A Winning Ticket Read Free Page A

several women off and on over the years, never getting serious with any of them. There was no secret why Benjamin had never married. He was so shy around women that he could hardly put a coherent sentence together while talking to them. The exact opposite of his brother, who could charm the pants off almost any woman…literally.
    So they had remained on the farm since their parents’ death—twenty-two years ago this past September. Benjamin couldn’t imagine living in the old farmhouse alone. He didn’t always see eye-to-eye with Harrison, but they were a team and had been so ever since they were toddlers. No, he couldn’t imagine not having his brother around. Sure, sometimes they argued and pissed each other off, but didn’t everyone?
    Of course.
    Maybe Harrison was right. Maybe everything would work out. There had been tough times before, and they had always managed to come through on the other side stronger and, most importantly, together.
    Benjamin prayed that would happen again this time.
    As the credits began rolling for
Wheel of Fortune
, Harrison flipped the channel. A few minutes later, a sitcom came on, and Benjamin let his attention shift to the small wooden stand between the two recliners. Unlike Harrison, he didn’t care for sitcoms, so he took the time to pay bills and catch up on their accounts. He had taken on the responsibility right after their parents’ death. At times, he resented being responsible for all the finances—perhaps that was why he worried so often—but Harrison wanted nothing to do with managing the administrative aspects of the family business. It seemed lately that Harrison was doing as little as possible around the Zimmerman farm.
    The stack of mail staring back at him was larger than usual, and he felt slightly ill. Too much stew? But he knew it wasn’t that. He’d been putting off paying the bills as long as possible, and some of them were now long overdue. Benjamin sighed heavily, got out the checkbook, and opened the first envelope.
    He worked for an hour, pausing occasionally to look at the television when he heard the local weatherman break into the regular programming to give an update on the storm forecast. He was still predicting twelve to fourteen inches of new snow accumulation, along with thirty to fifty mile an hour wind gusts.
    Benjamin placed the last check in the envelope that contained the electric bill and ran his tongue along the glue strip before sealing it. He wondered if the check would bounce like a rubber ball or if by the time it made it to the electric company he would have figured something out to keep the lights on.
    Something.
    He got up and walked toward the living room window. With the help of a dim porch light, he could see specks of white getting blown in all different directions. Their erratic, swirling movements reminded him of gnats swarming around this same porch light on a warm, July evening. Already, four inches of fresh powder covered the porch.
    Harrison flipped the channel again, this time to his favorite crime drama.
    Benjamin stared out the window for another minute, then grabbed a Louis L’Amour paperback and returned to the recliner. He preferred reading to watching television. He had always been that way, at least as far back as he could remember. He sank into the foam cushion and opened the novel to the first page.
    By ten o’clock, Benjamin was fighting to keep his eyelids open when he heard the intro music for the Channel 6 News on the television. He forced his eyes open and readjusted in the recliner. He wanted to stay awake long enough to get an update on the storm before he went to bed.
    The camera panned to the news desk where Melissa Black and John Jackson were sitting. Benjamin thought John was an idiot and could barely stand to watch him. Melissa was a different story though. He had admired her black hair and green eyes ever since she had first been hired at the station—five years and three months ago this last