we relax down here?”
I watched as Holly leaned up to whisper into Marcus’s ear and when he nodded, all three girls got excited.
“Rowdy, Sierra, can your girls stay the night with Holly tonight? We promise to keep the partying to a six drink minimum, will only invite complete strangers, and only break 17 local and state laws.”
“If you’re only breaking 17 laws, then I don’t think so. I mean, a girl’s gotta have standards, right?” Sierra asked with a very serious expression. “Yes, Lexi, do you want to spend the night?”
Lexi jumped up and down excitedly and all three girls looked over at me.
“You’re going to feed her breakfast?” I asked. “Because she’s hell to deal with until she gets that first bite of food in the morning. She’s been that way since the day she was born.”
“Dad!” Leia rolled her eyes at her father, but laughed when he nodded his head.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Reagan laughed as he waved the girls up the stairs. “Y’all get on now.”
The three girls took off like a shot and just a few seconds later, we could hear a bedroom door slam shut upstairs.
“Thanks for letting Lexi stay.” Sierra smiled at Marcus and Reagan. “I’m happy that she’s made some friends other than the ones at the apartments.”
“She’s a sweet kid,” Marcus told Sierra. “Now, Rowdy, do you and I need to go back to my office for a minute?”
“No.” I blew out a breath and thought of what I was going to say. “I trust Reagan, too, and I know you two won’t rat us out, but Sierra has a secret and she needs some legal advice.”
“If it’s something you need legal defense for, I’m not comfortable with Reagan listening in,” Marcus said as he started to stand up.
“I have a winning lottery ticket and I don’t know what to do.” Sierra blurted out.
Marcus fell back into his chair and leaned back to get comfortable.
“How much are we talking here?”
“Millions,” I told him as I glanced at Sierra. When I looked back at Marcus, I could see that his eyes were wide and he was staring at Sierra. Reagan’s mouth was open and he looked shocked.
“I sense that there’s more to the story, so why don’t you fill me in?” Marcus reached over and used one finger on Reagan’s chin and pushed his mouth closed with a laugh. “She didn’t grow horns, babe.”
“Millions?” Reagan squeaked. “Holy shit. You always read about people winning the big pot, but it’s never been anyone I know!”
“Yeah, tell me about it.” Sierra laughed. “I have had bad luck my entire life. If I bought a cemetery, people would quit dying. That’s how my luck has run. But this woman gave me the ticket as a tip at work the other night and as a fluke, I turned it in to see
