Page 138 of The Vacation Mix-Up
“Oh.” She happily stirs her drink with her straw. “This is fun!”
The ball bounces a couple of times, then slots into number seventeen.
“It’s black.” She throws her hand into the air, turns toward me, and bounces in her seat. “I win!”
I smile at her cuteness. “You did!”
“How much?”
Not wanting to burst her happy little bubble, I don’t have a choice, because she’ll no doubt accuse the dealer of cheating. “One dollar.”
“Is that all?”
“Yeah. The outside bets pay even.”
“That’s ridiculous. I should win more.” Riles sucks another large mouthful of her drink through her straw and then scratches her head. “So which numbers pay more than even?”
“If you choose a column or one of the groups of dozen, it’ll pay two to one.” Pushing one of my chips onto the table, I stop it at number twenty-five—Imogen’s birthday. “The individual numbers pay thirty-five to one.”
“Oooh, that’s good.” She slams a chip on eleven. “That’s my lucky number.”
I place a chip on fifteen: my birthday; one on three: Roni’s birthday; and one on twenty-six: Poppy’s birthday. “What day were you born?” I ask.
“The seventh.”
I place one on seventoo.
“Hey! I was going to choose that.”
“Ease up, Riles. You still can.”
“Good.” She slides a chip next to mine. “What day were you born?”
I point to fifteen.
She slides a chip on that number too.
Once again smiling at her cuteness, I ask, “Are you finished betting?”
“Yep.”
The dealer spins the wheel, and she quickly slams a chip ontotwenty-one while mischievously eyeing him over the rim of her drink.
He sweeps his hands across the table. “No more bets.”
“Mom’s birthday,” she explains.
I kiss her temple and hug her to me as the ball once again rolls around the wheel, bouncing a couple of times before landing on seven.
“We won!” she shouts, shooting out of her seat and almost choking on her cocktail.
I laugh. “We did!”
“How much?”
“Thirty-five dollars each, plus the dollar we bet.” I scan the table and do the math in my head. “But I lost four dollars on the other bets, and you lost three.”
She sits back down. “That doesn’t matter. We still won.”
