Winner Takes All. Cheryl Harper
of the innocent closet door.
Rebecca put her hands on Stephanie’s shoulders and spun her around once. “Do your best!”
“Come on, Paris!” Her heart racing with excitement and fear, Stephanie tossed the dart and hoped to hit land. She could see herself stepping off a plane. Floating on a boat, not so much.
She tried to yank off the dish towel but Jen shoved her glass of wine in her hand. “Before you see where you’re landing, let’s make another toast. To new beginnings and lottery winnings.”
Thinking they were spending a whole lot of time making plans for something that would never happen, Stephanie held out her glass, waited for the clink and took a sip. Then Jen yanked off her makeshift blindfold and said in her best game show host voice, “Let’s see where you’re headed.”
The three of them lined up in front of the map. Somehow she’d completely missed France, not to mention the tiny dot of Paris. In fact, she’d overshot Europe as well. The dart was planted squarely in the middle of nowhere Peru.
“That’s impossible. There’s no way I missed the entire continent of Europe.” The images of Peru that came to mind were of llamas and Machu Picchu, which she might enjoy seeing, but that was not where the dart had landed. No, apparently she was going to...Alto, a place she’d heard of once in her life thanks to a posting on Daniel Lincoln’s Facebook page. She narrowed her eyes at Rebecca. “What did you do?”
“Have another cookie,” Rebecca said and blinked her eyelashes as she held out the plate. Of the three of them, Rebecca had always been able to put on the best innocent face.
“I have no clue what you mean.” Jen yanked down the map, folded it and handed the dart to Rebecca. “It seems your first destination is the Andes. When we win.”
Stephanie wagged her finger at Rebecca. “You moved the dart. You had to. There’s no way that I, the dart queen of 2001, would have missed by that much.”
“Now why would I do that?” Rebecca asked.
Thanks to years of experience, Stephanie was skeptical of her perfectly angelic expression.
Rebecca narrowed her eyes at Jen. “Did you see me move the dart?”
“I did not.” Jen shook her head firmly. Her boots shifted on the hardwood. “And for what reason would Rebecca send you to the area where her brother is working? I mean, what could she hope to gain from it? Have another cookie. You’ll feel better.”
Stephanie studied the plate of cookies Rebecca was waving under her nose. She crossed her arms again. “It doesn’t matter. We won’t win. I don’t know why you’d... What? Push me in his direction. If you’ll recall, I tried that once. He patted me on the head and told me he liked me too much to try dating. Remember? And he could never kiss me.” She wrinkled her nose in the same way Daniel had when he’d said the word as if she’d asked him to kiss the south end of a north-bound donkey.
“People change, Steph. Maybe he has, too. He’s lost his job, moved halfway around the world. That’s got to cause some careful consideration of what’s important in life.” Jen turned to Rebecca. “He’s not dating anyone, is he? Not that it matters.”
“No, he’s not dating. And getting involved with a man like Daniel would be a terrible idea. He’s married to his job. But...” Rebecca shrugged.
When Rebecca didn’t add anything else, Jen dropped back into her usual spot and kicked one jean-clad leg over the arm of the chair. “It’s not like running into the guy you measure other guys against is a bad thing, is it? Maybe that’s all you need to get out of the friend rut and on to the road to love, happiness and Favorite Teacher. Well, that and a few million dollars.”
At the reminder of the nonexistent money needed to fuel this imaginary trip, Stephanie eased back against the couch again. They could tease her all they wanted. Nothing would come of it unless the numbers the machine had spit out were winners. She’d ask the math wizard in the group what the odds were, but she didn’t want to let them know how shaken she was at the idea of either a trip to Peru or seeing Daniel Lincoln again in his no doubt trailblazing glory.
If she needed a mentor in learning to make new paths instead of waiting for things to change, he would be a solid choice.
As far as either of them knew, she’d had a crush and now it was over. Right? She watched Rebecca, her best friend since first grade, finish her cookie with what seemed to be a touch of smugness.
Then Rebecca and Jen glanced at each other and the smugness bloomed and spread.
Faking a stop in the Andes Mountains couldn’t be that hard. She took a deep breath. Lying might not be the most honorable solution, but it would definitely be the easiest, and she wouldn’t feel the least guilty about cheating a couple of dart-moving cheaters.
“We’re going to hold you to your fabulous idea, Steph. One dart and you pack your bags, get on a plane. Unless you bring back photographic evidence of you, Daniel and his clinic in Alto, we’re going to know you chickened out, you big chickeny chicken.” Jen’s satisfaction was hard to face, but Stephanie did her best not to show her dismay.
Rebecca wagged a finger. “Great idea, Jen. Evidence.”
Stephanie snorted. “So what happens if I decide to take my millions and head for France and ignore the clucking sounds you make every time you see me from now until the end of time?”
“No cookies for you.” Rebecca moved the plate out of reach and Jen whistled.
“Harsh but effective.” Jen raised an eyebrow. “Not that you need consequences. You want to make a change. Here’s the push you need. After we win the lottery.”
“Okay, so you managed to fix the dart-throwing exhibition. If you can figure out a way to rig the lottery, I am going to be so impressed.”
Jen exchanged a glance with Rebecca, and as soon as Stephanie put the wineglass on the table, Jen shouted, “We won!” She and Rebecca jumped up and down like the excitement could no longer be contained. “Five million dollars split three ways. We won!”
“Pack your bags,” Rebecca sang as she hugged Stephanie. “It’s time to make a wish come true.”
Stephanie tipped her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. “You’re talking about seeing Peru, right?”
“Sure.” Rebecca blinked slowly. “What else could I be talking about?”
“Fine, but you’re going with me,” Stephanie muttered. And added through gritted teeth, “My treat.” If she was going, she was certainly going to take a buffer with her.
“Can’t.” Rebecca held up her hand and ticked off the points. “No passport. No tranquilizers. No airplanes. No way.” Her fear of flying was well documented. They’d tried it the first summer after her parents moved to Florida.
It had gone badly. Very badly. Now they took road trips.
“And Jen’s out. She signed up to teach summer school.”
Before Stephanie could argue that Jen had no need to pick up the extra money, Rebecca added, “This is your thing. You don’t need us.”
Oh, yes, she did. It was fine to dream big on Rebecca’s sofa. Actually going to a foreign country all alone might be too big.
And the fact that she was sitting on the edge of panic over the trip instead of dancing in celebration over winning the lottery was something to think about. Later.
“Are you matchmaking?” Stephanie asked. “Because...”
“I love you. I love him. The two of you together, I don’t know about, but you’re in a rut. This ought to fix that.” Rebecca wrapped her arm around Stephanie’s shoulders. “And if I know my brother, his rut’s deeper than yours, even on a mountaintop. Of the three of us, you were always the best at getting him to do what we wanted.”