Chapter 130: Roll the Dice

"What are you working on now?" Jacqui's father sat in the recliner, staring at a newspaper that she doubted he even read. Still, he had held one every morning since she was old enough to remember. It was always the morning paper and a cup of coffee with her mother, the two of them so busy talking that neither would ever read the paper and the coffee always grew cold before it was sipped. Yet, they did it every morning—right up until the cancer claimed her mother's life four years ago.

Her father had finally come out of his room after lunch, acting as if nothing had happened, grabbed the paper and slid himself out of his wheelchair and into the recliner. He didn't mention the earlier incident, only asked for a cup of coffee as he flicked the paper open. She had only rolled her eyes as she got out of her comfy spot to get him his coffee. It was better than listening to him grumble again.

Jacqui glanced up from the stack of files she had been thumbing through. "The final notes for the com