Lucky Break (Lucky 3)

“You don’t understand, do you?” Lauren said “Well, I’ll show you in person. Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“You said you wanted to go with me to visit my sister. Now’s your chance. Oh. If it isn’t obvious, I need you to drive, so let’s move it.”

She started to walk out of the room, then paused and turned back. “Why aren’t you coming?”

He closed the distance between them. “You took me by surprise, that’s all. After our conversation, I didn’t expect you to suggest a visit.”

She shrugged. “You know what they say. Be careful what you wish for.”

As he followed her out of the room, a serious foreboding shook him. Hard.

THEY MADE the hour’s trip to the Bricksville Correctional Institution in near silence. By the time Jason found himself standing outside Beth’s door, he had a newfound understanding of what Lauren had to endure each time she visited. And a growing respect for her for doing it without complaint.

“Hi, Beth,” Lauren said as they entered the room, her voice high-pitched and deliberately cheery.

Beth Perkins lay in bed staring straight ahead. As Lauren had described, she appeared fragile against the white sheets.

Jason hadn’t known Beth well. Like Lauren, he’d been gone by the time Beth had come to live with her grandmother in Perkins, and he had only a vague recollection of her from the summer he’d met Lauren. Her crimes, however, were as much town lore as the curse, and he was well versed in those. According to rumors, beneath the fragile surface was a core of steel and no heart. Because he loved Lauren, he wished he could believe differently. Because he was a Corwin, he found it incredibly hard.

“Beth, I brought a visitor.” Lauren eased herself into a chair beside the bed and took her sister’s hand. “This is my friend Jason.”

Lauren had insisted that they wouldn’t introduce Jason by his full name to avoid upsetting Beth.

For Lauren’s sake, he’d agreed.

Jason watched Beth carefully.

She had no reaction to the introduction. She stared straight ahead at an invisible point in front of her, something he’d expected. Lauren told him Beth never did more than blink and she was right.

He couldn’t help but be curious about this woman who was capable of setting fire to a building full of innocent people in order to further her own personal goals.

Jason had personal experience with a woman who had her own agenda. Katrina wanted her lover to win gold and she’d manipulated Jason so he could do it. The only reason Jason hadn’t seen through Katrina’s act earlier was that he’d been thinking with his dick and not his brain. She was a former gymnast, and the tricks she’d done in bed defied description. He’d confused sex with love and that mistake had led him to this point. He was a contractor-a decent enough occupation-but since losing his Olympic dreams, he looked into the future and didn’t like the emptiness he saw.

He pushed those thoughts aside and concentrated on Lauren, who lovingly stroked her sister’s hand. Lauren had wanted him to come here and see the fragile woman Beth had become. Jason acknowledged that fragility.

But if she came out of her state, would she change?

He leaned against the wall, watching as Lauren updated Beth on the progress they’d made in the house.

“We’re so close,” Lauren said. “The walls are patched and painted, thanks to Jason. The floors need buffing, but that will come last, after all the work is done. It was all coming together except…” Lauren’s voice trailed off and she turned to Jason.

He nodded, encouraging her to continue. There was no reason not to tell Beth about the fire. It was in a contained area and the damage would hopefully be fixed soon.

“We had a little incident.” Lauren drew a visible breath. “A fire. But no one was hurt,” she said quickly. “We…I mean, I wasn’t even home when it happened. The fire started in the electrical box, but the fire department came quickly and only one small area was damaged. Luckily there wasn’t much smoke damage. As soon as the insurance adjuster shows up, hopefully tomorrow or the next day, I can start fixing the area, so the fire shouldn’t hold up the sale.” Lauren’s voice was forcefully optimistic.

Jason knew she was determined to finish in time but he was nowhere near convinced they’d meet the deadline.

“Oh! I have interesting news,” she went on. “In my cleaning, I found an old diary. At first I thought it was Grandma’s, but it wasn’t in her handwriting and it was too old.”

A muscle twitched in Beth’s jaw.

Jason wondered if he’d imagined it. He glanced at Lauren, but she wasn’t looking at her sister’s face as she continued talking. “I think the diary belonged to one of our ancestors.” She held on to her sister’s hand. “You’d be fascinated. It talks about all sorts of history, like the curse…” Her voice trailed off and she stared down at the bed. “I shouldn’t have mentioned that,” she said softly.

“Don’t worry.” Jason sought to reassure her. “I’m sure she’s not processing.”

Lauren glanced at B