Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 69534 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69534 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
“Huh,” she said. “I always expected it to go to someone in California. They seem to be the regular winners of the mega millions. What’s this person’s name?”
I gave her everything with Searcy’s permission.
“First thing she wants to do is take photos of the ticket. Make photo copies of the ticket. Then tell her to go open a safe deposit box and put copies in there. Front and back. Tell her not to sign it, because we can claim anonymously in Texas,” she intoned. “Where is she? I can come there and we can get started. I have an attorney friend that specializes in lottery winnings, too. I’ll bring him with me.”
“She’s at my place,” I answered. “She’s understandably in shock.”
“As expected,” she said. “Text me your address. I’ll be there shortly.”
I did, then said, “Come on. We can go get photocopies of it in the office. You can send yourself an email of the copy with your phone. Then we can head to the bank and open a safety deposit box.”
“I don’t have any money to open one,” she admitted.
I thought about that for a few seconds before saying, “Instead of opening one, you can use my safe. It’s not like anyone knows we have any sort of relationship.”
“We do,” the young girl pointed out.
“Yeah, but I doubt you’ll rat out your sister.” I grinned at her. “What’s your name again?”
“Anders,” she answered. “That’s Kent.”
Kent offered me his hand and said, “Sorry for being rude earlier.”
I gave him a nod. “Protective of your sister is something that I can fully get behind. I have one of my own. Her name is Scottie.”
His head tilted. “Scottie Hicks?”
“You know her?” I asked.
“We’re in Ag together…” He paused. “Were.”
“She’s in the barn if you want to go find her,” I offered. “If I had to guess, I think she’s overfeeding Trixie.”
Scottie was home on break for the upcoming holiday.
Trixie was Scottie’s show cow that she loved with all her heart.
I wasn’t sure if she was sadder about leaving me or her prized cow behind since starting college this fall.
“Ahh,” Kent said as he stared at Searcy. “That okay with you?”
Searcy drew in a full breath and let it out. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
Kent caught Anders’s hand and led them out of the house, leaving me alone with their sister.
“You gonna make it?” I asked.
“I feel like I’m about to throw up,” she admitted. “And, to make matters worse, there’s no way this is going to be something that’s easy. I just know Taryn’s gonna come back and want this ticket. He’s somehow going to know what numbers he bought and come find me.”
“You think he’ll be dangerous?” I asked.
“I think if anyone finds out, even if it’s him, that I’m going to have a target the size of Texas on my back,” she admitted. “Even worse, I think that I’m going to have to watch my siblings like hawks.”
“Anonymous is anonymous,” I pointed out. “No one has to know unless you tell them.”
“No,” she said. “But it’s going to look fishy when I move out of my house and get a car that actually works. And my family’s sure going to question how I can all of a sudden afford socks that don’t have holes in them.”
Her eyes came to me, and they were burning with frustration.
Normally, I would’ve told anyone else to ‘figure it the fuck out’ but in this instance, I had this burning desire to not scare her off.
Except, I was never one to sugarcoat things.
Nor was I the type of person to say one thing when I meant the other thing.
“Listen, Searcy,” I said bluntly. “You’re about to be faced with a lot of bullshit soon. You’re going to have to put your big girl panties on and deal with it. You’re going to have to be tough. You’re going to have to make a decision. And you’re going to have to figure out how to make this work, because there are greedy motherfuckers out there that are going to try to wiggle their dirty little fingers into your pie.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I never said I wouldn’t deal with it.”
“Well, sitting here playing this broken, scared young woman game definitely won’t get you anywhere. Where’s the bitch that told everyone in the diner that it was going to be grilled cheese or nothing? Channel her, because you’re going to need her soon,” I pointed out.
She would’ve said more but a knock sounded on my door and Yates poked his head inside.
“One, that fuckin’ bull is out again, and facing off with a fancy-ass Mercedes about mid-way down the driveway,” Yates said. “Two, those two kids that were out in the barn with Scottie are now in the pen where the bull used to be, and the gate is wide ass open.”