Second Time Around by Nancy Moser Read Free Book Online Page A

but—”
    “Did you buy a Time Lottery ticket?”
    He set the tape measure on the table and went into the family room.
    She hurried after him. “You did buy a ticket?”
    He used the remote to turn on the TV. “You had one. I figured I should, too.”
    Dudley never complained, always acted as if everything was fine. Funny how the word fine suddenly made her skin crawl. She took a seat at the other end of the couch. “What choice would you like to change in your past?”
    He shrugged.
    She angled toward him. “Don’t give me that. You must have thought about it or you wouldn’t have bought a ticket.”
    He pointed to the screen. “Shh. They’re announcing it right now.”
    A classy woman whom Vanessa recognized but couldn’t place moved to the edge of the stage. She held three tickets.
    Vanessa was just forming the thought, This is ridiculous, when the woman on TV began.
    “The first winner of the Time Lottery is… David Stancowsky, number 285937840.” There was applause.
    “One down…,” Dudley said.
    “Two to—”
    “The second winner of the Time Lottery is Vanessa Pruitt, number 583920589.”
    It was as if the applause on the TV was in the room with them. Vanessa looked at Dudley. His jaw was in a gawk mode. As was hers.
    “You won,” he said quietly.
    She nodded, then shook her head. This couldn’t be happening.
    But it was.
    She ran to the bathroom.

    Malibu
    Lane perched at the edge of the couch cushions as her agent droned on and on about negotiations for her dream part in her dream movie. She was only half listening. Her attention was on the television and on the Time Lottery ticket on the coffee table. The handsome emcee and that woman doctor-winner from last year walked toward the globe.
    It was time for the drawing.
    “They love you, Lane. They want you for this part and—”
    “Sol? Can I put you on hold just a minute?”
    “Hold? Well… I suppose.”
    “Thanks.” Click. She didn’t feel too bad. Sol had put her on hold dozens of times. Besides, it would be for just a few seconds until the winners were announced. When her name wasn’t called, she’d get back on the line and he would never know that for this brief moment she had let herself contemplate being somewhere else, living some other life than the one she lived. She was glad she’d refused Brandy’s offer to watch it together. She needed to do this alone.
    After picking three tickets, the doctor moved to the edge of the stage. Lane turned up the volume. “The first winner of the Time Lottery is… David Stancowsky, number 285937840.”
    As the cameras panned the audience as it applauded, Lane found herself praying, Please, please, please…
    The woman continued, “The second winner of the Time Lottery is Vanessa Pruitt, number 583920589.”
    Only one left. Lane almost shut the television off. The odds were astronomical before, but now, down to one person in the entire nation…
    Then an odd thing happened. As the blond who was last year’s winner looked at the final ticket, she got the oddest look on her face, as if the name before her was familiar. Yet it was more than that. As a master of created emotions, Lane read hers. The confidence the woman had shown up until now was gone. She was confused. And even afraid. What would make her afraid? Whose name would cause such a reaction?
    The emcee didn’t speak but obviously wanted to know what was wrong. The woman showed him the ticket. His expression mirrored hers.
    You couldn’t write a more suspenseful movie scene if you tried. Lane yelled at the TV. “Just read it!”
    The man seemed to hear her because at that moment he told the doctor the same: “Read it.”
    She cleared her throat. “The third and final winner of the Time Lottery is Lane Holloway, number 173092983.”
    Lane gasped, put her hands to her chest, and was shocked to feel the pulse of her heart already pumping triple time. “Me? Me!” She jumped off the couch and did a victory dance, then realized she