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joking.”
    “No. I decided to come here for the weekend.”
    “Wow, I never thought—I mean, that’s great, Jane. You should do something…”
    “Wild?”
    “I was going to say fun. Are you with James?”
    “No. I’m alone.” She couldn’t decide if that sounded brave, or pathetic.
    “Wow.”
    “Is everything okay there?”
    “Uh…yeah. I was just wondering if maybe you’d heard from Liza.”
    “Liza? No. Have you?”
    “No…not exactly.”
    “What exactly?”
    “I’ve had a couple of hang-ups from a private number on my home phone.”
    “The lottery commission said we’d be getting lots of calls. Maybe you should go ahead and
    change your number.”
    “But these calls had music playing in the background—the Ramones.”
    Liza’s favorite group. “It’s probably just a coincidence. If it were Liza, why wouldn’t she
    have said something?”
    “I don’t know. Maybe she’s in trouble.”
    Jane sighed. “We can’t help her, Eve, if we don’t even know where she is. Liza’s a big girl.
    And she’s the one who walked away from…everything.” From her friends.
    “You’re right, of course,” Eve said. “You’re always the voice of reason, Jane.”
    Then Eve laughed. “Which is why I can’t believe you’re in Vegas! What are you going to
    do out there by yourself?”
    “I don’t know,” Jane said cheerfully. “Spend a lot of money, I guess.”
    “Hmm,” Eve said, sounding perplexed. “Where are you staying?”
    “At the Bellagio.”
    “Wow. When are you coming back?”
    “Sunday night,” Jane said, suddenly eager to end the call. “Here’s my taxi, gotta run.”
    “Okay. Well…be careful.”
    Jane said goodbye and disconnected the call, wondering if her friend’s reaction was out of
    concern, or the fact that Jane had done something so out of character?
    She climbed into the taxi with her overnight bag and tamped down a spike of
    apprehension. Maybe she was getting in over her head.
    Her nervousness mounted during the taxi ride to her hotel, as she got a close-up view of the
    soaring casinos and clubs, their neon signs and lights impressive even in broad daylight—she
    couldn’t imagine how frantic the atmosphere would be at night.
    As for the Bellagio hotel itself, the fountains alone took her breath away, with series of
    columns of water spraying into the sky, then falling like rows of dancers, only to rise again in another brilliant explosion.
    Even the water in Vegas had pizzazz.
    Walking into the hotel lobby, she felt like an awestruck schoolgirl. The centerpiece was an
    incredible Dale Chihuly glass sculpture, a riotous explosion of fused and intertwined flowers and vines so delicate in appearance that they defied the material they were made from. The piece was spellbinding, more beautiful even than the Chihuly pieces she’d seen on display in the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. At the time she wondered that individuals could afford to own a Chihuly
    piece privately.
    And now, Jane realized suddenly, she could. The notion was still mind-boggling.
    In addition to the sculpture, the lobby featured a conservatory and garden, soaring ceilings
    and levels that seemed to extend forever. She felt small and out of place in her casual clothes, holding her tiny overnight bag. Everyone
    around her looked like money—women wore designer dresses and high heels, men wore
    sport coats and western boots or expensive dress shoes. Self-consciously, she stepped up to the front desk to check in, but the pretty dark-haired desk clerk smiled warmly, putting her at ease.
    “Welcome to Las Vegas,” the woman said. “Are you here on vacation?”
    Jane nodded. “The reservation is under Kurtz.”
    “Are you traveling alone, Ms. Kurtz?”
    Jane nodded again.
    The woman winked. “Probably not for long.”
    Jane blushed. She hoped the woman was right.
    Looking up from her computer screen, the clerk said, “I’m sorry, Ms. Kurtz, but your suite
    isn’t ready yet. How about a