CASINO by Mary Collins (top books to read txt) đ
- Author: Mary Collins
Book online «CASINO by Mary Collins (top books to read txt) đ». Author Mary Collins
JoAnneâs dream was to write a novel and become a famous author. Sheâd finished the novel over a year ago, but wasnât having any luck getting it published. Sheâd sent out queries to ten different publishers and had already gotten back six letters of rejection, but she wasnât giving up, she knew that someday her writing would be accepted.
JoAnne was feeling the aftershock when she got back to Freddieâs Pizza House at one oâclock that morning, knowing Marty would be closing. There were three servers working the night shift and JoAnne knew that it wouldnât take them long to clean things up.
âIs something wrong?â Marty knew that JoAnne was usually home in bed at this time of morning.
âNoâŠnothing is wrong.â She calmly took the check out of her purse. âI just wanted to show you this.â
Looking at the check, Marty had to sit down, one hundred thousand dollars and half of it hers. âI can quit this jobâŠright now.â
âNo, we canât leave the place in a mess. Come on, Iâll help you clean up.â If not for JoAnne, Marty would have walked out of the place right at that moment.
âAlright, Iâll do it for you.â With the other servers help, they had the restaurant clean and orderly within thirty minutes.
Marty and JoAnne got little sleep, thinking of their winnings, and Next morning wasted no time getting to the bank. After giving Marty her share of the money, JoAnne deposited what was left into her savings account. They went back to the apartment and took the phone off the hook; knowing Freddie would be calling to see why JoAnne wasnât at work. She didnât care; heâd always treated her badly, now she would get even with him. She took a quick shower and went back to bed. Hearing pounding on the door, she abruptly jumped out of bed and threw on her robe. Looking at the clock, she saw it was nearly noon.
âWho the hell is that?â Marty yelled from her room.
Stumbling to open the door, JoAnne didnât expect Freddie to be standing there. He had a menacing look on his face, one that sheâd seen many times before, but this time it didnât scare her as it had in the past.
âYouâre fired!â he yelled at her.
âIâve already quit.â She slammed the door in his face, and it felt good. Sheâd often dreamed of doing it, but never before could afford to.
With her savings and the Casino winnings, she could open her own pizza restaurant if she wanted to, but she didnât want to, sheâd use her part of the money to promote her dream of becoming a famous author.
CHAPTER THREE
JoAnne smiled as she thought about how mad Freddie must be. She was still so excited she couldnât think of anything but her winnings. She called her youngest sister as she usually did once or twice a week, just to check on her and her mother.
âI got accepted to the university,â her younger sister told her, âI will start in the fall. Iâve saved enough money for my first yearâs tuition, and have applied for a student loan and a Pell Grant.â
At twenty-two years old, Annie took night classes at the local community college while working full time in a doctorâs office as a secretary. She now wanted to follow her sister Sheliaâs example and stop working to attend college full time. Knowing her sister would do well, just as her other siblings had, JoAnne supported Annieâs decision. Her oldest brother Jimmy graduated college five years earlier with a veterinarian degree, and her younger brother Bobby was in his last year of law school. JoAnne was proud of all of them. Theyâd survived their childhood and turned out well-rounded, which was surprising, considering the way their father stayed drunk.
JoAnne never returned home, but kept in touch with her mother. In their last phone conversation, she found out her father had suffered a light heart attack and theyâd discovered a spot on his lungs. They made an appointment to have some more x-rays and test run, and the doctors warned him to quit drinking and smoking, yet he was drinking even more and smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. JoAnne tried to get her mother to leave him, but she never would. After the way he treated her and her children all those years, she still loved him.
Beginning to have hunger pains, JoAnne needed something to eat.
âGet up Marty and letâs go get some lunch. Iâm starved.â
They usually ate at McDonalds or Pizza Hut, but being theyâd won big at the casino, they decided to go somewhere else. Driving along the same old streets and seeing the same old scenery, Marty said, âLetâs go to Nashville.â
âAre you crazy? We canât go that far, we didnât bring a change of clothes.â
âWe can buy some clothes.â JoAnne wasnât as spontaneous as Marty.
âWe canât up and leave, we donât anyone in Nashville.â
âI didnât know anyone when I drove twelve hundred miles to come here and look how things turned out for me. Iâm happier than Iâve ever been in my life.â
âOk, youâre right. I keep forgetting that we have money now.We can go anywhere we want to.â Sheâd never gone that far. Nashville Tennessee would be a great place for a vacation. Turning the car around, she headed east on the interstate highway toward Nashville.
Driving all day, only stopping to eat or use the bathroom and get gas, they arrived in Nashville Tennessee early the next morning and got off the first exit showing a Holiday Inn sign, both wanting to take a shower and get some sleep.
Marty woke up at nine oâclock the next morning, went down to the lobby, picked up two cups of coffee and returned to the room.
âWake up Sleeping Beauty,â she said to JoAnne, âIâm starving, letâs go get some breakfast.â
âI canât believe I let you talk me into coming to Nashville,â JoAnne said, âNow what do we do?â
âWhy donât we stay for a while, if we donât like it, we can move on. I donât want to go back to Shreveport.â
âWe can talk about it over breakfast.â Rubbing sleep from her eyes, JoAnne threw her legs over the side of the bed in an attempt to get up.
During the fifteen-minute wait at Shoneyâs JoAnne called her voice mail, from the pay phone, to check her messages.
âHello Miss Bray, this is Stanley Price with Honeycutt Publishing House. Iâve read your manuscript and would like to publish your book. Call me at 1-800- PUBLISH to discuss details if you are still interested.â
She didnât listen to the rest of her messages, instead went running back to where Marty waited to be seated.
âIâve got to go home; theyâve accepted my book!â She was more excited than when sheâd hit the slot machine. This is the break sheâd waited for since deciding to publish her stories, she couldnât pass it up. There were notebooks filled with her writings, which were still in her motherâs old house, in a box in the attic hidden under all the other stuff sheâd kept up there. Later sheâd written more short stories and a few magazine articles, but had never gotten any of them published. It was hard to believe this was happening; her latest novel would soon be in print. She had to call the publisher back.
âWhy do you have to go home? You can have your sister pick up your computer and all your files and ship them to you. We can stay here, rent a condo, I can get a job and you can write.â Marty sounded desperate.
âDream on, I canât just write, I have to work, at least until my books start selling.â
âItâs not like you need the money, you have plenty of it now.â
âI donât feel comfortable spending it.â Being raised as she had, JoAnne had security issues, and knew Marty didnât understand.
Looking up, JoAnne noticed a tall, good-looking man winding his way through the crowded restaurant toward their table. Maybe he thought he knew them.
âExcuse me, my name is Simon Vance. Iâm a movie producer, and am looking for girls in their twenties or early thirties to be extras in a movie we are shooting in Dickson, Tennessee. Itâs about a family of moon shiners living in the hills of Tennessee and running moonshine to various parts of the country. We need about twenty-five girls. You two would fit the part perfectly. Would you be interested?â
âYes!â Marty squealed, before even giving it any thought.
âWait a minute,â JoAnne said, âI donât know.â She was thinking it sounded a bit farfetched.
âWe will pay you a thousand dollars a week and put you up in the Hyatt Regency Hotel, meals included,â the man said.
JoAnne was reluctant, but with some coaxing from Marty she finally said, âOK, but when this is over, we go back home.â
Marty and JoAnne joined the other girls, the next morning at nine oâclock, at the Hyatt Regency, where they were given a script, before going to the set. The girls didnât have much to say, just had to look good. They were furnished wardrobe, which they could keep after the shoot âŠif they wanted to. Not all of the girls would be picked, they only needed twenty-five and there were about seventy-five to try out. JoAnne and Marty were two of the twenty-five picked.
They were on the set for nine hours the first day and couldnât wait to get to their suite and get into the Jacuzzi. JoAnne had never stayed in a hotel at all except for one night when she first moved to the city, and she and Marty chose to share a room.
The girls celebrated, ordering t-bone steaks and Bananas Foster from room service, along with champagne spritzers, all paid for by the producers.
âThis is the life,â Marty said, lying down on one of the big comfortable beds. Staying awake until 3:00 in the morning, they talked about how much fun this trip turned out to be.
âArenât you glad I talked you into it?â Marty asked JoAnne.
âYes I guess I am.â She agreed it was more fun than working at Freddieâs.
JoAnne called the publisher back the next day agreeing to the terms of the contract and arranging to do the
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