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This little romance is my contribution to the Money Honey event of March 2022. While it mentions sexual activity, there are no detailed depictions of same. If you are looking for descriptions of sexual activity, please look to some of the many other stories on this site.
Any discussions of legal or financial issues in this story are purely fiction and should not be assumed to be legal or true.
My thanks to Randi for having me contribute to this event.
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Geena was in a terrible rush that Wednesday afternoon. Her daughter Emma was at a library preschool reading circle and needed to be picked up promptly at five p.m., yet Geena was on the far side of town driving a boy in her daycare back home to his father's. Geena ran a small child care out of her home during the day and on this particular day, the little boy's father had become ill and wasn't able to drive over to pick him up.
After she dropped him off, she realized she was famished. The day had been one of those wild ones with screaming kids, crying jags and a poor nap time leaving her with no time for her own lunch. It was too early to go to the library but she did not have enough time to go home for a snack. To grab one, she pulled into a Thrifty Gas 'n Go store where she was horrified by the costs. Hunger drove her to grab a large candy bar for which she took her last little bit of money, a wrinkled five-dollar bill, and slid it across the counter.
"That'll be two sixty-seven," the bored looking clerk announced.
"Thank you." Once the change was given to her, she saw the state lotto sign. "Here, take these two dollars for a ticket," she requested.
"Random numbers or do ya wanna choose one?"
"Uh, I don't know. I've never played before."
"It's easier to let the computer choose unless you have some special numbers that mean something to ya."
"Random, then."
"Here ya go. Winner's announced Saturday night. Good luck."
"Thanks," she smiled as she left, tucking the ticket into her nearly empty coin purse. She was always concerned about her finances but knew she'd get paid Friday by the kids' parents and by her second job at the lawyers office. 'I can get by two days with no cash. Plenty of food at home, unless Matt eats it all, and the car has plenty of gas,' she thought. She knew she was rationalizing buying the lotto ticket but figured two bucks wouldn't be the difference between survival and homelessness.
On the way to the library, she thought about her life situation. She was a single mother in her mid-twenties, her daughter Emma being the result of sleeping with her then boyfriend. He, however, took off once he heard she was pregnant, and she never had the money to hire someone to track him down. She worked two jobs and hit the food bank frequently just to get by. She lived with her 'boyfriend' Matt in a single-wide mobile home. Unfortunately, he was an unemployed alcoholic who let her live in his home in exchange for food and an occasional roll in the hay. He also watched her daughter most evenings for the two hours she worked doing custodial work at a law office. She never particularly liked him, especially when he was verbally abusive or drunk, but lived with him in able to survive.
Once she picked up Emma, she drove home and fixed a modest meal for the three of them. Matt hadn't been drinking very much and she felt comfortable leaving Emma with him while she drove into the Smith and Jones law office. If he had been drunk, she would have taken Emma with her and have her wait in the office. Geena usually put in a couple of hours vacuuming, dusting and cleaning the toilets. She was grateful for the work which paid forty dollars a day. That was an extra two hundred dollars a week, money which was dearly needed to make it from week to week.
On the following Sunday morning she had the news on the local TV channel turned on low while she tidied up in the kitchen and started breakfast for herself and Emma. Matt had come in late the night before obviously drunk and she knew he'd sleep until afternoon. There was something about the news report which seemed odd. The announcers were all excited about something, so she turned up the volume.
"So, it's been confirmed. The latest winning lotto jackpot ticket was purchased right here in Brownstone at the Thrifty Gas 'n Go over on Carolina Avenue. One of our lucky listeners is a very rich person to the tune of twenty million dollars!"
said the older male announcer who sported a perfectly coiffed hairdo.
"I wonder who it is,"
said the blonde bimbo announcer,
"Maybe I can be their friend, you think?"
she giggled.
"Well, I don't know, but everyone who bought a ticket there this past week, you should go and check your numbers. One of you is R-I-C-H, Rich."
Geena's heart rate picked up slightly. The winning ticket was from the Thrifty! The odds of her winning were still very low, she understood, but certainly they were better than when all the tickets from the entire state were considered. Once she had started the water to boil, she went over to her old computer, a computer which was hanging on by a thread and was slow as molasses. She searched for the state lotto site and logged on. There were the numbers from the night before. She reached into her purse and pulled out her ticket.
45 'I've got that number,' she thought.
15 'And that one.'
23 'Yes, and that one.'
32 'Oh, my god, I've got that one, too. One more and I'll get a thousand dollars!'
7 'A thousand dollars!' she almost shouted out loud.
Q 'No, this can't be! I've got the 'Q' also.'
She suddenly felt faint. She realized she may have won the lotto. After pouring herself a coffee, she walked back to the table with the mug shaking in her hand. Forcing herself to relax, she looked once again at the numbers and the final letter. For a second time they matched. And they matched when she looked a third time. She was rich!
She immediately knew this would be a major life changing event for her and her daughter. And she quickly figured Matt was not going to be part of this. No, she'd leave him before he could get any of his alcoholic and abusive mitts on her winnings.
Then she became afraid. She was rich and she knew not only Matt but friends and what remote family she had would come out of the woodwork looking to share in her winnings. She had heard some people blew through their money so fast that within a few years they were back to being broke and having to go to work again. Wanting to avoid that at all costs, she decided to keep things quiet for the time being and try to figure out her next steps. The ticket was slipped inside her bra as Emma came to the table.
"What's for breakfast?"
"Whatever you want, Honey. Just name it."
"Really? French toast and jam?"
"Coming right up," said a smiling Geena.
"Why you happy, Mommy?"
"Oh, I feel happy today. Wanna go with me to the water slide?"
"Really, Mommy, really?"
"Yeah, why not? Eat a big breakfast and lunch and we'll go to the afternoon half-off session."
Normally Geena would never have considered spending money for the waterslide but she wanted to celebrate a little. She promised herself not to spend like crazy, but a little party with her daughter was called for.
They left before Matt woke up and had a wonderful time. Emma was still too small to go on the 'big kids' slides but she was thrilled to slide down the kiddie slides and splash into the pools. She even found a big squirt gun and shot her mother who was sunbathing in the late afternoon sun.
"You watch it, Kiddo. I'm gonna get you for that," she cried as she chased her daughter and tickled her until Emma cried out 'Uncle.'
They were in high spirits when they drove to the single-wide they called home. Geena was nervous Matt would demand to know why they spent so much money on the afternoon activities so she had a plausible lie cooked up but was relieved to see Matt was not at home. By the time he came home late at night, he was reeling drunk and Emma was already in bed, so the topic never came up. After he crashed, Geena spent an hour or so online looking up what to do if you win a lottery, took the general advice to heart and remembered to erase her search history.
The next day was almost eerie. She knew she was suddenly rich but couldn't let on and had to keep doing her usual activities. She had six children with her for the day and by four p.m. they had all left. She fixed a simple meal, one which could be microwaved for Matt for whenever he came home. She found herself happy when he came home late. Late meant drunk and drunk meant he wouldn't demand sex. When he was totally plastered, she would sleep on the sofa, preferring its lumpiness to the reek of alcohol and sweat.
By six p.m. he was still not there so she bundled the PJ-clad Emma into the car and drove to the attorneys' office where Emma was used to entertaining herself in the waiting room, coloring or playing make-believe with her dolls. As Geena got busy she dusted the front office quickly and in the back saw Mr. Jones still working at his desk.
"Excuse me, Sir, shall I come back?"
"No, no. Go ahead and work around me. I still have a few hours of work to do."
She dusted his office and vacuumed it before turning the vacuum to the rest of the office. Lastly she cleaned the toilets and put all the cleaning equipment away. Right before she went to leave, she told Emma to be patient a few more minutes and strolled back to Mr. Jones' office.
"Excuse me, Sir. Do you have a minute to answer a question?"
"Sure, Jana, what's on your mind?"
"Geena, Sir."
"Oh, yes, of course, Geena. Sorry. What's on your mind?"
"Uh, how does someone hire a lawyer? I mean, how's that happen, anyway?"
"Well, usually, we get a call from someone to make an appointment. We ask a few questions on the phone to see if it is something we deal with and if it is, we have them come in."
"I see. Uh, what if it's really private? You know, if you don't want the secretary to know."
"Our staff are sworn to secrecy and would be fired immediately if they violated that. Uh, Geena, are you in trouble? Do you need some help?"
