For the rest of Monday, both Connie and Emily stayed inside their homes and talked to no one. Tuesday morning Connie was tempted to just stay in bed, but she knew she had to find a way out of this mess before next Monday. She called Emily and they agreed they would meet at her house after lunch. Connie drove to Emily's about 1:30. She rang the doorbell, and when Emily told her to come in, her hand was shaking so badly she almost couldn't turn the doorknob.
Connie and Emily talked for over an hour, but they couldn't come up with any ideas. Neither one had any way of raising $1000. Then Connie remembered the vouchers. "We could at least take those to the casino and cash them in. That would at least give us half the money." Emily thought that was a great idea. Neither woman knew anything about gambling, so they weren't about to play the games. Maybe if they got that money back, they could find a way to raise the other $500 each.
Emily and Connie had an Officer's Wives meeting at 3:00 that afternoon. Connie wanted to drive right over to the casino, but Emily reminded her that they didn't want anyone else to know the trouble they were in. They needed to attend all functions as if there was nothing wrong. "Besides, we have a plan and this will get taken care of. Now relax, we need to appear calm this afternoon. I'll pick you up at 9:00 tomorrow morning and we'll go to the casino."
The ladies made it through the afternoon, although by the time Connie got home she was so nervous she thought she might be sick. However, she made it through the night and Emily picked her up right on time. As soon as they arrived at the casino, they walked right to the cashier's window and presented their vouchers. The cashier handed both ladies $500 in chips. Emily told him that they wanted to cash them in immediately, but the cashier told her she couldn't do that. He told the ladies that all chips received via a manager's voucher, had to be played. Only the chips they received from playing the games could then be cashed. Connie told the man that they didn't know how to play the games. He just smiled at them, "They're not that hard to learn, besides you have a voucher so you haven't paid for these chips. View it as a learning experience. After all, if you lose all of it, it wasn't your money anyway. Have a good time." The ladies could hardly tell him the real situation, so they just laughed with him and walked away.
Both women managed to stay calm until they reached Emily's car. As soon as Emily started to drive, however, Connie started to cry. She kept asking what they were going to do, over and over. Emily told her to pull herself together, and Connie told her it wasn't her breast that kept getting bounced up and down. Emily pulled off the road and snarled at Connie. "We're in this together. You think I liked being pulled across a room by my nipple. Now shut up! If you hadn't decided to investigate the "morality" of the casino in the first place, we wouldn't be in this mess." Connie stopped sobbing and just glared at Emily. Neither woman spoke another word, until they reached Emily's house.
As they walked up to Emily's house, the ladies calmed down. They both agreed they needed to come up with a solution together. Emily just couldn't believe that Janice had done this to them. Connie wondered if maybe, now that she'd had her fun, she would get them out of this. Emily wasn't about to talk to her again, but Connie told her to swallow her pride before she ended up dropping her bra. That got Emily's attention and she called Janice.
Emily tried to be very nice. She told Janice that she was sorry if she had ever made her feel unwelcome. She and Connie had probably had this coming. "You can't believe how humiliating this has been, can't we just call this even." Janice listened patiently. She couldn't believe that these two stupid women were going to let her set them up again, but here they were.
Janice told Emily that of course they could call it even. Frankly the joke had probably gone too far anyway. "I'll talk to Tony and tell him we need to end this. To make up for it, why don't you take the vouchers and get some chips and see if you can win some money." Emily told her that they already had the chips, but they didn't know how to play the games. Janice told them to go to the roulette table and just place all the chips on one number. "If you win, you'll have enough money to have a great time while your husbands are gone, and if you lose, it wasn't your money anyway. Like I said I'll talk to Tony and get it all straightened out. I'll call you when everything is taken care of, but it may be Sunday night before I get back to you. Tony is in meetings all week."
Emily just thanked Janice over and over. Janice told her it was okay and hung up. Emily told Connie that Janice had agreed to fix everything. Connie felt so relieved she had to sit down before her legs gave way. Then both women agreed they would wait until Janice had everything fixed, and then they would make that bitch's life miserable. Emily told Connie she couldn't believe she actually had to apologize to that little bimbo. After this was over, she was going to get even.
Emily wouldn't have felt nearly so confident if she had heard Janice's next phone call. Janice called Tony and told him what had happened. After they both stopped laughing, Janice said that she would just let it go for awhile. She wouldn't tell Emily how much trouble she was in until late Sunday night. That way they wouldn't have time to find any other way to raise the money. She also told Tony what she had suggested Emily do with her chips and asked him if the game could be rigged to see that she didn't win. Tony told her not to worry. The odds of them hitting one spin were terrible, and if they did it was meant to be. He would keep an eye out, though, and he'd let Janice know what happened.
Friday afternoon Emily and Connie had nothing scheduled so they decided to try Janice's idea. They drove to the casino and went to the roulette wheel. Emily and Connie decided they liked number 2 so they put the entire $1000 on that number. When the wheel landed on 18, they didn't realize that their last possible chance of avoiding further humiliation had just vanished. In fact, the two of them went out to dinner that night and talked about what they were going to do to Janice when this was over. It was a wonderful evening. They had no idea that Tony had just called Janice and told her the game was definitely on for Monday.
Saturday Emily started getting nervous and called Janice, but she told her not to worry. "I told you it might be tomorrow before I get back to you. Tony's been busy all week, but I'm meeting him for lunch Sunday. We'll get it all worked out then. Just relax, and I'll call you tomorrow evening. Emily hung up and called Connie. She told her what Janice had said and that everything was looking fine. She'd call her tomorrow after she spoke to Emily. When Janice had it all straightened out, and they had those notes and the tapes, they'd decide what to do to Janice. Until then they would be nice. Janice would never know what was coming. Both women laughed and they both slept more peacefully then they had all week.
Janice called Emily about 7:30 Sunday night. She told her she was calling from the casino and had just met with Tony. She told Emily that Tony and she were in complete agreement on everything. Janice could hear Emily sigh through the phone. Emily just said thank God. Then she asked Janice when they could get the notes they had signed and those awful tapes. Janice told Emily she obviously didn't understand, "Tony and I are in complete agreement that we want to have more fun with you."
