Chapter 10:

Ghosts and Gambles

As Philip drove into the casino parking lot, his thoughts were a blur of whiskey and what-ifs. He got out of the car and left the door open with the aimlessness in his eyes that comes with worry and the sense of seeing a familiar figure. This silhouette could only belong to a woman he regretted ever leaving.

Kendra.

His ex-wife.

The woman whom he had treated so despicably.

“Kendra?” he tried to call her name but it died off in his throat. As he moved closer to her, his phone rang loudly in his pocket with a disturbing tone. When he reached in to pull it out, the ghost was no longer there.

"Yeah?" he answered gruffly.

Phil! Where the hell are you, man?” Jacobs’ voice came through the speaker. “The game’s about to begin!”

Philip touched his temples and scolded himself for daydreaming. “Yes, I’m on my way.”

It was a sea of lights, the blinks from the slot machines, and the sound of low voices and dreams being lost and dreams being made. Philip tried to move and