The Lottery Winner (26 page)

Reagan felt caged in. Surrounded by so much unfamiliar familiarity. She wanted to escape. To be alone. “From what I can remember he lost those long ago.” Everyone chuckled around her, and she turned her face toward Jep. The old guy spoke his mind, and she confessed she liked that. At least he wouldn't tiptoe around her. “Em's always been the baker. I just...lick the bowl.”

“Hmm,” Jep remarked. “Suppose I can share a bowl now and then. Still—glad to have another purty girl livin' beside us. You're welcome in our home anytime, darlin'.”

“Thanks,” Reagan replied.

“You're welcome. Owen!” Jep called out.

“Right here, Dad,” Owen said close by. “Come on around back, kids.”

“Damned hush puppies won't cook themselves, you know,” Jep added.

“I know, Dad.”

“Eric, I'm ready for those shrimp now, if you can find it in yourself to stop all that damned flirting and get a move on,” Jep grumbled.

“Yes, sir,” Eric replied, then his voice was at Reagan's ear. “He's just jealous. I'll save you a place beside me.”

Reagan didn't say anything, and the forms all began moving away.

An arm slipped through hers. “Come on, Sissy,” Em said with a soft laugh, close to her ear. “Let's go.”

They walked, and soon the shadows and shapes and forms of the Malones all blurred together, and Reagan couldn't tell who was who. Emily led her along the side yard and around back, to where the sun must've been shining with all its might, with no clouds to block the rays from her skin, and her cheeks warmed, and a fine sheen of moisture clung to her bare arms. For a moment, she felt...right.

She imagined the sky was a vast blanket of blue. Imagined the sun gilded everything in its path. Imagined the water rippling as a mullet fish or a ray broke the surface. And as they stepped onto the dock, Reagan concentrated. Hard. She could hear the water lap at the marsh grass and mud, and the brine rose and blended with the warm June air as it rustled the big, waxy magnolia leaves.

Yeah. She was home, all right. All those things felt familiar. Smelled familiar. Seemed familiar. Like from a long, long ago movie she'd watched; the way a certain scent triggered a particular event from the past. There, but dormant. Waiting for that spark to release it. It made her remember the girl she'd been, running down the dock and launching off of it, knees pulled to her chest, falling into the warm, brackish water. It seemed...a lifetime ago. The life she'd had before her parents' fatal accident. Before her own.

Only Reagan had changed. She was different. Different from anyone gathered on the dock.

And she'd never be that Reagan Quinn again.

Copyright © 2016 by Cindy Miles

ISBN-13: 9781488006814

The Lottery Winner

Copyright © 2016 by Emilie Rose Riddle

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