Page 28 of Play to Win

She nods, her chin quivering.

“What’s wrong?”

“Pete.I lost Pete.”

Ah, fuck.I forgot about the penguin.“I’m sorry.”

She nods.“I know.We didn’t have much choice if we wanted to get away from them.”She emits a long sigh.“And I was going to knit on the way there.”

She gives me directions to get onto the freeway.Even if they followed us, there is no way they’ll find us in this traffic.“I don’t know if they even tried to follow us, but I think we’re okay.”

“I’m sorry.”Her voice is small.

“For what?”

“For dragging you into this mess.”

“I think I kind of dragged myself into it,” I say ruefully.“It’s all good.We’re fine and you’re leaving that mess behind.”

“Yeah.”She gazes out the side window.Then she says, “Now I’m really worried about Chris.Those guys mean business.”She pulls out her phone and taps away at the screen.

“Trying one more time?”

“Yeah.I just told him I got married and I’m moving to California to get away from him and his thugs.Let’s see ifthatgets a response.”

I hope so, because much as I think the guy’s a loser, he’s Lacey’s brother and doesn’t deserve to die in the desert.

“This isn’t the most scenic drive,” I offer once we’ve left the city and are in the desert.

“I like the desert.”

It’s flat, monochromatic golden-brown except for a bit of scrub here and there, even the mountains carved out of golden-brown earth, the highway stretching out smooth in front of us.The sky extends wide open clear blue above us.I set the cruise control so I’m not tempted to hit the pedal to the metal and speed past the other traffic, which would be easy to do on this road.

“Okay,” I say.“I think we lost them.”

“Whew.”

I have so many questions for this woman.I’m still hesitant to believe everything she says, but she makes me curious.“Tell me about your mom.”

Her head whips around.“What?”

“You mentioned earlier that your childhood was a bit crazy.Why’s that?”

“Oh.”She draws in a breath and lets it out.“My mom was a dancer.A showgirl.”

“Whoa.”

She smiles.“Yeah.She danced in a lot of different shows.And yes, she was topless sometimes.Other times, she’d wear pasties.She was gorgeous—tall, long legs, perfect figure.”She sighs.“And a beautiful face.She loved dancing.She was talented.She’d done well in her younger days, and she had an amazing run, really.She was forty-two when she got cancer, and well, it was getting tougher for her to find jobs.She’d actually been unemployed for a while before that.”

“She must have had you when she was young.Although I don’t know how old you are.”I’m guessing early twenties.

“I’m twenty-four.And yes, she was young.Accidental pregnancy.”She flashes a crooked smile.“I never knew my dad.Some dude in town for a business convention that she hooked up with, and despite protection, my brother and I were born.”

“You’re twins?”

“Yeah.I’m older.I like to remind him of that.Anyway, she never planned to be a single mom, but there she was.We got to hang out backstage at a lot of the resorts.I was fascinated by the costumes and the makeup, which inspired me to take some courses in stage makeup after high school.I would have liked to get a college diploma or something, but then Mom got sick, so that didn’t happen.”

“Right.You mentioned you do freelance work.”

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