Balls of Fortune

Tori sat staring at the slip of paper in her hand. She hadn’t moved for about two hours, she didn’t dare put the paper down in case it vanished in a puff of smoke; so there she sat, hoping that Tom would come home soon.

Tom said goodbye to Steve and headed home at the end of shift. The final moments of the sun painted the clouds with warm red and gold. He ran up the steps to the flat and opened the door. It was in darkness.

Worried, as he knew Tori would have left him a note if she was going to be out this late, he threw on the lights and began searching the little flat. He soon found Tori, sitting in the dark staring at something in her hand.

He switched on the lounge room light so as to let her know he was there, then went to her, kneeling in front of her to see what was wrong. Placing his hand gently under her chin, he lifted her face so that she could see his lips.

"Tori, what’s wrong, Luv?"

Tori looked from his face to the slip, then back again. With shaking hands, she held it out to him. Turning it over, he saw it was a lotto ticket.

"Aw, Tori, another losing ticket eh? Don’t worry, luv, it’s only a dollar."

Tori smiled shakily at him, then passed the local paper across. "Check the numbers for me, Tom. Tell me I’m not imagining things."

Tom took the paper, opened at the results page, and placed the ticket by the side of the printout. Tori watched him intently, seeing his expression turn from amusement to wonder, and disbelief. He looked up at her and she nodded in silent reply.

"Holy snappers, Tori, you’ve won!"

"Not me, we," Tori smiled back. "What’s mine is yours."

"And what’s mine is yours as well, Luv, but right now it looks like you have a bit more than I do," Tom laughed.

"So, what’s our first move?"

We make a claim, you’ll have to do that on the phone, Tom. Then I think we go house hunting," Tori grinned as Tom pulled her up for the chair and swing her round in a loving embrace.