The Gamble

Becca’s gaze came to my face. “Prettiest eyes, Max said it too.”

I blinked and felt my eyebrows go up just as I felt a pleasant warmth wash through me.

“I’m sorry?” I repeated.

“Max said you’ve got the prettiest eyes he’s ever seen.”

Oh my God.

“He said that?” I whispered and Becca grinned.

“Yeah, the other day, when, um…” Her gaze slid to Mindy who was listening then came back to me. “He said it the other day when we were talkin’ ‘bout you. He said you were cute when you were pissed and you’ve got the prettiest eyes he’d ever seen.”

Oh. My. God.

I looked back to the photo and examined, for the first time in my life with any great attention, my eyes. You couldn’t see it really in the photo but I knew they were deep set and hazel, more brown than green. I’d never thought much of them except wishing they were bigger, wider so I could use more flair with eye shadow and, even focusing on them, I didn’t think much of them now.

“You do have really pretty eyes,” Mindy said to me softly. “I noticed them right off the bat.”

“I… they’re… um…” I stammered.

“Really unusual, striking, eye-catching, no pun intended,” Becca said on a grin.

“Can I have a copy of that photo?” Mindy asked, still speaking softly and I looked closely at her.

She was gazing at the photo and her face was soft like her voice.

“Sure, darling,” I said softly back and her eyes skittered to me.

“Thanks,” she whispered.

I walked to the counter, handed my memory card to the clerk as well as the photo and asked for another copy.

Then I turned to Mindy and told her, “Best part about it, outside the view, is that Jimmy Cotton took it.”

“Jimmy Cotton does not take snapshots,” the clerk said to me, his voice filled with unmistakable outrage.

I turned back to him, surprised at his entry into our conversation and the tone of it, and asked, “I’m sorry?”

“Jimmy Cotton…” he waved my photo at me, “does not take snapshots.” He indicated the walls of his shop with a wave of his hand. “He’s a master.”

“Yes, I agree, but he happened onto us at the bluff yesterday and he took our photo.”

“With a digital camera?” the clerk shot back, now his tone was filled with derision as if digital cameras were the invention of the devil.

“Um…” I looked at the memory card then answered, “yes.”

“Jimmy doesn’t do digital.”

“Um…” I started but I heard Mindy whisper from beside me. “The bluff?”

I turned to her and said, “Yes.”

She snatched the photo out of the clerk’s hand and looked closely at it.

“God, I was lookin’ at you and Max, I didn’t notice you were at the bluff.”

“We were. Max took me there yesterday,” I said and her eyes moved quickly to me.

Then she breathed, “Wow.”

“Sorry?”

“Wow,” she said louder.

“Wow, what?”

“Wow, Max took you to the bluff.” The strange wonder slid out of her face and it brightened then she smiled, blinding and huge. “He took you to the bluff.”

“Yes,” I said, drawing out the word because I was confused.

“What’s the big deal?” Becca asked, getting close.

“The bluff is Max’s favorite place in the world,” Mindy answered.

“He seemed rather fond of it,” I remarked and Mindy giggled.

“Yeah, you could say he’s ‘rather fond of it’,” Mindy replied through her continuing giggles. “Brody told me he’s seriously rather fond of it. It’s his special place and he doesn’t share it with just anybody. He didn’t take Brody there for years. He didn’t take me there until my sixteenth birthday and he’s known me since I was born.”

I had the strange sensation of not getting a good feeling about this information at the same time I was getting a good feeling about it.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Mindy said through a smile.

“Wow,” Becca whispered.

Wow was right.

“I don’t know what to do with that information,” I told Mindy and Becca.

“I’ll ask Brody what you should do with that information,” Mindy offered helpfully and I felt my lungs seize.

“No, don’t do that.”

“Oh yeah, do that,” Becca encouraged. “I wanna know too.”

“No, don’t,” I repeated.

“You gotta,” Becca said. “This could be huge.”

“Yeah,” Mindy’s eyes were bright with excitement and happiness. “Lovin’ this, Brody’ll love it too.” Her bright, happy eyes came to me. “Maybe even enough to come home and check you out.”

This was a nightmare.

“Um… that kind of scares me,” I told her and she laughed, linked her arm with mine and put her forehead to my shoulder.

“My big bro is cool, you’ll adore him. He’s awesome,” she said when she lifted her head.

I looked into her carefree eyes and I didn’t have the heart to burst her bubble.

“Brilliant,” I muttered and she grinned.

“That’ll be a quarter,” the clerk said from behind us, waving the print.

“A quarter for a Jimmy Cotton print? Bargain!” Becca exclaimed, I thought mostly to annoy the clerk.

If this was her intention, she succeeded magnificently and the three of us walked out of the shop together under the weight of his irate scowl, Becca and Mindy gulping back giggles.

Me?

I found it funny, their giggles were infectious and I definitely laughed.

That didn’t mean I wasn’t quaking in my boots.

* * * * *

We were sitting at a red and white checked table clothed table in the center of which was an enormous pepperoni and mushroom pizza that a family of five could assist us with consuming and everyone would be sated when Mindy started the conversation.

“Okay, it’s none of my business, really, but it kind of is because I’ve known Max since I was born.”

I looked at her around my beer knowing I wasn’t going to like this.

I lowered my beer and asked, “What’s none of your business?”

Her head tipped to my hand. “That diamond on your finger.”