Blissful, and nervous, silence. It was looking more and more like I'd won, unbelievable though that was. I had to find out for sure, though, so I got dressed and tucked the ticket carefully away in my purse then headed out to the drugstore where I always made my weekly lottery purchase.
"Good morning, how may I help you?" The dark-skinned woman behind the counter smiled at me, and the Caribbean lilt in her voice as always made me think of trips I couldn't afford to places I'd never seen.
Maybe I would see them soon. I'd certainly be able to afford them. If...
I pulled the ticket from my purse. "Could you check this please?"
I tried to keep the tension out of my voice but I saw her notice it. Not a surprise, really, since she'd been working there for about two years and I'd never before been nervous about having a ticket checked.
She ran it through the machine, and all hell broke loose. Instead of the usual happy song the thing played when I won a few bucks, it launched into a far more dramatic tune then announced, "Congratulations, you are a big winner! Retrieve your ticket from the retailer, sign it immediately, and please stay here to await a phone call."
I stared at the clerk, my heart pounding so loud I could hardly hear the machine repeating its announcement in French.
She stared back. "You won," she breathed. "You won it all."
I heard a flurry of "What did she win? How much?" comments from behind me, then a phone rang next to the clerk. She lifted the red receiver with the air of someone who'd never done it before.
She cleared her throat. "Um, hello?" She listened for a moment then said, "Yes, she is here," and held out the phone with one hand and my ticket with the other.
I took both, and managed to speak into the right one. "Hello?" I sounded even more nervous than she had.
"Congratulations," said a hearty voice. "I'm Sean of the Lottery Group, and you are the winner of last night's fifty-million-dollar jackpot."
Though I'd been ninety-nine percent sure, getting that last one percent confirmed made me slump against the counter as my knees tried to give way.
"Hello?" Sean didn't sound quite so hearty. "Are you still there?"
"I am," I managed. "Sorry, I'm..."
He chuckled. "You're in shock. Perfectly understandable. Now, have you signed your ticket?"
"No."
"Do that right now. I'll wait. Then put it away somewhere safe."
I fumbled for a pen in my purse and wrote something that only vaguely resembled my usual signature in the appropriate box on the ticket. Once my shaking hands had tucked the ticket back into my wallet and stuffed the wallet deep into my purse, I said, "Done."
"Okay, good. Now, I'm going to tell you what you need to do and then your retailer will give you a little booklet that you can read later. All right? What's your name?"
"Angela?" I said, as if I weren't sure. I didn't feel sure about anything.
"Well, Angela, here's the deal," he began, but try though I did I couldn't stay focused on his words. The clerk had gone on serving customers but they were all rumbling away behind me, and all I could hear over them was Sean's voice in my head saying I had won the jackpot.
Eventually, he said, "So, did you get all that?"
"No," I admitted, still leaning against the counter. "None of it."
He chuckled again. "Of course not. Nobody ever does. Not sure why we bother telling you. It's okay. Take your booklet from the retailer and look it over then come in during the week to claim your prize. Ask her for it now."
She was busy with another customer so I prepared to wait, but when she saw me turn toward her she immediately stopped what she was doing and handed me a small red booklet. "He wants you to have this, right?"
I nodded and mouthed, "Sorry," to the grumpy-looking old woman whose transaction I'd interrupted. She frowned but didn't respond.
To Sean, I said, "I have it."
"Good. Go ahead and write 'Sean' on the back cover, okay? Then I'll give you my phone number."
Once I had that written too, he said, "If you need anything, let me know. I'm here Monday to Friday nine to five, and when you come in to claim your prize ask for me. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Congratulations again, Angela. Thanks for playing."
This shook a laugh from me. "Um, you're quite welcome. Trust me."
He chuckled again. "I bet. Take care."
"You too," I said, then handed the receiver back to the clerk.
"Everything is all right?"
I nodded. "I think so. Thank you."
She smiled and I turned to go, then realized I couldn't.
Like sneaky monsters in the video games I played with Zack, the other customers had formed a circle around me, standing far too close, their eyes far too eager. When they saw me recognize their presence, they all began speaking at once.
"My daughter wants to go to Europe and she--"
"--has a pitbull and it attacked someone and now it's been--"
"--unemployed for six months and all I need is--"
"--squirrels and raccoons. I didn't know what to do but now it'll be okay. You'll help me. Right?"
I backed up and bumped into the counter. "I... please let me go."
"Fifty million!" The old woman I'd interrupted to get my booklet stared at me, her eyes wide with self-righteous indignation. "Fifty million dollars and you want to go without even helping us? It could have been any of us so we all deserve a share."
The others nodded, shocking me since her statement made no sense, and I shot a panicked glance at the cashier. She didn't see it, though, because she was turned away muttering urgently into the receiver of a black telephone.
Seeing I didn't have any backup, the old woman advanced on me. "Just buy my things then. It's nothing but at least you'll have done something for us. Buy all of our things."
The others nodded and exchanged "Yeah, she's right, we should at least get that" looks, but before it went any further I heard a deep voice say, "Back up, folks. Let the lady go."
I turned, relief weakening my knees even more than they'd been already, to see a man in a suit flanked by two burly guys in security-guard uniforms.
"But she owes us!"
The man rolled his eyes at the old woman. "Did you buy the ticket with her? No? Then she owes you nothing. Now let her go."
They still didn't want to, but the security guards stepped forward in unison and the mob lost its cohesion. They let me leave with the guards, but the woman shouted after me, "Selfish bitch!"
"Where's your car?"
I pointed, and one guard escorted me over while the other stood blocking the doorway to keep my 'friends' inside the store.
"You okay?"
"I don't know," I said, then took a deep breath at the panic I could hear in my own voice. "I guess so," I added, more calmly.
"Didn't hurt you, did they?"
I shook my head.
"Go home, miss," he said. "Go home and hide until all of this blows over. And congrats."
I nodded, muttered a thank you, and took off.
I was only a few blocks from home but I didn't get even halfway there before the shock of it all overwhelmed me. I'd half-believed I'd won, but to have it confirmed... and the reaction of the other shoppers...
My hands tingling and shaking, I pulled into the nearest driveway without caring where it would take me. I had to stop driving before I passed out.
Once I'd parked in the first possible spot, I shut off the car and leaned my head against the headrest then closed my eyes.
It was real. I was a millionaire fifty times over.
Fifty million dollars.
I told it to myself again and again, in every way I could think of, until it started to sink in. It sank in, and a question rose.
What on earth did I do now?
I could buy anything I wanted. Couldn't I? I could buy everything my friends and family had ever wanted. New cars and exciting toys and fancy trips all around.
What wo
uld I buy first?
I opened my eyes and realized I'd parked at the electronics store down the street from my apartment. Zack and I had talked at length about how much we'd love having the newest game system, but we'd both known it was just talk. John couldn't afford it, and neither could I.
Then.
Now, I climbed out of my car, which suddenly seemed ancient and crappy though it was only four years old, and walked into the store. I picked up two game systems, along with extra controllers and two copies each of a wide assortment of games I knew Zack would love playing alone or with me either in person or online from our respective apartments. My bill came to nearly fifteen hundred dollars, and my stomach twisted as I handed over my credit card even though this was now pocket change for me.
"Christmas presents?"
I blinked. "Sorry?"
The cashier smiled. "Getting your shopping done early?"
"Oh, um... no, one's for me and the other is just a present." I hadn't even thought of Christmas, but in less than a month it would definitely be the best one ever.
"Wow. Somebody's lucky."
Indeed.
Chapter Three
When John sent a "come over whenever" text, I turned off my TV and the new game system I already loved then headed out with the remaining bags from my shopping trip. I tried to take the elevator since my load was heavy, but after waiting a few minutes realized it had once again taken itself out of service. Trying to make myself feel grateful that at least it had worked when I came home, I hauled the bags up the two flights of stairs to John and Zack's apartment.
John let me in while I was still panting from the climb, and shook his head. "Let me guess. Elevator's dead?"
"You got it." I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to recover. "I'm just glad you guys don't live on the twentieth floor. I'd never see you."
John chuckled, then looked at my load. "What is all that?"
"Where's Zack?" I didn't want to reveal it without him.
"Right here." He wandered out of the kitchen with a half-eaten piece of toast in one hand. "Whatcha got? Is it for me?"
"Zack!"
"Sorry, John, but it is. Come check it out."
Zack ditched his toast on a bookshelf and hurried over. He peered into the biggest bag, and for the first time in the years I'd known him the kid was speechless.
"You don't like it?" I said, trying to sound innocent and surprised.
"I... is it really for me?"
"What is it?" John asked before I could reply.
"It's..." Zack pulled the game system out of the bag and held it over his head like a prize fighter showing off a newly acquired trophy. "I can't even talk. Angela, you're the best!"
"Tell me something I don't know."
He dug through the other bags, exclaiming at everything he found, but John said, "Hold up, buddy. Angela, we can't accept all this. Any of this."
His brown eyes, fixed on mine, were serious and determined, and they didn't change when I said, "You can. Really."
He shook his head. "No. Sorry, Zack. It's just too big a gift."
"It could be Christmas and my birthday for like the next four years. Five even. Dad, please..."
John took a breath but I spoke first. "It is all that. I... look, I came into a bit of money and I wanted to treat you guys. And me too. I have all the same stuff for me downstairs."
"So we can play together online, right?"
"So I can beat you up online, you mean."
Zack gave me his best 'whatever' look, and we both turned to John.
"I'm really not comfortable with this," he said softly, almost to himself. "It's too much."
"John, can I talk to you in the kitchen?"
He looked doubtful still, but nodded. To his son, though, he said, "Don't open any of that. It's not staying."
Zack's horrified expression touched my heart even as it made me want to giggle, but I couldn't overrule his dad. "We'll be back in a minute, Zack. Play a different game or something."
He nodded and picked up the controller for the game he must have been playing before going after the toast. John and I retreated to the kitchen and the game's sounds gave us the ability to speak at nearly normal volume.
"I don't care how you came into money, Angela, you really can't blow--"
"I won the lottery."
He cut himself off. "You did? How much?"
I hadn't said those four words out loud yet, and the truth of them stunned me silent.
He stared at me, then shock flooded his face and he leaned closer. "Last night? The big one?"
I nodded slowly, my throat tightening with joy.
Leaning even closer, he whispered, "Fifty million dollars?"
I nodded again, but this time couldn't stop myself from bursting into giggles.
He grinned at me. "You could buy..." He paused to think. "Maybe a hundred thousand of those systems. This is amazing, Angela." His grin faded as he added, "But it doesn't mean you should buy all that for Zack."
Why not, when it had cost such a tiny fraction of what I'd won? "I want to. And it's for you as well," I said. "I know you'd have fun with it too."
He didn't bother to deny this. "But it's your money. I don't want Zack thinking he gets stuff handed to him in life. He needs to know better. He needs to be responsible."
I'd just had fifty million handed to me, but I did see his point. "What if we say it's his present for the foreseeable future?" It probably wouldn't be, but we could say that.
John took a breath to answer, then his mouth curved into a half-smile. "Why do I feel like you'll still buy him something else for Christmas?"
I laughed. "Because you're smart?"
He grinned again and shook his head in mock disgust, and for a moment I felt an echo of the one and only time I'd felt a romantic connection to John, the night his divorce from Tiff had been finalized a year ago.
Zack was with Tiff that week, and John and I had sat together in John's empty apartment, with wine for me and beer for him, and talked about our past relationships and how far our lives were in that area from what we'd dreamed. After I'd told him about Shane and how lost I'd felt since we'd split up, our eyes had met and something like a perfect rainbow had shimmered between us.
Only for an instant, though, then we'd both picked up our drinks again. We'd never spoken of it, and I knew we never would. Our friendship was too good to risk.
He sobered. "Look, are you sure this is how you want to spend that money? You really don't have to."
I looked into his eyes so he could see my sincerity. "I know that. I do want to. You guys are my friends." I'd give him actual money too, of course, once I had a moment to figure out how much would be good. But for now the games were a start.
John stood silent for another moment, then he nodded. "Zack," he called, "that's officially your birthday present until you're old enough to drive. Go ahead."
We both smiled at Zack's shriek of pure pleasure, and John said, "But that's it. Keep the rest of your money for yourself. Hey, want a coffee or anything? We owe you big."
I shook my head. "I'll take a coffee, but you don't owe me anything. It's a present."
John fired up his ancient coffee maker, while I wondered how likely he'd be to accept a new one from me, and as we waited for it to creak its way through making us each a cup he said, "So, what happens now? Do you have the money already?"
"Nope." I explained that I couldn't pick it up until Monday at the earliest, then added, "But I don't know whether I want to right away. Everything feels weird. I don't want to spend it all on myself, of course, but I don't know what to do with it. I guess I should maybe find an advisor first. But who would I get?"
It had been a rhetorical question, but John took it seriously. "I have a recommendation if you want. Tiff."
I blinked, and he smiled. "We aren't married any more but she's still one hell of an accountant. And she did advise a couple who won a big lottery a few years back so she knows what it'l
l be like and how things will change for you. Of course, if you'd rather find someone un-related, not that she's actually related to you, then--"
"No, I think that'd be great." I had no idea who to find so Tiff would be as good a choice as any other.
He scooped his phone off the counter, then said, "Sorry, do you want me to call her now?"
"Sure, why not?"
He hit a speed dial button, and after a few seconds said, "No, Zack's fine, don't worry. It's something else. Angela from downstairs has..." He raised his eyebrows at me and I nodded. "Well, she won the lottery last night. Yeah, that one. And she said she needed an advisor and I figured--" He laughed. "That's right, that she should have the best. So, can you meet up with her?"
He listened for a few seconds, while I tried to get my head around how comfortable he sounded speaking to his former wife, then said, "It's fine with me if it works for her. Let me check." To me, he said, "Tiff suggests I keep Zack a little longer today and you guys get together after lunch. She definitely wants to meet with you before you claim the money. Are you free today?"
"Are you okay to keep Zack? Is she okay not to have all of her time with him?" I knew other divorced couples who battled over every second of custody.
He started to answer then froze and listened to the phone instead. He smiled. "I was going to say that." He drew the phone from his mouth and said to me, "She always says I get him a little longer one week and she gets him a little longer another week and it all works out in the wash. So it's fine. Is it okay with you?"
I nodded and he arranged for Tiff to meet me at the coffee shop down the street at two then said goodbye to her with what seemed like unusual warmth for an ex-spouse. I wondered if John's girlfriend Lacey had ever heard him speak to Tiff; she seemed the jealous type and I doubted she'd much approve of his tone.
He returned the phone to the counter and I said, "Thanks. I really don't know what I'm supposed to do. I guess I'll find out once I get the money."
"And Tiff will tell you anything else you need to know." He jerked his head toward Zack. "Are you telling people about it?"
Toronto Collection Volume 3 (Toronto Series #10-13) Page 77
