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Excerpt From Banking On Love
By liedele | September 9, 2008
Banking On Love
Nancy Lindquist
Copyright 2008 Lyrical Press, Inc.
“His father smiled. “Nice to see you too, dear. Now, at the risk of repeating myself, what the hell are you doing dragging this poor woman in here? Want me to clear out so you can chase her around the desk?”
Mortified. That was a good word for the feeling that rose in Blake’s stomach and poured out over his body.
He looked over at Amy, expecting her to be humiliated. Instead, she laughed. “Do people even do that anymore? I thought it went out with the advent of sexual harassment lawsuits.
Blake looked back at his father, expecting an explosion. His father barked out a laugh and slapped Amy on the back so hard she wobbled in place. So much for Blake’s assessment of human nature.
“There’s a remote possibility that Amy might have won the Mega Millions Jackpot.”
His father gave Amy a stern look. “Really? You can’t be sure about that?”
Blake rolled his eyes. “No, of course we aren’t sure, Dad. If we were sure, she’d be on a plane to Tahiti right about now.”
“You don’t have to be obnoxious. Just let me make a few phone calls…”
Blake held up his hand. “Oh no, you’ll be on the phone all day to your golf buddies trying to get someone to call someone who will, in turn, call someone else. I think the internet is the way to go this time.”
Blake’s dad waved his hand in front of his face. “Bah, crap computers. They’re taking the personal interaction right out of banking. Online bill pay. What a bunch of shit.”
“Be that as it may, I think we’re stuck with it.” Blake sat down at his desk and began to type. “Okay, here’s the website. You got your ticket, Amy?”
She fished around in her pocket, nodded and pulled out the square scrap of paper. He saw her fingers shaking as she held it. She’d had a hell of a morning. She needed comfort. He fought the urge to pull her into his arms.
“Here we go. It says there was a single winner.” Amy looked a little gray. “I’m gonna give you the numbers in order of lowest to highest. You tell me if you have any of them.”
He had a momentary vision of her naked on a beach somewhere, the ocean pounding the shore like he wanted to… He shook his head and tried to concentrate on the screen.
“Ready? Eight, seventeen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-nine, forty-eight, and the Mega Ball number is ten.” He looked up. “Well?”
Amy’s face had gone white, especially around her lips. Green eyes huge, her mouth opened, then closed. A tear trickled down one soft cheek. “Um, Blake, I think I won.” She rocked forward then back, and dropped to the floor in a heap.
