Against The Odds (Anna Dawson #1) by Mara Jacobs Page A

“No. They tried at first, but Elaine didn’t want Jimmy’s ‘bad habits’ influencing little James. They’d fight. It was a mess.”
    “When was the last time he saw him?”
    He thought about it. “Nearly forty years ago, I guess.”
    “That’s so sad,” I said, feeling sorry for Jimmy. As much as I could feel sorry for Jimmy.
    “Yes, Hannah. Gambling. Addiction of any kind…there’s no place for it when you’re raising children. You always put it first, when it should be the child.”
    “I’m not raising children, Ben. Unless you count you and Lorelei.”
    He let out a soft snort. “Not yet you’re not. But there’ll come a day, mark my words.”
    At this point I doubted it, but I didn’t argue with him. “Besides,” I said, “gambling is my profession not my addiction.”
    He looked closely at me, his stare making me squirm. “Hannah, darling,” he said quietly, “don’t ever mistake me for Lorelei.”
    We rode the rest of the way in silence.
    When we got home, I went around the front of my car to help Ben out. We do it every morning, and it’s not an easy task, but this morning Ben huffed and grunted a little more than usual as he got out of the low seat. It took a good pull from me to get him upright. I put the walker in front of him and stepped away, knowing he wanted as little help as possible.  
    He got past the car door and before I could reach to shut it for him, he slammed it shut with a force I didn’t know he had. “God damn car,” he whispered under his breath as he shuffled up the sidewalk.
     
    L orelei was full of questions when we came in, but Ben only patted her arm, said he was tired and continued on to his room.
    I told Lorelei what I knew, that Danny had been shot, execution style, in the back of the head and found in a parking lot. One rarely used and without any kind of security camera set-up. The police were unclear whether he’d been killed at the scene or if he’d been moved there after.
    “Oh, come on,” Lorelei said. “They can tell that stuff right away.”
    “I know. I thought the same thing. The boys seemed to buy it.”
      “Did you get anything out of him? That yummy detective that was here?”
    Ah, so Lorelei had noticed Jack Schiller’s…yumminess. Not the first adjective that came to mind when I thought of him—I’d use intense, shrewd, disturbing—but certainly not off the mark.
    “No, not really. I tried, but by the time they offered up even that much the boys had just seen Danny’s body and were in no condition to really think straight. And then they just wanted to get out of there.
    “I need to get some sleep,” I said and started to rise, but then fell back into the chair, a new thought invading my mind.
    “Lor, how’s the slush fund these days?” I asked, referring to the fund that Lorelei kept for the household. The fund built on my winnings.
    “Good. Healthy as a matter of fact.” She seemed to realize that I’d never asked her this question before. If it was getting low, she’d let me know and I’d take care of it. I never queried the amount. And I never asked for any money from the fund. It was a one-way fund as far as the family was concerned.
      “Why?” she asked, with just a trace of suspicion in her voice.
    I pulled the Sports Illustrated that sat on the table over to me. It was the one that had the article about The Corporation in it. Lorelei had bought twenty copies when it came out. I flipped through it until I came to the article. The picture of them all at the Sourdough brought stinging tears to my eyes. I flipped the magazine shut and turned back to Lorelei, hoping her suspicion had abated.
    “Think it could spare thirty thousand?”
    “Yeeeessss,” she said in a question, her voice definitely suspicious now.
    Feelings rushed through me. Guilt. Fear. I looked at Lorelei, her pretty face turning from suspicion to apprehension. She bit her lower lip waiting for my …request? Sob story? Outright